A Colorful Summer Wedding at the Four Seasons St. Louis
Today’s feature is a favorite from our 2017 wedding season. Emily and Colton were married in August, just ten months after Emily’s sister Jessica. We couldn’t have been more thrilled to work with their family for almost two years straight, because they are the most wonderful people and such a joy to plan with! It’s always an honor to be able to work with a family on multiple occasions, and we had so much fun creating days that reflected the personality of each couple. Emily and Colton are such fun, expressive people and their colorful wedding day perfectly embodied them as a couple!
Last year I interviewed Jess about her wedding day and planning process, so I was excited do the same with Emily!
Kim: What was the most important element of the day for you and Colton as you were planning?
Emily: Making sure the evening expressed Colton and I’s personalities. We wanted a warm and elegant feeling as guests entered the ceremony and reception room, but also wanted a bold, bright, and summery feel to it. We wanted everyone to enjoy themselves and really have a great time. I think all the vendors’ professional touches, the band’s electrifying vibe, and my dad being the emcee for the night made the entire wedding day and night so wonderful.
Kim: How did the reality of your wedding day live up to your vision and expectations?
Emily: Way beyond what I could imagine. When planning the wedding, we were doing so many detailed things that it was a little difficult to imagine it all coming together. However, when we met with Belli Fiori and did a mini-trial run of what the head table and guest tables would look like, I felt so relieved and excited that we were all on the same page. But seeing it at their studio verse seeing it all come together at the wedding venue the night of was far beyond what I expected or could have imagined. It really is amazing to see all the hard work leading up to the wedding come together so perfectly.
Kim: What was your favorite moment from the wedding day?
Emily: Favorite moment? There are TONS of favorite moments during my wedding day.
However, I have two favorites. The first was my first look with Colton. Seeing the pure happiness, love, and smile (and tears) from my husband’s face when I walked down the glass staircase in my dress was priceless. The excitement glowing from his smile and the awe in his eyes will forever be placed in my mind. Nothing in the world at that moment in time mattered, but us. I highly recommend every couple do a first look because that is really the one time during the wedding day where it is truly just you and your soon-to-be spouse together.
My second favorite moment was my father-daughter dance. For about 2 months, my dad and I had been practicing a surprise self-choreographed dance. We had this idea planned for some time before the wedding and did not tell a soul (except for a friend who mixed the music for us). We started with a typical father-daughter dance to a Tim McGraw song and then about a minute into the dance, the surprise began. The looks on our guests, families, and my husband’s faces were hilarious. I didn’t see their reactions until we got our wedding photos back and I am SO glad they were able to capture it. Everybody was clapping, dancing with us, and up on their feet while we showed off our moves. It really set the mood for the rest of the night on the dance floor. My dad did an awesome job!
Kim: What was your favorite floral element?
Emily: I have two favorite floral elements (how could I JUST pick one). The first was the head table backdrop. When I met with Belli Fiori and we discussed this design, I was not exactly sure how it was going to turn out on the day of the wedding because I’m a very visual person. The sketches and descriptions during our meetings helped, but seeing it in person was really going to put the pieces together for me. And, oh my goodness…did Belli Fiori outdo themselves. Seeing the backdrop for the first time during the room reveal was something magical. I have never seen anything like it. The flowers used, designs created, and ideas put to real life was spectacular. It was gorgeous, bright, summery, and perfection. I even had several guests take photos with it as their background.
My second favorite floral element was my bouquet. I had shown Lisa a photo of my favorite bouquet from Pinterest and when I received my bouquet the day of the wedding, another “oh my goodness” came out of my mouth. It was identical to the photo I had shown Lisa at the very beginning of wedding planning. It was MORE beautiful than the image I had shown her. From the flowers and colors to the actual arrangement, it was EXACTLY what I wanted. To this day, I have a photo of my bouquet as the background on my cell phone.
Kim: Your wedding took place 10 months after Jessica’s; were you ever nervous that having the same team of vendors would make your wedding feel too much like hers?
Emily: Not at all. Actually, that was one thing when I met with each vendor I had expressed from the start. I told them I wanted our guests to be “wowed” again because we had a lot of the same guests that attended both weddings. I knew I was going to have the same vendors used for my wedding that my sister used because we just LOVED them all! With my wedding being in the summertime and my sister’s in the fall, I knew they were going to be different. Meeting with Belli Fiori reassured me of that because the seasonal flowers and color schemes alone were going to be way different than a fall wedding. My sister and I (even though we have the same taste in vendors) have a little different taste in colors, designs, and ideas. My wedding design and style totally expressed my (and my husband’s) personalities.
Kim: Do you have any advice for future brides?
Emily: Enjoy every moment. Enjoy ALL the planning and decision-making leading up to the wedding. Enjoy the stressful moments and the not-so-stressful moments. This is what makes the wedding (and planning) fun. Do not take yourself or the decisions that you need to make too seriously because at the end of the day, everything will fall into place. When it comes to the wedding day, really soak it in. It goes by TOO fast! One piece of advice (out of many) that my sister gave to me was during the reception, take a break from the dance floor and look around the room with your spouse to take it all in. The guests dancing and having fun, the floral arrangements and decorations, that everyone in the room is celebrating the love of you two, and what a masterpiece you created with a team of vendors and your family. My husband and I did this.
Vendor Love
Photos: Switzerfilm | Venue: Four Seasons | Day-of Planning: Proposing Dreams | Ceremony Music: Melrick | Band: Griffin and the Gargoyles | Paper Goods: M. Haley Design | Videographer: Lifetime Media | Uplighting and Décor: Belli Fiori
By Kimberly Wallner