McKensie & AJ’s Indianapolis wedding was a true reflection of the generous and fun couple they are. As people who worked hard on their degrees as a pharmacist and physician, they wanted to enjoy the engagement year and have us guide them through the wedding planning journey! What better way to celebrate than to plan the most epic party and create an experience that they all would remember forever. Special thanks to Julia Elise Photography for capturing all of these details and experiences so well!
Wedding Stationery
We had amazing custom artwork and stationery products for this wedding! Artist and stationer Cari of InterPRINTations worked with me to create hydrangea and chinoiserie focused artwork accents to carry throughout the paper design that perfectly blended with our modern venue and McKensie’s sleek style.
The guests received a branded hotel key card folder that included a QR code to the wedding website (created by Satin & Stems) and the inside listed their favorite restaurants for the guest to visit during their stay. About 90% of the guests traveled in to Indianapolis, Indiana for this wedding.
The getting-ready vibes were “cuteness overload”. with a very enthusiastic flower girl and 3 pets who were dressed to impress at the bride’s home. The groom spent the morning with his friends and family downtown Indianapolis at the Courtyard Hotel we blocked for the guests.
Hair and Makeup Teams: Chloe’s Coop-on hair, and Face and Style by Lizzy- on makeup, perfectly brought out everyone’s natural beauty.
The couple’s first look to place at The War Memorial building, which was a very special place for them. After some hard work organizing a route around a parade for our bride coming in from the north, and our groom coming from the west, we had clearance to make this important location happen for our couple! I do whatever it takes to make sure your day goes well, and in this case it involved organizing a road closure route with the IMPD where the officers all knew we had vendor vehicles and our wedding party that needed to be let though. Which was, of course, all done without the couple having to know about the last-minute parade pop-up around their venue.
Wedding Design
Blue Hydrangeas were McKensie’s favorite, so we had to create a floral design that showed them off, while keeping her modern and sleek style at front of mind. The grand Simon Reading Room is such an impressive location that we wanted to make our flowers just as impressive. A walk-through floral arch and then a grand staircase installation filled with the bold blue and white hydrangeas did just that. Satin & Stems’ floral team is a powerhouse group and we had to build these items within a short window due to the library being open to the public. Just wait to see what we did with them after the ceremony!
Even when there’s a first look, the walk down the aisle is an emotional time for our couples. Gorgeous renditions of Taylor Swift’s “Invisible String” and Elvis Presley’s “I Can’t Help Falling in Love” were played by our string trio from City Six Strings.
Enter Cocktail Hour! More branded signage and then a sketch of their wedding by Interprintations, where we had the sketch blown up into a poster for the guests to sign as their “guest book.” The couple is planning to frame and hang this in their home.
Wedding Reception
Creating this custom seating chart presentation was a dream opportunity. I wanted the hydrangeas to get represented in a way that gave the guests something to take home with them. Each person had their name on a flower with their table number underneath. This led them to their tables where we had more amazing paper details at each seat. I had our custom furniture company Vivant Rentals wallpaper the backboard with the custom chinoiserie print Cari created. There were lights built into each shelf and a scripted “We saved you a seat” laser-cut and applied to the full case to finish out the idea. It was an action station that really wow’d our guests! Now check out this room….
Modern banquettes, lounge furniture and matching dining chairs all from Vivant Rentals. When it comes to elegant furniture, they are my go-to company!
Above you can find those ceremony staircase installations now lifted to their new home as a floral bridge over the head table.
Below you will see the custom blue velour drapes we had Ace Party Rental bring in to keep The Attrium separated from the rest of the library in order to create a bit more intimacy in the large room, while also highlighting our primary color. Ace also provided a custom built DJ booth I designed and we elevated it on a matching platform.
Wedding Entertainment
Key features of the night included:
- bringing the archway into the reception to use as their backdrop for a photo station
- 2 full bars to eliminate lines as well as a separate Espresso Martini bar
- petit four dessert bar
- flambe doughnut station
- a DJ that truly brought the place to it’s feet and kept them on the dance floor all night
Wedding Crash Kings was the perfect fit and consistently impressed the guests the entire evening.
None of it would have been possible without an amazing catering and service staff. The Central Library is home to The Ritz Charles catering company. They delivered a superb meal and their professional service staff and bartenders made all of the difference in creating a guest experience that would be remembered for all of the best reasons.
Buses from Avant Garde brought all of our guests in to the venue and then brought them back to the hotel, or our last route was scheduled to take the party to the after party in the couple’s favorite area of the city.
So many special thanks are owed to the full team, check them out on socials:
- Planning, Event Design: @satinandstems_events
- Floral: @elizabeth_satinandstems
- Photography: @juliaelise.co
- Catering: @ritz_charles
- Venue: @eventsatcentrallibrary
- DJ: @weddingcrashkings
- Stationery: @interprintations
- Hair: @chloes.coop
- Makeup: @faceandstylebylizzy
- Custom Furniture / Rentals: @vivantrentals
- rentals: @bbjlatavola
- @acepartyandtents @aclassicpartyrental
- Bars, Drapes: @acepartyandtents
- Instrumentalists: @city6strings
- Transportation: @avantgardelimo
