BLOG

I’m often asked, “What kind of wedding is your favorite?”, and my answer is probably a little more complicated than most people expect.  It has nothing to do with the size of the wedding, or the location, or how many flowers they have.  It’s the kind of wedding where the bride and groom have the day THEY want, whether that’s completely traditional or totally not.  The kind where you can tell that each and every guest is someone important to them, and everyone is genuinely happy to be there.  The kind where no one complains about things that won’t matter the next day, because they haven’t forgotten what the wedding day is really about.  This wedding was all of those things.  And it began with a pair of blue Vince Camuto shoes.

Meredith wore a short (gasp!) satin dress, made from Dean’s mom’s dress (and was worn a generation before that too).  If you know Meredith, you won’t be surprised that she tested its twirl potential.

It was windy outside, so I set the first look up under the shelter of the front of the house.  Meredith’s reaction was so completely endearing –  is it just me or does she give anyone else Sutton Foster vibes (if you don’t know who that is, click here)?

Tradition be damned, they went against the usual wedding party choices of all ladies for the bride’s side and all men for the groom’s side.  Meredith had bridesmaids as well as bridesmen, and Dean had groomsmen plus a groomsmaid.

When you have a bridal party full of actors, boxers/kickboxers, and generally fun people, there’s bound to be some drama and competition.  They chose their friend Justin to be the officiant for the ceremony, but first, he had to play referee in the battle of “who has the baddest group of attendants???”

At the ceremony, Dean couldn’t help but smile as Meredith made her way down the aisle to Milky Chance’s “Stolen Dance”, because she started lip synching and pointed at him with her bouquet when the line “I want you, we can bring it on the floor” came on.

Remember their friend Justin who was the designated officiant?  He was the perfect choice because he was also their accidental matchmaker.  He was the director for a play they both auditioned for, he cast them as brother and sister, and as they say, the rest is history.  So he brought them together, then bound them together.  Poetic, yes?

Their reception was simple, colorful and fun, decorated with plenty of festive paper lanterns, childhood pictures, and M&M’s on every table.  Master of ceremonies Justin made yet another appearance to introduce the entire bridal party, in ring announcer Michael Buffer style, of course.  Accompanied by the theme from Rocky, the bride’s side came out in grey hoodies, the groom’s side in navy, the bride in white, and the groom in black.  Each hoodie was personalized, and bore a lion and beaver crest designed by the man of honor (a nod to the bride and groom’s animal-friendly last names).

Meredith could hardly wait to dive into the cake because it had Oreo filling.  Dean’s groom’s cake didn’t have Oreo filling, but it had Megaman, which is basically the same thing. 🙂

When they told me they were making their exit in Meredith’s dad’s vintage Corvette, I knew we had to do a little retro photo shoot with it.  They’re both ACTORS, and the groom’s name is DEAN – it was practically a direct order from the heavens.

Meredith & Dean: Thank you for being so much fun that I forgot to be sad that we didn’t get to shoot with light sabers. 😀

Venue: Private Residence

Wedding Gown: DIY, made from the groom’s mom’s wedding dress

Shoes: Vince Camuto

DJ: Fontaine Entertainment

Getaway Car: Private vehicle