Take a look at Thomas & Sydney’s Dark Horse Distillery Wedding!

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Photographer: Crystal Liepa Photography   Ceremony Venue: Antioch Park    Reception Venue: Dark Horse Distillery    Coordination: Events by Elle    Gown: Watters    Menswear: Combatant Gentlemen    Bridesmaids: Bella Bridesmaid     Florist: Poppy & Clover Floral    Hair: L. Louise Hair & Makeup    Makeup: Makeup by Angela    Desserts: Whimsy Cheesecakes    Catering: Delish!    DJ: KC Mobile DJ
Thomas & Sydney’s Love Story Thomas and I met in the Summer of 2012 in Kansas City. There wasn’t a single moment that made us happen, but a lot of little ones that steered us together. At the time, I was in college in Nebraska and he had one semester left at NDSU. We had both landed internships with the same company. It was pretty casual at first, but once the summer ended we decided to try out the long distance thing. There were a lot of ups and downs, a lot of moves, but we made it work and eventually made our home here in Kansas City. After about two years together, Tom and I went on a vacation to Martha’s Vineyard – in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in the world. It was both of our first time’s there, and he proposed to me on my favorite beach. I’m not sure that I ever really said yes because mostly I was crying tears of joy. We got to enjoy the rest of our vacation in freshly engaged bliss. There are many words I would use to describe our wedding – vintage, chic, romantic, elegant, intimate – but the one word that fits best is “us”. On the day of our wedding, we started out with a bit of tradition. The boys and girls got ready in separate rooms. My girls and I, dressed in silk robes and freshly painted nails, spent the morning having our hair done and make-up applied while playing MASH. While my girls were getting their finishing touches done, my mother helped me into my vintage-inspired Watters gown. My “something new” was a lace and organza, floral hairpiece my mom had got me. My “something blue” was vintage estate earrings my step-father had picked out for me. My “something old”, and also my “something borrowed”, was a cuff-style, bracelet that belonged to my late grandmother. I even had a silver sixpence from my grandparents taped inside my left shoe! Thomas and I decided to do a first look before the ceremony. He waited anxiously behind a large barn-style door as I slid it open. It was a lot of hugging and trying not to ruin my makeup by crying. We held our ceremony outside at Shawnee Mission Park. One of our readings was a passage out of Harry Potter. We are both pretty big nerds (an engineer and an auditor) and one of our shared and most deeply held fandoms is Harry Potter. As we all know, the reception is the party. We really took that to heart, so our concepts were totally focused on our guests. At the top of a menu at each place setting, it explained that the bride and groom being quite food-driven themselves have requested that if you are hungry – eat! Our food stations and the meanings behind them were a special treat to our guests. Our cake cutting was celebrated with our collective favorite dessert which is cheesecake. After a night of dancing and hugging and losing our shoes, there is one last memento, the souvenir of a day full of fun and love, the wedding favor. It was important for our own reasons that it be simple and something guests would actually want to have. We decided on an old-fashioned whiskey glass and monogrammed it with an elegant ‘W’ and the date. A Few Special Pieces:  Our guests looked around the room and found several food stations – gourmet mac-and-cheese, Asian-inspired salad in take-out boxes, soup selections, and build-your-own tacos. A seemingly random selection of comfort foods. As they made their way around to the various stations they found a card at each station.  On this card was a story of how this particular food fits into our story. The anecdotes ranged from sweet and romantic to raucous and funny. It was a very endearing and a great way for all of our guests to really connect to the event and maybe even learn something about us that they didn’t know before.  The Groom’s Favorite Part of the Day Our first dance was my favorite part of the wedding because we spent countless hours preparing, organizing, and planning for it. When it all came down to it, that was five minutes we got to spend all to ourselves with everyone watching us. It was a short period of time only about us where it didn’t matter who was watching. Also because it was a surprise – no one had any idea I could dance! The Bride’s Favorite Part of the Day I think my favorite moment was after our first look. We walked over to the reception space and practiced our first dance. It was just us. We got to take it all in before things got crazy, and it was the only part of the whole day that we would get to be alone together.