Mikaela and Ryan - May 12, 2012

Mikaela and Ryan were married at 11 North Pearl on May 12, 2012.  This couple is very special to me because of the connections I have to both of their families.  If you remember back in the fall of 2010 I was the wedding coordinator for Mikaela's brother and sister in law's wedding - Tonya and Ryan at The Inn at Erlowest.  You may recognize Ryan (the brother) in the photo of the ceremony below as he served as the officiant for these two love birds.  You may also recognize the maid of honor in the photos below - yup that's Erin, WPP intern for this year.  Plus the fact that the best man and brother of the groom is a friend of mine, well you can see how the connections keep going and how this wedding had some very personal significance to me.

About two months before their big day I got an email from Mikaela's sister in law Tonya, my former bride from two years ago.  She wanted to know if I could help these two out in their final stages of planning because the stress of the home stretch was a little more than they wanted to handle on their own.  I instantly jumped up and down with excitement to know that I'd have the chance to not only work with this family but I would get to see them all again!  Mikaela and I began a set of regular meetings and formulated the perfect game plan to get everything done in that final stage and ensure that she and her fiance Ryan would experience the wedding they had been dreaming of.

I loved all of the personal details that Mikaela and Ryan put in to their big day.  The bride loves the color orange and went bold with bright orange dresses with the bridesmaids and complimented that with dark charcoal suits for the guys.  At the reception they used wine bottles as their table numbers and decorated their tables with orange napkins and floating candles with bright orange kumquats submerged inside.  Instead of allowing their guests to clink their water glass to make them kiss they laid orange hula hoops on the dance floor and made guests go up during dinner and hula hoop in order to get them to smooch.  They added a personal element to their cupcake stand by choosing a fun cake topper that described the couple to a tee.  Ryan is a hockey fanatic and Mikaela is his number one fan, as you can see in the picture of their custom topper.  Super cute!  Just outside the venue there was a cigar roller who was a big hit.  Who wouldn't want to stand in a tux or a dress on Pearl Street puffing on a cigar?  And if a cigar wasn't your style they invited guests to take home bags of orange cotton candy as a sweet treat to end the night.  All of these little touches added a ton of fun and enjoyment for them and their guests.

Unfortunately I was booked for another wedding that day and was not able to be there at their event but I had an amazing team of vendors on this event so I knew everything would go smoothly once I handed the game plan over to them.  First the photographer super duo of Jason Hupe and Erin Coker, also known as Gallery 9 North, were on hand to document all of the day's events.  Thanks guys for sharing these awesome photos with me!  This couple also had videographer John Tegan of Nuvue Cinema and the music mastermind of Mike Garassi from Music Man Entertainment to rock their reception out.  The team at 11 North Pearl were totally on top of their game and did a wonderful job with the set up and design and also with the food and service.  Central Market Florist did all of the personal wedding flowers, and as a fun surprise to their guests they had the Magnet Man on hand to set everyone up with funny props and backdrops and send them home with magnets to remember the special night.

Thank you Tonya and Ryan (brother) for bringing me on this to wedding with your family!  Mikaela and Ryan, I wish you nothing but the best in your new life together.  See you around town!!  xoxoxo