Both of the brides featured in this issue paved their own way, foregoing the traditional ceremonies, decor and details for DIY style and sophistication. Kayla Sweet-Wilson’s costume-themed Halloween wedding gave family and guests a fun and frightful way to celebrate marriage, and Jill Hawkins’ beautiful ceremony and reception at the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza Amtrak station made her wedding day one to remember.
Hawkins
Jill and William
October 11, 2014 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza
“There’s just so much cool space outside to take pictures, and we’re downtown. I liked that having the ceremony and the reception was a little out of the ordinary.”
ADVICE FOR FUTURE BRIDES My advice is to enjoy your day and don’t worry about details, or how everyone else does things. It doesn’t have to be a certain way—this is YOUR day. Mine was the first out of my group of friends that wasn’t in a church, so it wasn’t a rehearsed ceremony and all that. My husband’s boss was ordained and married us, many of my vendors were referred by friends or they WERE friends . . . everything was personalized. Knowing that you don’t have to do things the way everyone else does is helpful advice that I’d give to future brides.
FLOWERS – CINDY BURLING Cindy used to own a flower shop, but now just does floral work on the side because she enjoys it. I wasn’t particular about the kind of flowers, I just wanted purple. She would send me different pictures of bouquets; I decided on a darker calla lily for mine. I’ve looked other places for flowers, but her work was very affordable and beautiful.
PHOTOGRAPHER – YANA GALANIN Yana is so awesome and very talented! She has a unique and artistic eye and that is exactly what we wanted. I am not very traditional, so I wanted someone who could capture the beauty and love of our special day from an artistic point of view. I knew Yana was the one for me!
CAKE – JEANETTE ALCOCK We had a small cake topper, but had cupcakes instead of a traditional large cake. They were made by Jeanette Alcock, who works as a baker at Zavotski’s.
CATERING – ZAVOTSKI CUSTOM MEATS My dad and his wife own Zavotski’s. We had chicken, green beans, redskin potatoes, kielbasa and cabbage; appetizers were cheese, fruit and crackers.
VENUE – DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. PLAZA We wanted something out of the ordinary, and the staff and security definitely met our expectations. They paid attention to detail, and everything was set up when we arrived. We had a great experience working with them to make it elegant, but still unique.
RINGS – JENSEN JEWELERS My ring was custom-made at the store. It was a great experience, it’s family-owned. We got [the groom’s] ring from there too, and we have nothing but good things to say about Jensen.
MUSIC – DJ JAVIER RIOS Javier was very professional and very considerate of the music we requested. He kept the party going and was a pleasure to work with. His price was very reasonable, and we also booked a photo booth service through him. We wanted him to do our ceremony too, and he did it for no extra charge.
Wilson
Kayla and Drew
October 18, 2014
Neither of us are very religious, and we didn’t see it happening in a church or on a beach, and I love costumes and Halloween. We wanted people to have fun and not be uptight…just let loose and enjoy themselves. It was an all-adult wedding, so we had people from 18 to 86, and everyone was out there dancing. With the costume theme, I didn’t want people to feel like they couldn’t wear what they wanted because it was too scary or revealing I wanted people to come however they wanted—sexy, goofy, creepy—whatever they chose. Guests didn’t overindulge on the alcohol, and I think it’s because the costumes were enough to make them feel at ease.
DRESSING UP FOR A COSTUME WEDDING When you go to any wedding you put effort into doing your hair, getting ready, looking nice, and everything else, so I asked that of my guests for this, too. We had guests dressed as a deer in the headlights, we had flapper girls, we had a couple come as a squirrel and his nut. It was great. My dad was Dracula and my mom was Snow White. I was Bride of Frankenstein and Drew was Frankenstein. Usually the bride is so serious but I couldn’t help cracking up—everyone was in costume and I was in costume, and my groom had bolts coming out of his neck—but it made it so much more fun.
