Katie & Jesse’s Rustic Romantic Wedding at Terrace 167

From First Date to Photo Proposal

In December of 2015, Katie and Jesse had their first date at Balzac in downtown Milwaukee, then went to a nearby bar for a few games of pool. “Jesse was successful enough at hiding his extreme competitive side,” Katie laughs. “After that we were pretty much inseparable. We connected through our shared passions for music, our aspirations, family, friends, and coffee.”

Both musicians, Jesse and Katie were slated to play a show together at Summerfest in 2018. Jesse asked a friend to take some promo photos for them one Friday afternoon. Katie was supposed to meet Jesse at the War Memorial for the shoot, but her car broke down on the side of the road. “I called to say I wasn’t going to make it, and suggested Jesse just take the photos solo.” Jesse insisted they wait for Katie to arrive.

“Finally, flustered and not exactly photo-ready, I made it to the War Memorial,” Katie recalls. It was a beautiful day of clear blue water dotted with sailboats. “We were standing on the balcony getting ready for our photos when Jesse took hold of my hands. I almost jokingly said ‘Jesse, these aren’t engagement pictures, you know…’” But Jesse proceeded to get down on one knee. Katie proceeded to say yes.

Planning a Rustic Romantic Wedding

Katie and Jesse chose Terrace 167 for both their ceremony and reception. “We picked it because we wanted an outdoor wedding in a natural setting, but an indoor space for the reception. Terrace 167 met all our needs! For the ceremony, we had a natural wooded area as a backdrop. For the reception, the space was already decorated to our taste, so we didn’t have to do much. The people at Terrace 167 were also very detail-oriented and coordinated with all our vendors. They were basically our wedding planners for the day, which really helped!” Terrace 167 also offers a shuttle service, which Jesse and Katie took advantage of as well.

Leading up to the big day, Katie attended a couple of local bridal shows. “I went to the Wonderful World of Weddings at the Wisconsin State Fair Expo Center. I liked the number of vendors there and the fashion show. I also went to the Terrace 167 Bridal Fair. I loved how they had all of their suggested caterers there with plenty of food to try.” Jesse and Katie ended up choosing Tuscan Hall Catering. “They were very accommodating with letting us sample basically anything we wanted when we were trying to figure out our menu. Their food was very good and at a great price given the quality. We had multiple people tell us that the food was excellent!”

Katie found her Hayley Paige bridal gown at Bliss Bridal. “Excellent service!” she says. “I was able to bring a number of my family and friends along. They have a lot of beautiful and unique dresses there, available in many sizes to try on.”

On the eve of the wedding, Jesse and Katie held their rehearsal dinner at Pizza Man in Wauwatosa. “We had a great experience there! They have different sizes and themes of rooms. We were in the atrium—beautiful with lots of natural lighting.”

Sun-Kissed Ceremony

Because Jesse and Katie are both musicians, they were very particular about their ceremony music. They asked a couple of their musician friends to play during the ceremony. Katie created an instrumental arrangement of Bon Iver’s “Holocene” as well as a version of Glen Hansard’s “Falling Slowly.” Katie says, “I created different lyrics for this song to match our relationship and our wedding a little better and worked with the musicians to make it all come together smoothly.” For a unity ceremony, Jesse and Katie watered a bonsai tree together as a symbol of growth and balance in their relationship. But the best part? When the sun came out on this otherwise cloudy day and lit up the trees behind the bride and groom. “It was really cool!”

Reception Vibes

Jesse and Katie’s reception started with cocktail hour and passed hors d’oeuvres. Live acoustic music filled the air. At the time, Katie owned a coffee business, so there was also an iced coffee bar featuring some of her company’s coffee as well as other favorite local brands of cold brew. “We also had little bags of coffee as thank-you gifts for our guests.”

The tables were decorated with flowers by Alfa Flowers. “There was lots of candlelight with small vintage cases lining all the tables, filled with fresh colorful flowers and eucalyptus garland running through them,” Katie says. “I went with more muted base colors so that the pops of brightly-colored flowers would really stand out.”

In addition to live acoustics, Jesse and Katie hired Xcite Entertainment to infuse the day with music and unforgettable moments—like indoor fireworks during the grand march and an awesome photo booth, complete with a video feature. “Guests could leave a video message to us. The photo booth also had some really great masks, some of which were huge Halloween-style masks. Given that our wedding was on Friday the 13th and fell on a full harvest moon, it was very fitting!”

Dinner by Tuscan Hall Catering

Tuscan Hall Catering provided three hand-passed appetizers during cocktail hour: crab rangoon phyllo cups, raspberry-brie bites, and gyro bites. “People raved about the gyro bites. They were basically mini gyros, and who doesn’t like that with a cocktail?” Each guest arrived at their seat to find a plated salad and bread roll. Entering the buffet line, there were two entrée choices: chicken marsala and grilled skirt steak. On the side: garlic red mashed potatoes and wild rice pilaf—”both fantastic!”

“The Tuscan Hall Catering service was spectacular as well,” Katie says. “They made sure Jesse and I had our food when we came back from taking pictures, and they made sure it didn’t get cold. We were very happy with them!”

A Few Favorites

Of all their vendors, Xcite Entertainment particularly blew Jesse and Katie away. “Daryl at Xcite really impressed us. Not only did he provide music, lighting, indoor fireworks, and the photo booth, he also kept the dinner and reception highly organized with announcements, the grand march, and toasts. Plus, the music was so great, people still talk about it! We could tell that Daryl, the owner and DJ at our wedding, really cared and wanted to make sure our wedding was just perfect.”

But even with the live music, the fireworks, the coffee bar, the gorgeous venue, and the photo-video booth, Katie says one of her favorite parts of the night was a quiet moment spent alone with Jesse. “Like I said, our wedding happened to land on Friday the 13th with a full harvest moon,” she says. “At one point, someone asked me if I’d seen the full moon yet. Realizing I hadn’t, I grabbed Jesse and we ran outside alone to look at it. It was only for a few minutes, but it was one of the only times on our wedding day that we really got to spend alone together. It was really beautiful.”