[section title=”The Planning”]
[field title=”Wedding Colors”]
Sara and Sam chose a classic black and white color scheme for their formal affair, with gold accents! Their wedding party wore black, while Sara used white and gold for their decor! For their stationary and signage (which she designed and DIYed herself!), she chose white with elegant gold calligraphy. They used the ballroom at the Missouri Athletic Club for both their ceremony and reception! The space has darker accent colors, so the white tablecloths and modern gold touches really stood out and created a beautiful contrast!
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[field title=”Design / Vibe / Vision”]
From the bride… “We wanted our wedding to stand the test of time and to never go out of style. The feeling you get when you look at your parents or grandparents’ wedding album is how we wanted it to feel looking through ours. Almost an old charm & nostalgic feel would be the best way to describe it. Design-wise, I am *obsessed* with the royals and wanted it also to feel very regal and grand. So, having the personalizations from the drink toppers pre-ceremony, to the runner and newspapers during the ceremony, to all of the kids walking down the aisle, to the personalized menus… we wanted everyone to feel that they were important on our day too.” Sara made sure the design was cohesive throughout their entire day! Their wedding monogram made every detail feel thoughtful and intentional. So many elements were customized for each guest, which was so special! Sara and Sam went above and beyond to make sure every guest felt welcomed and appreciated in their celebration. A moment Sara had envisioned was Sam seeing her for the first time, walking down the aisle! However, they also loved the idea of a first look – seeing each other in a more intimate setting and being able to spend more of the day together! So, that morning, Sam waited at the alter and turned around to see Sara for the first time walking down the aisle – just the two of them. This was such a sweet moment! We then captured photos of them in the ballroom with their wedding party! Sara had envisioned formal, seated portraits, which turned out beautifully in front of the mirrored backdrop at the MAC. We then went to the St Louis Central Library for more informal, candid portraits! The library has such beautiful architecture that it feels cohesive with its beautiful, historic wedding venue. While the library has historic architecture, it also has a more modern feel with the St. Louis city skyline in the background.
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[field title=”Proposal Story”]
“Sam’s family has been taking annual summer vacations to Grand Haven, Michigan since his mother was little. It was a very serious thing to be invited on the family trip so when I got the invite one year in – I was ecstatic. We went and we both felt like that was truly a turning point in our relationship. Spending a week with such a large family can be intimidating but I loved every second of it and it gave us that glimpse of what our future would look like together. Another year later, on our trip to Grand Haven… we went to dinner with Sam’s twin brother and his wife. While this dinner was happening, our families were setting to the proposal site on the beach. Little did I know, my mom drove 7 hours!! And I had no idea. We all decided to walk to the lighthouse after dinner until we reached an umbrella with a blanket covered in flowers with champagne and his aunt hiding behind a sign taking photos (lol!) It was also on the “family spot” on the beach where we always go during the day. He asked me to marry him in the most special place ever and then our families came down to the beach and his sister threw us a big family celebratory party after! It was the surprise of a lifetime and we love that we get to revisit that spot every year and relive the memories.”
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[board_carousel title=”Getting Ready”]
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[board_carousel title=”Bridal Portraits”]
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[board_carousel title=”Flat Lays”]
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[section title=”The Fashion”]
[field title=”Wedding Gown”]
“This is funny. I envisioned tulle and large fabrics. Basically, I wanted the most outrageous and largest dress. We had set an appointment with my matron of honor, mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-law the following day at a few boutiques. But, the night before my mom and I grabbed a cocktail and there was a new-ish dress boutique, so we stopped in and they allowed me to try on a few dresses. I loved everything I tried on but my mom said the dresses were swallowing me and weren’t “my style”. I was a bit annoyed of course because I envisioned it this whole time… but my mom grabbed a dress and said “JUST TRY IT ON!!!” It was a tight, mermaid-style dress with a bustier top and puff sleeves (I always wear puff sleeves). When I tell you, getting me to take this dress off was nearly impossible. So technically my mom picked out my dress and I would have never tried it on if it weren’t for her. Trying on dresses the next day, nothing compared so I brought my mother and sister-in-law back to the store before I officially said ‘yes!’.”
