Real Wedding: Mandy & Drew

Are you ready for a cheery, happy and let’s not forget ADORABLE bride?? Because THAT’s what you’re going to get with this Real Wedding story. The bride & groom, Mandy and Drew, are one of the cutest couples EVER! You can just see from their wedding pictures how they are just one happy, easygoing and in love couple. I truly wish I could post every single wedding picture of theirs, because they are all so romantic and you just get a feeling of love and happiness in each and every one of them. So, let’s get on with it…

It’s really refreshing to see a couple who love to have fun, rock a kickass sense of humor and aren’t afraid to let it show… even in their wedding pictures. Meet Mandy and Drew. They have known of each other through mutual friends for a few years. They would see each other out when they were home on break from college, but never really talked. All of that changed once they started talking – of all places – at the gym after they both had moved home from college. They were good friends for about 6 months before they decided to start dating. I know, right? How awesome is that? And since then, they laugh a lot, love a lot and play a lot.

The weather for their wedding was perfect. It was everything you wish for when you plan a September wedding in Wisconsin. Mandy and Drew felt very fortunate since it was cold the day before and raining and crummy the day after! It’s what we’ve come to expect for Wisconsin weather, right? The wedding itself is very clean and classic, but very unique to the bride and groom. Their wedding colors are grey, yellow and navy blue…digging this! Mandy and Drew wanted to make as many aspects of the wedding as personal as possible – they didn’t want anything too formal or traditional (and I agree with them!!).

I am in awe of the venue they chose for their ceremony – it just makes me squeal! Overlooking Lake Michigan, the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum was designed in the style of an Italian Renaissance Villa by architect D. Adler in 1923. Originally the building was the residence of former A.O. Smith president, L. Smith, and family. The museum has art dating back to the 15th through 18th centuries, wrought-iron masterpieces by C. Colnik, and the Renaissance Garden. It’s just beautiful and reminds me of a castle and does NOT look like it would be something located in Wisconsin. It is simply breathtaking and one of the most beautiful wedding venues I have seen in a looooong time!

Now here is something I’ve never seen before and you might just like this idea. Mandy and Drew incorporated a wine box ceremony in their wedding ceremony. They got a double wine box to hold a wine bottle AND a bottle of whiskey along with  letters to each other.  They will open the wine box on their one year anniversary and then will decide how soon they’d like to open the written love letters. I’m sure it was very nice that they still have a piece of their wedding day that they haven’t experienced yet in those love letters.  Apparently, a lot of wedding guests had never seen this done before either, so I don’t feel so bad!  They purchased the wine box on Etsy and had it inscribed with their names, wedding date and ‘Forever Mine’ – the name of their song by the O ‘Jays. (Mandy and Drew heard it on the radio once during their first year dating and ever since then they’ve said that would be the song they danced to at their future wedding.)

Mandy has a lot of talent so she created a lot of the stationary for the wedding herself. One of the bridesmaids made the card box. I’m a HUGE fan of bridesmaids getting more involved in the wedding instead of standing on the sidelines. The card box is a two-tiered box in the shape of a cake with a “S” and some flowers attached to it. So adorable! And what a great keepsake.

The bride and groom tried to make things as personal as possible. The most personal was probably the memory table that they set up. Mandy’s grandmother passed away a few months before the wedding, so she dried the petals from a yellow rose from her grandmother’s funeral arrangement and used the petals to decorate the table. They also had a hurricane vase with a lit pillar candle and frame that read “In loving Memory of all those who are forever in our hearts”. You never want to forget your loved ones that have passed away. They will always and forever be in our lives and in our hearts.

Some other great ideas that Mandy did for her wedding was she had her seamstress take one of the appliqués from her mother’s veil and sew that onto the inside of her dress with Mandy and Drew’s wedding date sewn in over it in blue. I just love, LOVE this idea! Anything unique and fun like that is on the top of my list! Plus I’m a sucker for anything sentimental. They took their escort cards and made them shaped like a slide of photo booth pictures so they fit perfectly into the acrylic photo booth frames that were the favors to their guests. One of my favorite things that they did was skip the paper ceremony programs and instead used one big, enlarged program on canvas. It turned out GREAT and now is hanging in their house.

