Classic Military Wedding at Milwaukee’s Pfister Hotel

Abby
April 2, 2014
Categories: Traditional Elegance
Tags: Military

So girls. I think you’re going to kind of love this wedding. Because the “there is just something sexy about a man in uniform” theory definitely applies. Add to that a girl fit to be a princess, a stunning ballroom backdrop and oh, maybe some of the prettiest pics – shot by The McCartneys – I’ve ever seen and bam. Love gone wild.

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From the bride, Jess…When we were planning our wedding, we tried to always keep in the forefront of our minds that we wanted the day to be true to us as a couple. We wanted our wedding to be beautiful, formal but not stuffy, fun, and joyful. It was also important to us to throw a great party for our guests!

We also wanted to showcase the military aspect of the wedding — having our sword detail participate as much as possible was very important!

Without really explicitly talking about it, I think Dom and I had the same vision for our wedding. We wanted the day to be traditional and classic, but wanted to throw in some personality. It ended up being exactly what we wanted…I felt like an absolute princess, straight out of a fairy tale. I think in the end all that really mattered was that we were finally marrying each other, and finally had the opportunity to start living our lives together. The fact that everything and everyone came together in such a beautiful way made the day that much more special and magical.

We did a little bit of DIY, and had a lot of fun with it! I ordered the Save the Dates on Etsy, but had a couple friends over one night and we hand-sewed a thread from Milwaukee to wherever the guest was living to personalize them a bit. I designed the invitations (and had them printed by an incredible family owned letterpress in northern WI) as well as the menu cards. My parents and uncle made the card box for us, and my parents also made our table numbers. We made a customized calendar for our guest book (now we have everyone’s birthdays!). We also framed a bunch of old family photos to put on display – a touch that was very important to us as we wanted to honor the people in our lives that help to bring us to that day!

The parts that stick out in my mind the most, were walking down the aisle with my dad and seeing Dom for the first time, the entire ceremony (we had so much more fun that we thought we would and were so, incredibly impressed with our priest), the hours of time that we had alone together between the ceremony and reception to just reflect on the day and the night ahead, standing on our little balcony watching guests enter the room (and feeling like a princess, once again!), and our first dance. I guess that is the whole day, but those are the moments that play in my mind as the ‘highlight reel’!

If I were to share advice with future brides, I would say.

1. Have fun with it, and don’t take it too seriously! Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice, but stay true to your choices and opinions and don’t second guess yourself once you make a decision. There are so many options out there, you could drive yourself insane!

2. Make sure that you keep in perspective what the wedding is all about – the love that you have for the person you are going to marry – the wedding is just the gateway to your new life together, which ultimately is WAY more important!

3. Do things together — even though Dom was deployed for 6 months of our engagement, we still make decisions together, which was really important.

4. If you’re going on a honeymoon right after the wedding — don’t leave the honeymoon planning to the last minute (it gets a little stressful!!)

We had the most incredible day of our lives, in every way. We still can’t stop talking about it!!