Sarah & Matt’s Downtown Milwaukee Wedding at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

Sarah and Matt met on New Years Eve in Milwaukee, when Matt and his friends had reserved a booth at Trinity Irish Pub and Sarah and her friends needed a place to stash their coats. The two talked the whole night and later in the new year, were officially dating. When Matt and Sarah were about to get engaged, they picked out a ring together. Sarah found her center stone in Arizona and her band at Husar’s in Brookfield. It would take about four weeks to finish the ring. The four-week mark was the same weekend as Sarah’s parents’ 60th birthday party and Matt’s 30th birthday. The festive weekend passed without a proposal, and Sarah told Matt how sad she was to return to work without an engagement ring.

That night, Sarah went to her brother Gregory’s house for pizza with the family, while Matt pretended to drive back to Madison for work. Sarah’s family was all there, each taking a turn distracting her. “Before I knew it, Matt was sneaking up behind me and getting down on one knee,” she says. Matt opened a ring box and Sarah exclaimed “It’s gorgeous!” Then she looked more closely — “Wait a second, this isn’t the ring we picked out.” Matt had found a fake ring at Target to fool Sarah. “He eventually pulled the real ring out of his pocket, and it was perfect.”

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Matt and Sarah planned a classic, romantic wedding with a ceremony at Gesu and reception at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. “My favorite part of the ceremony was seeing the look on Matt’s face when I walked down the aisle,” Sarah says. “Matt and I distributed communion to all of our guests, which made the ceremony unique. My mom and dad did that at their wedding, too — I haven’t seen it done at other weddings.”

Between the ceremony and reception, the entire wedding party boarded a vintage trolley from Adonis Limousine and took to the town. Taking advantage of a few of downtown Milwaukee’s scenic locales as a backdrop to capture the day.

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As for Sarah’s favorite part of the reception, she says it was seeing the Marcus Center room all set up, alone with Matt. Dinner was catered by Sazama’s Fine Catering. “The food was fantastic! Guests had their choice of petite filet, chicken forestiere, or vegetable napoleon. We had an open bar, and most people were drinking Old Fashioneds, as that’s the popular drink in our family. We had mini cupcakes for dessert with carrot cake, mint, red velvet, vanilla, and chocolate flavors.”

To decorate the space, Sarah made the table numbers and the table centerpieces using styrofoam balls and ribbon, which she turned into flower globes. “I had so much fun making some of my own decorations! Though, in the planning process, I would rather have started working on the little details later in the timeline. My advice: Take some time to enjoy being engaged before buying things for your wedding. You can accumulate a lot of stuff between your engagement and wedding day!”

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Looking back, the moments that stick with Sarah the most are seeing her dad for the first time, seeing Matt at the ceremony, and dancing the night away with all of their guests. “We didn’t take dance lessons, but I wish we had!”

Invitations~Touch of Whimsy
Rehearsal Dinner~ onesto
Ceremony~Church of the Gesu
Reception Location~Marcus Center for Performing Arts
Caterer~Sazamas Fine Catering
Cake Designer/Dessert~Gigi’s cupcakes
Flowers~Ester Fleming 
Music/Entertainment~North Coast Orchestra
Transportation~Adonis Limousine
Photographer~Chrissy Rose Photography
Videographer~Mann Frau
Gown~Vera’s Bridal in Madison
Formalwear~Nedrebo’s in Madison
Rings~Lyle Husar Designs in Brookfield