Reminisce Studio really captured the wedding day beautifully. Their photography is full of richness, passion and, in my opinion, they are ALWAYS spot on with their photos. Mandy and Drew loved working with Miranda and Adam and after meeting them they felt very comfortable around them despite both of them being a little more reserved in front of the camera – hey, not everyone can be a Kardashian and love the spotlight! They had a good mix of traditional and artsy photos. Mandy and Drew really liked the idea that their wedding package included an engagement session. Doing the engagement pictures was a nice way to get a practice run at having their pictures taken and getting to know Miranda and Adam a little better before the big wedding day! Mandy and Drew DEFINATELY had a FUN group of people in their wedding party.  Reminisce Studio was very patient with everyone and were able to corral the group when some of them seemed to get a little distracted. I think once you look at the pictures you will agree Reminisce Studio definitely captures the moment and puts a smile on your face!

Their flowers were out of this world! They were so fresh, clean and crisp…I know probably odd words to describe flowers, but those are the words that come to mind. The florist was exceptional. Mandy and Drew worked with Deb from Bits N Pieces in West Bend, Wisconsin. She was very open to the ideas they had, as well as put together beautiful examples to look at to help them get a real feel for what they wanted. The flowers were gorgeous and exactly what Mandy and Drew had envisioned and that is so very important on a bride’s special day. Deb was so helpful during the planning process and on the wedding day itself. Now get ready for this, because this just blows my mind…Mandy and Drew got to take home a few large vases of flowers so that they could enjoy them for the rest of the week! They just returned the vases after the flowers had died. I think that is so such a great idea! Bits N Pieces surely went that extra mile and that’s what we like to hear and see!

Mandy & Drew decided to skip the traditional wedding cake and instead went with sweets that they really loved as the last dessert course of the meal. They had…are you ready for this?…birthday cake flavored cake pops from Starbucks and salted caramel ice cream from Sassy Cow Creamery! YES!!!  Since they didn’t have a cake they didn’t do a traditional ‘cutting the cake’, but they did have a picture taken of themselves feeding each other a cake pop. They didn’t turn out to be the most flattering pictures though. It probably would have made for a better picture if they would have fed each other one at a time instead of at the same time. Never the less, the dessert was delicious! Now they can have their wedding dessert for as many anniversaries as the companies continue making the sweets.

The reception was held at River Club of Mequon. What a breathtaking establishment. This place seeks to transcend expectations through exceptional personal service and has a sense for uncovering new ways to exceed your dreams. Mandy and Drew are very pleased they chose this location to have their reception.  Everyone was so professional and went above and beyond what they needed to do for their special day. Mandy and Drew decided to have a midnight snack **singing** Looove it! They went with margarita/pepperoni and sausage pizzas. It all seemed to go over very well with the guests. Because who doesn’t want a little snack after dancing all night to the music from Double Platinum DJ Service? They also had a photo booth by MI Photo booth. It was one of the best decisions Mandy and Drew made. Everyone loved it and it was full ALL NIGHT!

One last special thing – the newly married couple included their wedding party’s dates at the head table. I think that is it nice for close friends in the wedding to get to spend time with their significant others, since they have been with the bride and groom the entire day.

This is a true fairytale story, not only the wedding day, but the WHOLE story. Mandy and Drew are blessed with so many family and friends and they all made this day extremely special for them. They are so lucky to have found each other as they are best friends it truly shows (just look at the pictures)! I’m excited to say that Mandy and Drew got married, bought a home AND…are you ready for this?…they are welcoming a baby into the family in August. You can’t end a story better than that. Sigh.

Ceremony Venue~Villa Terrace Decorative Art Museum
Ceremony Musician (guitarist)~Tyler Skibba
Reception Venue~River Club of Mequon
DJ~Double Platinum DJ Service
Photographer~Reminisce Studio
Videographer~Frogman Productions
Photo Booth~MI Photobooth
Florist~Bits N Pieces
Dress~Zita Bridal
Seamstress~Pieces of Thread (located inside Zita Bridal Salon)
Tux~Men’s Wearhouse
Cake/Dessert~Starbucks and Sassy Cow Creamery
Reverend~Reverend Richard Kirsch
Transportation~Lamers