Real Wedding: Sara & Matt

Do you remember Middle School? Well, Sara and Matt DO! That is where they met – 5th grade. They lived about 5 minutes away from each other when they were growing up.  During the summer months, Matt would ride his bike down to the park near Sara’s house JUST to see her!!! He made Sara feel very special even way back then.  Of course, Matt and Sara aren’t in 5th grade anymore, they’ve grown up and have celebrated their wedding at St. Peter’s Parish in Slinger where Sara and her family have been members her entire life.

Sara and her bridesmaids got ready in the church basement and that’s where Sara’s nerves started to officially set in.  As she walked up the back stairway to meet her dad, her legs started shaking. He did what Dad’s are great at doing – he reassured her that everything was going to be fine and told her that they were just going for a little stroll.  Sara was able to see a little bit of the wedding party making their way down the aisle and as the maid of honor and best man made it to the end of the aisle, Sara knew it was GO TIME!  Once those doors opened, she fixed her eyes on Matt and her nerves were calmed. She knew everything was truly going to be great from that moment forward.

There was a section during the ceremony where Matt and Sara were allowed to hug their wedding party and parents.  After Sara hugged her mom and dad she saw her grandfather sitting behind them and she lost it!  He represented all her grandparents on that day and it was so incredible to have him be a part of their special day.  The ceremony had light hearted moments as well – when Sara’s Maid of Honor (Jaclyn) would fix her dress, Matt’s Best Man (Nick) would come up behind Matt and pretend to fluff out his suit as well.  It was so nice to hear laughter and know all those people were there to support and love Sara and Matt.  After Sara and Matt exhanged their vows they wanted to do something memorable when they turned around and were announced as husband and wife.  So, Matt did the “discount double check” and Sara pointed at the camera.  Talk about a fun wedding!!  Sara’s only regret is that they didn’t video tape the ceremony, with all the quirky little details that made the ceremony enjoyable for everyone.

Before I go any further I HAVE to tell you this (it melts my heart every time I think about it)…Sara wore a pearl necklace on her wedding day. Now this isn’t just any old pearl necklace!! Are you ready for this?  Sara received the necklace from her grandmother on her first birthday and on every birthday until she turned 18 she would receive a pearl to add to the necklace!!!   I just love that and think its an awesome idea.

Sara purchased her dress over a year before the wedding at David’s Bridal with her mother.  She tried on a lot of dresses, but it was the very first dress she tried on that she fell in love with and purchased that day.  After seeing Matt’s face when the doors opened, she knew she picked the right dress!

The reception was held at The Sterling Chalet.  Pretty much everything was something Matt or Sara did themselves, with the help of their bridal party.  They had blue wine bottles as their main vase to hold sunflowers at each of the tables.  They took the labels off and kept them as is because it was such a gorgeous blue (blue was the accent color).  Then they had clear wine bottles that Matt cut the top off and those held floating candles.  The table numbers were wood circles with the numbers laser engraved into them (Matt is a tech ed teacher, so he had all the fancy equipment to accomplish this).  Next, the place cards.  They used wine corks as the holder with “6.21.14” laser engraved into them.  Matt cut a flat surface on the corks so they would stand upright and everyone could find their name.  Lastly, one of Sara’s bridesmaids made a Jenga sign for guest to leave a nice message and Sara’s dad made the card box that had been used at 2 other weddings.

Sara and Matt added a great twist during their reception – when their guests clinked glasses for the wedding couple to kiss, they would call out a couple, requesting them to kiss first.  Then, they would mimic their kiss.  It was a lot of fun for everyone!

The wedding DJ is also a radio DJ so Sara and Matt knew Keith Heisler of Mix Master Music would be great at getting everyone out on the dance floor! Sara and Matt met Keith through friends of theirs.  He did an amazing job.

Sara was having a hard time trying to find flowers that would work with their yellow and grey theme, but still incorporate their favorite color in the mix-BLUE.  Sara knew she wanted lilies in her bouquet, but was having a hard time coming up with a design for the bridesmaids.  Nehm’s Greenhouse came to her rescue.  They had mentioned that hydrangeas are a very popular wedding flower and that she would be able to dye them blue.  Within that she would put viking pomps (tiny sunflowers) to help tie everything together.

Matt and Sara wanted to shy away from the traditional wedding cake for dessert.  Although they both enjoy a good piece of cake, their guilty pleasure is ICE CREAM!  Matt’s parents took them up to Kelley’s one summer evening and they both fell in love with it.  Friends of theirs had mentioned that they do wedding cakes. Sara and Matt decided on the diamond drops. That is where each guest receives about 2 good scoops of the ice cream of their choice.  After talking with family and friends about the day, this was the first thing everyone said they enjoyed the most.  The wedding party wasn’t left out either – they were able to enjoy the cake Matt and Sara picked out for themselves to cut.  Sara was hoping to have some leftovers, but that wasn’t the case!

The photographer for this wedding was Faber Photography. Sara met Trisha at a bridal show at the Washington County Fair Park and fell in love with her right away!  Sara filled out a questionnaire before the big day explaining what kind of shots must be captured throughout the day. It made things run very smoothly for pictures at the church along with the ones done at the park.  Trisha was very organized which put Sara at ease.  The result was great images of their wedding day.  In addition, Sara and Matt had a photo booth at their reception. They went through Wisconsin Photo Booth Company out of Milwaukee.  They offered either an enclosed booth or open air option.  They decided to go with the open air option which allowed more people to be captured in the photo-there was a back drop behind them. Guests really enjoyed themselves with this fun idea!

Later into the evening, The Sterling Chalet served pizza as a late-night snack which went over SO well. There were NO leftovers. I should mention they went through 35 LARGE pizzas within two hours!!  It was an incredible experience and enjoyable by all.  Sara and Matt were quite the couple!  Congratulations!

Church:~St. Peter’s Parish
Reception:~The Sterling Chalet
Flowers:~Nehm’s Greenhouse & Floral
Dessert:~Kelley’s Country Creamery
Photographer:~Faber Photography
Photo booth:~Wisconsin Photo Booth Company