I am over the top excited to share todays real wedding. Why you might ask? First Valerie and Roberts wedding is so beautiful to look at. When I first saw it, courtesy of the talented Tracy Routh, I loved all the little details that went in to personalizing the day. Then after talking to Valerie, I was even more excited; pretty much everything was done by Valerie, her mom, and sister. Check out all the loveliness below, you’ll see what I mean.
Who, What, Where ~ Ceremony: Parkville Presbyterian Church, Reception: Art’s Incubator Event Space, Photographer: Tracy Routh Photography, Catering: Above and Beyond Catering, Cake: Rebekah Foster Cakes, Flowers: Tracy, her mom, and sister (good job guys!), Dress: Nicole Miller.
Valerie bought her beautiful Nicole Miller dress in an online sample sale at Bluefly.com. She loved the simple, sleek, and classic design, and wanted the rest of her wedding to reflect the same tone. She had the bridesmaids choose their own style of dress in black from JCrew. For her jewelry Valerie wanted to start her own “heirloom piece”, that she could pass down to her children one day. She chose a Majorica pearl strand necklace and drop earrings. She topped everything off with a hand made feather fascinator off Etsy.
Valerie and Robert got married at Parkville Presbyterian Church, a family tradition. Her grandparents were the first to get married there in 1952, followed by her parents in 1973. She had always envisioned herself getting married there someday.
Quite an ambitious bunch Valerie, her mom, and sister decided they were going to do all the flowers themselves. Valerie found the black and white stripe grosgrain ribbon and says she carried it around for almost a year while she planned her wedding for inspiration. They used them on the bouquets, boots, and centerpieces at the reception.
Because of her color scheme, Valerie felt that ivory and black anemones and red ranunculus were a perfect choice. However for their October wedding they were warned by a florist that anemones wouldn’t be in season. Valerie ordered the flowers online, and they arrived crushed and wilted. However she was able to salvage enough for the bouquets, and got some replacement flowers from the florist, and she, her mom, and sister did all the arrangements the night before the wedding. Phew! Good work ladies.
Love this shot! Photographer Tracy managed to get all the photos they needed wrapped up right before it started to sprinkle.
Valerie and Robert chose the Arts Incubator Event Space in the Crossroads district as their reception venue. They love downtown Kansas City, and the raw feel of the space. The Arts Incubator houses studios for local artists, and includes a view of the skyline that in Valerie’s words is “to die for”. She says that the space really made their reception, and set the stage for the fun party they had planned.
Valerie is a big advocate of DIY projects: “There were lots of little odds and ends that we made along the way. You can definitely get what you want a lot cheaper by spending some time on the internet. There are so many great DIY tutorials and resources available.”
She found this mustache pattern online, and put them on every table at the reception. She says they added the perfect “quirky” factor she was looking for, and made for fun pictures.
At the reception they chose to serve two signature drinks- a “Valerini Petrazini ‘Tini (rose water martini with a floating rose petal) for me and a “Bobby-O” (Captain Morgan and Coke) as Robert’s. The name Valerini Petrazini was a nick name Valerie’s father always called her growing up that stuck. Bobby-O is a nick name Robert has had his whole life.
Valerie, her mom, and sister made a variety of “black” (chocolate) and “ivory” cookies and goodies. They set them out with cute little black bags at the reception for guests to choose what they would like to take home with them. Some of the cookies were Chocolate Crackups, chocolate covered Rice Krispie treats, marbled cheesecake brownies, chocolate dipped coconut macaroons, plus many others. Valerie’s mom also made the black and white flowers from a pattern she found at Paper Source.
Other DIY projects included: Invitations made by Valerie, as well as table numbers, the flower girls headband mean to mirror Valerie’s, paper cones filled with with wild flowers to be tossed after the ceremony, and home made chocolate dipped strawberries. Yum!
A big thank you to Valerie and Robert for sharing all the details about their day with Middle of the Map, and to Tracy Routh for submitting this lovely wedding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have a real wedding you’d like to share? We take submissions from vendors as well as couples, so e-mail us at middleofthemapweddings@gmail.com for more details about how to be featured on Middle of the Map Weddings. Who knows, the next real wedding we share could be yours!