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[field title=”Bridesmaid Dresses”]“We originally chose a mauve color but the room had a lot of reds, purples, and golds. So, we went with black! They all picked their own dresses. A lot of them were actually vintage found here in St. Louis and in Arizona. My bridesmaids are all so incredibly different women, I wanted them to choose something that spoke to them and made them feel really good.”[/field]
[field title=”Groomsman Attire”]The groomsmen wore classic black tuxes! Sam’s dress shirt included a custom embroidered monogram, which cute enough, is now Sara’s monogram as well! He also had gold monogrammed cuff links. Sam gifted each groomsmen a golf ball with their photos on it which was a fun moment while they were getting ready![/field]
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[board_carousel title=”Wedding Party”]
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[board_carousel title=”Ceremony”]
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[section title=”The Details”]
[field title=”Food & Drink”]
“Being an evening wedding and in the winter with it getting darker earlier, we had champagne passed pre-ceremony. We wanted it to feel “adults only” even though there were a lot of kids. For our cocktail hour, we had an STL favorite – toasted ravioli. We also had spanakopita and Beef Wellington. For dinner, we served filet mignon with garlic butter, green beans and whipped potatoes. Our wedding cake was white cake with raspberry filling. Our venue handled our food and beverage and knocked it out of the park. We are still getting compliments on our food! A++”
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[field title=”Florals & Decor”]
“The first thing I bought when we were engaged was the custom aisle runner. We didn’t even have a venue yet haha! We used Chair Luxe for the candelabras and acrylic pedestals and the stemmed candles from Alyssa at Joyful Belle Event Services. The majority of the other items, I DIYed.” Sara used the same custom monogram from their ceremony runner for their invites and menus – all of which she designed and DIYed herself! The invitation suite was elegant and classic, perfectly matching the vision they had for their day. She designed the suite herself and then had them printed at InkSpot! Although the stationary was stunning, the most impressive DIY of the day was the florals! Sara envisioned grand and luscious florals filling the ballroom. With rising floral costs, this would have been a big feat for a florist to accommodate. Instead of minimizing her vision, she took on the project herself! She sourced white roses for her bouquet (which she wrapped with fabric embroidered with their custom monogram!) and made matching white rose bouquets for her bridesmaids. She created arrangements of roses, hydrangeas, and greenery for her ceremony and reception. Low floral arrangements lined their ceremony aisle with gorgeous, tall florals on glass vases and acrylic stands decorated with their monogram. A ribbon draped the aisle until guests entered, greeted with a glass of champagne, live music, and a ‘Newlywed Times’ newspaper on each seat listing the wedding party and details of the day. “My bridal party, mother and mother-in-law helped me with the florals. We did ALL of them. From the aisle florals, to the tall arrangements, bud vases, bouquets… all of it! I spent the year doing mock-ups and working with our local wholesaler, Harold’s. The Wednesday before the wedding, my mom and I processed them – this took about 8 hours at least. We had the basement filled with buckets of flowers until Friday morning (the day before the wedding!) and we got to work around 8 am. It took about 4 hours to get the arrangements done and then we transported them to my hotel room at the venue. I woke up on our wedding morning surrounded by white roses!”
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[field title=”Wedding Cake”]“Our wedding cake was a classic cake with white cake and raspberry filling. We kept the decor pretty minimal with a few extra flowers we had!”
Sara & Sam’s wedding cake was so beautiful! It was elegant and classic while also being minimalistic and chic – a tough combination to nail but she certainly did!
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[field title=”Readings, Ceremony Music, Reception Songs”]
“Our ceremony music was amazing. We had a piano and cello duo play Bittersweet Symphony, Young and Beautiful and Golden Hour for our aisle songs. My sister-in-law read “The Alchemist”. For the reception, we all entered to “Gimme Gimme” by ABBA. Sam and I danced to “Feeling Good” by Michael Bublé. We practiced once and had a few sketchy impromptu dips that were somewhat successful.” Sara & Sam also wrote and exchanged their own vows! This was such a special moment. Each wrote their vows on booklets from the Missouri Athletic Club to be kept as a special memento from their day.
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[field title=”Special Detail #1″]
“The children walking down the aisle. Our families are the most important thing to us and it is quite big. We had all 19 of our nieces and nephews walk down the aisle by families so our siblings could get a really good photo of their kids together dressed up. We wanted our families to be reflected big time on our day. Sam is the last of 7 of his siblings to be married, so seeing the photos of his mom that Ashley captured really told a story and tugged at my heartstrings. She raised seven really amazing kids and is the grandmother of so many. She really is the backbone of the Kersting family, so to watch her soak in the moments with her last baby was really fun to watch through the album.”
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[field title=”Special Detail #2″]
“The pins in my bouquet were actually the pins from the bouquet at our proposal. Sam makes fun of me for keeping random trinkets from certain memories, but I always find a place to use them. I also used my great-grandmother’s brooch. A majority of the women in our family had this on the bouquets, so I am honored to carry on that tradition of such a great woman.”
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[field title=”Special Detail #3″]
Sara is actually a jewelry consultant at Clayton Jewelers here in St Louis! So, of course, her engagement ring was absolutely stunning and reflected her personal style to a T! A special moment was her opening Sam’s present to her in the morning before she put on her dress! She knew he was gifting her her wedding band, but she had no idea what it would look like! She was so excited that morning to see what he had picked out for her. The moment she opened the box, she was so touched by how perfectly he chose a band that reflected her style and matched her ring!
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[board_carousel title=”Couple Portraits”]
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[board_carousel title=”Reception”]
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Photography: Ashley Carrington Photography | Event Planning: K.Hart Events | Wedding Dress: Savvy Bridal Boutique | Cake: Missouri Athletic Club | Reception Venue: Missouri Athletic Club | Rings: Clayton Jewelers | band: Hollywood 5 Band | Groom's Attire: Jos A Bank | Beauty: Libby's Blowtique | Ceremony Musicians: David Becherer | Content Creation: Hype Queen Media | Film Lab: PhotoVision Prints | Rentals: Chair Luxe | Wedding Dress Designer: Eva Lendel | photobooth: Glow Booth STL