Lush Garden Wedding Inside a Historic Cincinnati Venue

Darian was very into having an all white wedding dripping in flowers but they wanted a European flair so they chose the Monastery Event Center. Although the venue is gorgeous with high ceilings and a ton of character lending to its history, we wanted to turn it into a garden vibe and create that WOW moment both when walking into ceremony and then again after the room turn, when seeing the reception decked out in white and textural details.

We met while Lubo was in medical school in and I was about to start PA school. My friend was dating his roommate, so we knew of each other but it took 2 years to meet. We quickly fell for each other. The pandemic occurred and our fun vacations we had planned were canceled and we lost a lot of the exciting experiences of new love like traveling together. One year later he started residency and I started PA school in Lexington, KY. We moved in together but our busy schedule has taken priority of our time. We got engaged at Cumberland falls in KY. It was private and intimate. We are excited to graduate, get married and FINALLY travel together!

Our brides wedding gown was designed by Calla Blanche. With sweet floral detail to match the gown, Darian chose a gorgeous cathedral length veil and Jimmy Choo heels to walk down the aisle in.

Our bridesmaids were given choice of gowns in shades of soft pink. Some were from ASOS and some from Reverly giving them the option to choose what they felt most beautiful in.

Lubo wore a black tux from Men's Wearhouse and the groomsmen had tuxes from Generation Tux.

Darian & Lubo definitely wanted their guests to be wined and dined so with the premium open bar the entire night. At cocktail hour they were served many passed and displayed appetizers then for dinner they had a choice of halibut, braised short rib or seared filet mignon. The entire room was treated to a champagne toast during speeches.

Because we had a room flip, creating a design that we could transfer items from ceremony to reception was key. Our bride was heavily inspired by IG influencer, Champagne & Chanel's wedding where the flowers were the focal point and having that true romantic, femininity come through was important. The Budding Florist and KMC Weddings & Events designed closely with Darian & Lubo to create this garden vibe for both ceremony and reception. The bride did not like the brown carpet on the main floor or on the stage or the brown walls at the back of the room and was concerned about covering it or brightening it up so she could have her vibe come through. The plan was to drape off the entire back wall in champagne fabric and create a dramatic entrance point for Darian's reveal. The aisle was covered in a 5ft wide fabric aisle runner that ran 100' up onto the stage and to each side of the fabric was a continuous runner of tall white, textural florals from the first row to the last. The stage was framed out by white boxes filled with matching florals which covered up the brown carpeted steps and stage flooring. At the altar, there were 4 white pillars with 2 6ft arrangements and 2 9ft tall arrangements to either side of our couple. The large sizes of the lush arrangements framed Darian & Lubo nicely during their vows. During cocktail hour, the room was flipped into a unique layout for the space. With 130 guests, we could play a bit with the seating arrangements so X-shaped sections were included. Four white settes created squares back to back in which each of the 9ft tall arrangements from the stage became its centerpiece. Each settee was paired with a square table and 6 more chairs, beautiful low centerpieces and candles. In the center of the room, coming straight from the dance floor toward the back of the room was the 32ft long kings table where the aisle pieces from ceremony were transferred and became the runner on top of this dramatic head table. It then cascaded to the floor to really high light the center of the reception space. 6 other round tables flanked the head table with sweet low centerpieces and more candles. The boxes on the stage were pushed together to close in what was once the aisle and our DJ's white facade was set perfectly in the center of the stage. He was also adorned in flowers! Each guest received a gold rimmed charger with white napkin and custom menus. Our head table had beautiful monogrammed linen napkins hanging over the edge of their chargers above the Louis Cane Back chairs. Darian & Lubo's monogram was displayed not only there but on the DJ facade, in lights over the bar and centered on the sweet seating chart wall that had its own floral moment. The logistics had to marry the pretty for this wedding and it went over very well. It was important to not just our couple but to our design team that the layout and design be very unique since the venue is so popular in Cincinnati. We wanted it to stand out against the rest.

Darian wanted her cake to be a big moment. At the Monastery, there is always the perfect little alcove for the cake table but we wanted to be sure it was unique and a statement piece. Tres Belle created a 5 tier cake (one tier was double height so in essence 6 tiers) in smooth white buttercream to put atop a gold stand. It was very important to the couple that the cake be at least 6ft tall on top of the table. Surrounding the table, adorned in a gorgeous BBJ linen, was a massive amount of florals both on the table top and around the base of the table. We wanted it to look like the flowers were organically growing out from under the cake. It was definitely dramatic and against the green walls of the venue, it stood out for sure.

We had String Source playing beautiful music for our ceremony for our groom, families and wedding party. For the entrance of our bride, they played Halo by Beyonce and as the music swelled to the first verse, we pulled back the drapes to have her walk down the lush white aisle to her groom. It was the perfect moment to present Darian to Lubo.

Our groom is Bulgarian and they wanted to incorporate some of their traditions. Aside from doing traditional Bulgarian dances, Darian & Lubo had to do the breaking of the bread ceremony. His mother explained to everyone what would happen - D&L would stand back to back holding this large piece of bread of their heads. At the count of 3, they would pull their sides as hard as they could until it broke. Whomever had the larger piece would "wear the pants" in the marriage - much to mom's delight, her son won! :)

The Holy Cross Monastery & Church was built in the 1890s and was later abandoned in the 1970s. The monks quarters were later turned into offices but the main church sat empty until it was renovated and opened as an event center in 2016. The main space still boasts a lot of the original features such as the columns and patinaed walls and the high ceilings really draw engaged couples in to the beautiful venue.