wedding warrior

Eloped in Louisville

Alexis and I go way back. Like we went to camp together when we were in 7 years old in East Aurora, NY, way back. When we were in our 20’s we were on a professional dance team together (Go Buffalo Bandettes!). We always kept in touch, but kids and life (she lives in Buffalo, NY and I, of course, in Louisville, KY) definitely get in the way. So when she text me out of the blue on a Monday night in early January, I was surprised to hear from her! The conversation went like this (pardon the swearing!):

Reminder this is Monday night. That night they booked a flight to Louisville for Thursday night. Neither of them had been to Louisville, but they wanted to get married quickly and didn’t have the documents that were needed to get married in NY and in KY it is surprisingly easy to get married! So my mission was clear: pull off a wedding starting Tuesday morning that would happen Friday afternoon…and make Louisville lovers out of these two!

The abbreviated version of the story is that Louisville has such an amazing community of wedding/event vendors. I was amazed and delighted that everyone I reached out to was willing and able to help!

Natalia with Chocolate Box Photography jumped on as the photographer

The Embassy Suites Downtown Louisville gave a great room rate and indoor courtyard for the ceremony

In Bloom Again said “no problem” when not only did I want them to make a bouquet and boutonniere, but they had to include the couples favorite flower (which are totally out of season), peonies.

Brendan’s Catch 23 reserved a private dining space just for the couple, on a Friday night.

Modern Trousseau Louisville, not only found Alexis her dream dress, but somehow it fit perfectly (I drove Alexis to try it on 3 hours before the ceremony!). Wo, we were lucky!

Then Amelia Evans Makeup Artist jumped on board at 9:30am on Friday…and started Alexis’ makeup at 11:30am!

After a huge snow storm in Buffalo on Thursday the Couple didn’t think they would make their flight to Louisville, but they did with only a slight delay. The next morning they woke up, had breakfast at the Embassy Suites, walked to County Clerk’s office and got their marriage license. Then I picked up Alexis took her to get her wedding dress and then back to the Embassy Suites for hair/makeup. Natalia arrived to capture all the beautiful moments and the Couple was married around 1:30pm that afternoon in the indoor courtyard at the Embassy Suites. That afternoon they turned in their signed marriage license, went to the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience downtown, and then had an amazing private dinner at Brendan’s Catch 23. The next day they explored Louisville (brunch at Gralehaus, cocktails at Proof) and then flew back to Buffalo. On Monday, Reggie flew back to Japan where he is stationed in the Air Force. Alexis has a few loose ends to tie up, but plans to move to Japan with her husband soon!

How’s that for an adventure in wedding planning? Louisville as an elopement wedding destination?? My wheels are turning…stay tuned.

xoxo,

Maggie

 

What does Warrior mean to me?! It’s about being REAL!

Let’s face it, Weekend Wedding Warrior is an odd name for a wedding company. Most companies use the owners name or make up something soft and pretty using the word “elegant” in their company title. I named this company to explain exactly what we do. We are Wedding Warriors that work your Wedding Weekend! It has nothing to do with myself (owner, Maggie Heely) or my ego and it has everything to do with the service we provide families.

Once at a bridal show, a groom said to me “why warrior? what does that mean?” I froze for a second. I had been giving the same schpeel for 3 hours to newly engaged couples and his question caught me off guard!

Well, Mr. Groom, here’s my answer: Being a Weekend Wedding Warrior means going to battle for every single one of the couples and families that we work for. It’s doing the dirty, behind-the-scenes work that the average person doesn’t want to do (let alone recognize that it’s needed to be done). It has nothing to do with being pretty, though we will make sure your wedding is pretty, and it has everything to do with being REAL.
In real life, DJ’s don’t download the correct version of the first dance song and we are finding it on YouTube to connect to the speaker system.
In real life, those beautifully crafted boutonnieres fall apart after the 4th hug and we are super-gluing the stem back on.
In real life, a gown’s train gets stepped on and your bustle breaks and we are on our knees pinning/sewing it so you can dance the night away.
In real life, that perfectly white dress will get something spilled on it and we will have the Tide stick and the white fabric chalk to cover it up.
In real life, you will forget the wedding rings in your room because you are so excited about getting married, but don’t worry, we’ve made sure the Best Man already has them.
In real life, your mash potato bar collapses and we rebuild it!
In real life, there are terrible storms, even on wedding days, and the power goes out so we light every candle we can find and you get married by candle-light!

Life happens and it is not always pretty. We are the SHIELD (the Warrior Shield) that protects you from all of those unexpected, but inevitable moments on your wedding day.

I love beautiful photos and staged wedding photo shoots and creative-minds with pretty and delicate ideas on fancy blogs, but those aren’t real. Being a Weekend Wedding Warrior means making sure every detail is handled so that you can focus on what is really REAL…getting married and committing yourself to the love of your life.