DJ – NICK SARIS It was great, his DJing was our wedding present from him. He did a great job and we were not too hlepful because we didn’t give him a list or anything, so we just told him to do what he thought would be good.
BOUQUET – DIY I made my own brooch bouquet. I received a lot of the brooches from family members before the wedding. I found them at estate sales and garage sales—Allison Dow (of Allison Dow Jewelry) provided several of them for me, too. It weighed so much, but it was beautiful.
DRESS – CRAIGSLIST I got my dress on Craigslist. I needed one with sleeves, which is hard to find in a contemporary bridal store. It worked perfectly.
RINGS – ZALES JEWELERS It was an easy process picking them out. We love our rings!
VENUE – LODGE AT STRAWBERRY ACRES We wanted to do things ourselves—our own food, our own decorating . . . everything. We figured it was cost-effective. Strawberry Acres was the only place we found that allowed us to do all of those things. My aunt and uncle live in Springfield Township, and she hooked us up with it. They gave us a great deal for the night, providing beautiful round tables and cushioned seats, a really nice kitchen and multiple bathrooms. They did all of the setup and teardown, asked us how we wanted it laid out and everything was set up when we got there. They were lenient and let us decorate, it was really great. We used the gazebo outside for the ceremony. No one had to drive between the ceremony and the reception. We lucked out for our October wedding; it wasn’t raining or too cold, so it worked perfectly.
MACQUEEN DONUTS – We did donuts instead of doing a cake, for something unique. We also had a huge candy table for our Halloween wedding. We had guests fill goody bags and take them home as a ‘trick or treat’.
DECORATIONS – Decorations came from thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales. I’m going to have Halloween decorations forever
CATERING – DIY (HOMESTYLE!) We made our own food—spaghetti & meatballs, alfredo and grilled chicken, bread station, buffett. Simple!
PHOTOGRAPHY – Lightbloom Photography (Allison Eding) Allison did a beautiful job with our photos.
City wedding 1_14_15
Both of the brides featured in this issue paved their own way, foregoing the traditional ceremonies, decor and details for DIY style and sophistication. Kayla Sweet-Wilson’s costume-themed Halloween wedding gave family and guests a fun and frightful way to celebrate marriage, and Jill Hawkins’ beautiful ceremony and reception at the Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza Amtrak station made her wedding day one to remember.
Hawkins
Jill and William
October 11, 2014 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza
“There’s just so much cool space outside to take pictures, and we’re downtown. I liked that having the ceremony and the reception was a little out of the ordinary.”
ADVICE FOR FUTURE BRIDES My advice is to enjoy your day and don’t worry about details, or how everyone else does things. It doesn’t have to be a certain way—this is YOUR day. Mine was the first out of my group of friends that wasn’t in a church, so it wasn’t a rehearsed ceremony and all that. My husband’s boss was ordained and married us, many of my vendors were referred by friends or they WERE friends . . . everything was personalized. Knowing that you don’t have to do things the way everyone else does is helpful advice that I’d give to future brides.
FLOWERS – CINDY BURLING Cindy used to own a flower shop, but now just does floral work on the side because she enjoys it. I wasn’t particular about the kind of flowers, I just wanted purple. She would send me different pictures of bouquets; I decided on a darker calla lily for mine. I’ve looked other places for flowers, but her work was very affordable and beautiful.
PHOTOGRAPHER – YANA GALANIN Yana is so awesome and very talented! She has a unique and artistic eye and that is exactly what we wanted. I am not very traditional, so I wanted someone who could capture the beauty and love of our special day from an artistic point of view. I knew Yana was the one for me!
- Advertisement -
CAKE – JEANETTE ALCOCK We had a small cake topper, but had cupcakes instead of a traditional large cake. They were made by Jeanette Alcock, who works as a baker at Zavotski’s.
CATERING – ZAVOTSKI CUSTOM MEATS My dad and his wife own Zavotski’s. We had chicken, green beans, redskin potatoes, kielbasa and cabbage; appetizers were cheese, fruit and crackers.
