This downtown Columbus church wedding with a reception at the rustic High Line Car House will have you dreaming in blush and coral! Our eyes first gravitated toward the beautiful blooms from Rose Bredl, but then details like whimsical calligraphy, watercolor menus (by Auburn & Ivory Creative) and mini cakes took our love over the top! See all the lovely shots by Leigh Elizabeth Photography right here!
From the beautiful Bride… It sounds cliché and we had to consciously remind ourselves not to roll our eyes when people said it to us, but you have no idea how quickly the day goes by. For us, it was 10 months of planning, a lifetime of dreaming, all for a day that seemed to be over in the blink of an eye.
The day was perfect. All the anxiety over weather and everything going perfectly seemed to disappear when we woke up. Sure, it was 80 degrees with a nearly-stifling humidity, but that beats the endless rain and thunderstorms that had preceded and followed our wedding day for weeks. We got ready at the amazing Renaissance hotel in downtown Columbus. We were surrounded by our friends and family. For Lorie, that was nine bridesmaids, her mom, the two sweetest flower girls in the world and their mom. For Jared, that was his eight groomsmen, his dad and Lorie’s dad. When it came to the size of our wedding party, we always felt a little anxious and judged by people’s reactions: “Oh wow, you have a bridal party of 19? Sure seems like a lot.” The truth is, it was a lot, but we wouldn’t have changed it for anything. Getting ready with the people that make us happiest, the people who have been around us since the day we met, people who have watched our relationship grow from a chance encounter to our happily-ever-after. The hours before the wedding were filled with laughter, storytelling, a few tears the inevitable and the “I’m somewhat kidding, but really…” question: Are you sure?
We took a trolley from the Renaissance to Holy Cross Catholic church. Our ceremony began at 4:30 and the church was filled with 200 of our closest friends and family waiting to be witness to our commitment to one another for the rest of our lives. As we listened to the words of the readings, and the homily from the priest, we both became a little anxious for our “public speaking” moment – of course we couldn’t wait to say our vows to each other, but there’s something to be said for two people who have always played more of the supporting role vs. the spotlight, a way of life we both prefer. The moment we found ourselves reciting words after the priest all of a sudden felt like we were the only two people in the church. It was just us, making a promise to each other, to love and support one another for all the days of our lives. Before we knew it, we were being announced as “Mr. and Mrs. Holt,” we jumped the broom and we were off for the celebration.
On the way, Leigh took us to the most amazing spot in German Village. A small street with the most amazing light from the lowering sun and a spot that captured all the beauty and history of our home city. This is where we captured our favorite pictures from the day. Looking at the photos now, wow, we really did have quite the wedding party! And we’re sure we placed before Leigh a challenge of logistics and gathering everyone’s attention, but she amazingly got all 21 people to cooperate and look beautiful for the camera.
The reception. All along we both said we wanted a party. We really wanted people to celebrate with us. We were announced to Jay Z’s “Public Service Announcement” and from that moment, we knew we were in for the celebration we had wanted. After dinner and our discrete cake tasting (remember that “attention” thing? Turns out the fear of public speaking also gave way to a fear of public eating), we both did our parent dances, and with the first song following Jared’s dance with his mom the dance floor was full of our friends and family. We took photos, toasted to our life together and spent the night turning “remember when…” stories into our new beginning stories.
When the last song was played, we walked across the street to Victory’s. A night of promise-making, laughter and dancing, turned into just one more drink, a slice a pizza and an ending similar to the way our day began, with telling stories of the best day of our lives.
The Groom’s favorite moment… Obviously, the first time we saw each other as Lorie walked down the aisle and the moment we were announced come to mind, but truly, our favorite moment of the day was the trolley ride from the ceremony to the reception. We were officially husband and wife. We were surrounded by our best friends, music was playing and someone had just popped open a bottle of champagne. It’s nearly impossible to put into words how much happiness was among us in that moment. From the back of the trolley, where we sat, we could see everyone who had been a part of our journey as a couple from the moment we met until our wedding day: the people who had been a part of our happiness for the past three years and people who would be by our sides for the happiness yet to come in our lives.
Any advice for other brides… My greatest piece of advice is that through all the planning and worrying and excitement, make sure your wedding day is still about you and the person you love. You can’t control what will happen the day of your wedding and that was a bit scary for a detail-oriented person like me. However, I knew the end of the day wasn’t going to change, regardless of any faux pas or things gone wrong. Jared and I would be married and that was most important to me. With that in mind, my wedding day was filled with laughter and excitement, not worry and stress. If something went wrong, our amazing wedding planner, Meredith, made sure it was dealt with and, more importantly, that it didn’t make its way back to me (which was amazing, I worked with Meredith because she is unbelievably talented and all along, I trusted her vision and her intuition). If you surround yourself with people you love and people who make you happy on your wedding day, you won’t worry about the small details or even allow yourself to think about things you might have forgotten. Even when you decide to share a champagne toast with your nine best friends after you are all ready and dressed and “somehow” the cork flies off and there is champagne heading straight for your wedding gown, the moment immediately bypasses panic and goes straight to laugh-until-you-cry. Your day will be what you make of it, and I chose to make it the happiest day of my life.
Photography: Leigh Elizabeth Photography | Videography: Colin Faust | Videography: Colin Faust | Event Design: Auburn & Ivory Creative | Floral Design: rose bredl flowers and garden | Wedding Dress: J.Crew | Cake: Kittie's Cakes | Ceremony Venue: Holy Cross Catholic Church | Reception Venue: Two Caterers | Bridesmaids' Dresses: J.Crew | Catering: Two Caterers | Calligraphy: Auburn & Ivory Creative | DJ: Tommy Nutter - Diamond Entertainment | Groomsmen's Attire: J.Crew