VENUE – DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. PLAZA We wanted something out of the ordinary, and the staff and security definitely met our expectations. They paid attention to detail, and everything was set up when we arrived. We had a great experience working with them to make it elegant, but still unique.
RINGS – JENSEN JEWELERS My ring was custom-made at the store. It was a great experience, it’s family-owned. We got [the groom’s] ring from there too, and we have nothing but good things to say about Jensen.
MUSIC – DJ JAVIER RIOS Javier was very professional and very considerate of the music we requested. He kept the party going and was a pleasure to work with. His price was very reasonable, and we also booked a photo booth service through him. We wanted him to do our ceremony too, and he did it for no extra charge.
Wilson
Kayla and Drew
October 18, 2014
Neither of us are very religious, and we didn’t see it happening in a church or on a beach, and I love costumes and Halloween. We wanted people to have fun and not be uptight…just let loose and enjoy themselves. It was an all-adult wedding, so we had people from 18 to 86, and everyone was out there dancing. With the costume theme, I didn’t want people to feel like they couldn’t wear what they wanted because it was too scary or revealing I wanted people to come however they wanted—sexy, goofy, creepy—whatever they chose. Guests didn’t overindulge on the alcohol, and I think it’s because the costumes were enough to make them feel at ease.
DRESSING UP FOR A COSTUME WEDDING When you go to any wedding you put effort into doing your hair, getting ready, looking nice, and everything else, so I asked that of my guests for this, too. We had guests dressed as a deer in the headlights, we had flapper girls, we had a couple come as a squirrel and his nut. It was great. My dad was Dracula and my mom was Snow White. I was Bride of Frankenstein and Drew was Frankenstein. Usually the bride is so serious but I couldn’t help cracking up—everyone was in costume and I was in costume, and my groom had bolts coming out of his neck—but it made it so much more fun.
DJ – NICK SARIS It was great, his DJing was our wedding present from him. He did a great job and we were not too hlepful because we didn’t give him a list or anything, so we just told him to do what he thought would be good.
BOUQUET – DIY I made my own brooch bouquet. I received a lot of the brooches from family members before the wedding. I found them at estate sales and garage sales—Allison Dow (of Allison Dow Jewelry) provided several of them for me, too. It weighed so much, but it was beautiful.
DRESS – CRAIGSLIST I got my dress on Craigslist. I needed one with sleeves, which is hard to find in a contemporary bridal store. It worked perfectly.
RINGS – ZALES JEWELERS It was an easy process picking them out. We love our rings!
VENUE – LODGE AT STRAWBERRY ACRES We wanted to do things ourselves—our own food, our own decorating . . . everything. We figured it was cost-effective. Strawberry Acres was the only place we found that allowed us to do all of those things. My aunt and uncle live in Springfield Township, and she hooked us up with it. They gave us a great deal for the night, providing beautiful round tables and cushioned seats, a really nice kitchen and multiple bathrooms. They did all of the setup and teardown, asked us how we wanted it laid out and everything was set up when we got there. They were lenient and let us decorate, it was really great. We used the gazebo outside for the ceremony. No one had to drive between the ceremony and the reception. We lucked out for our October wedding; it wasn’t raining or too cold, so it worked perfectly.
MACQUEEN DONUTS – We did donuts instead of doing a cake, for something unique. We also had a huge candy table for our Halloween wedding. We had guests fill goody bags and take them home as a ‘trick or treat’.
DECORATIONS – Decorations came from thrift stores, garage sales, estate sales. I’m going to have Halloween decorations forever
CATERING – DIY (HOMESTYLE!) We made our own food—spaghetti & meatballs, alfredo and grilled chicken, bread station, buffett. Simple!
PHOTOGRAPHY – Lightbloom Photography (Allison Eding) Allison did a beautiful job with our photos.
.jpg)
