Metropolitan Weddings Podcast
Metropolitan Weddings Podcast
A Metropolitan Love Story: Meet the Couple James and Sierra
Have you ever found yourself torn between the intimate simplicity of eloping and the grandeur of a traditional wedding? James and Sierra Schuchard were right there with you, until they found their way to a celebration that was authentically theirs. Today we invite you to be a part of their wedding planning journey. As a wedding professional and a mom , Dawn, alongside Adam and Meg, offer a unique dual perspective on the challenges and triumphs that come with orchestrating such a meaningful day.
The art of crafting a wedding that feels like home isn't just about the perfect table settings or the most picturesque venue—it's about the people and the memories. Sierra and James's story is a testament to this, as they deliberate over eco-friendly choices and the significance of every detail, right down to the real dishes at the reception. Their approach to creating a multi-day celebration extends the joy beyond a single day, weaving a tapestry of connections among their guests.
There were a lot of personal details put Into so many aspects of this wedding, and there were so many different aspects of their wedding day that it was hard to put It all into one episode. Keep an eye out for our follow up episode where we sit down and talk to their planner Misty Willinger about all of the other aspects.
Welcome to Metropolitan Weddings. I'm Meg, I'm Dawn, and we are here to educate couples with information from wedding professionals in the industry.
Speaker 2:Our goal is to make the wedding planning process as seamless as possible by providing you with insight from industry professionals.
Speaker 1:Okay, couples, let's get this party started. So this is Metropolitan Weddings first interview with a couple from the magazine. We are joined this morning with James and Sierra. James and Sierra, would you like to say hello to our listeners? Hello, hello, and Sierra, did you change your name? Are you still what? What is your? What are your names now? Introduce your full selves.
Speaker 3:Hi, I'm James Schuchard.
Speaker 4:And I am Sierra Schuchard. I haven't legally changed it, but I plan to.
Speaker 1:I wonder how many of our couples will say that.
Speaker 5:Okay, now can we get the last four of your social. No no, no.
Speaker 1:And your mother's maiden name and the first car you drove Making model. He already said he wasn't rich.
Speaker 3:What street did?
Speaker 4:you grow up on.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. Okay. So we have this. We have this new idea as Metropolitan Weddings to sort of be able to have a chat with our couples after we've written the story about them. We've obviously chosen you guys as wedding to be a part of Metropolitan Weddings magazine because, you know, we thought something was amazing about it your story, your details. You had a unique theme or interest in that way. And so you guys have been chosen for some reasons One, because you did have amazing, unique, wonderful, beautiful details, and that is in part because Dawn.
Speaker 2:I am Sierra's mom, that's right.
Speaker 1:So, she was. She sounded questioning about that.
Speaker 2:I'm not hesitating at all. I am 100% positive.
Speaker 5:You are her mom.
Speaker 2:I am 100% positive. I am her mom. I remember the day.
Speaker 1:So you see, we have a unique. We have a unique story here in that Dawn had the pleasure of helping Sierra plan her wedding and we know that everything was beautiful and unique because, of course, that they were hand-picked the best of the best from everyone that we've met over the years. But this in this unique story, we want to hear more from James and Sierra about kind of their perspective of wedding planning and what they think that was like, what they would do again and what maybe they wouldn't do again, or advice they have for couples. So let's dig into it. When you guys first started planning your wedding, what were your initial thoughts and how did those change along the way?
Speaker 4:Well, I think originally we weren't really sure that we were gonna have a wedding, but I said that if we were gonna have a wedding, but I really liked the venue Greenhouse Two Rivers and my mom called them and talked to them and they had one date available for the next summer. That was a Saturday and they gave us like a few hours to decide if we wanted it. So we decided in those few hours whether or not we were gonna have a legitimate wedding or not.
Speaker 1:So the clock was on, you were like, oh my god, we're making this a huge decision about the next. I don't know how long you planned. It was like a year. How long did you guys plan? Yeah?
Speaker 4:yeah, it's a little over a year.
Speaker 1:So are we gonna spend the next year of our life like planning this giant event with all our friends and family, or are we just gonna likeelope?
Speaker 4:Yeah, exactly, so it was a difficult decision to make.
Speaker 1:How did you come to?
Speaker 4:the decision.
Speaker 1:What was that conversation like?
Speaker 3:It happened really fast and it's like, well, if that's the place you want, we should go ahead and book it. And then we had a book, or Don had a book later that day. It really took action really fast and I was like, well, I guess this is happening. How are we gonna rain dawn in for the next year?
Speaker 1:Looking back, would you say that you did or didn't rain dawn in for the next year?
Speaker 4:I don't think we did.
Speaker 5:I love this because this is really truly showing how the dynamic is between couple and parent. And it's so funny because I don't feel like I was that off the charts at all, because I was too busy running my business.
Speaker 2:So there's times I felt like I didn't give it the attention that most moms do.
Speaker 5:Well, evidently you did great.
Speaker 2:I was out of control by 90%. I think it would be cool for you guys, because I remember like we Adam and I were photographing a wedding in Mexico and Sierra and James came. They were family friends and so they came and we you know kind of vacation there, but it felt like after that wedding you guys started leaning more towards having a wedding versus a loping. Is that true?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think after going to seeing other people's weddings, I think especially. We went to a wedding a few months after the one in Mexico with some of our friends and seen everyone together and what a cool party it was. It made us more excited to have our own friends and family get to gather and celebrate.
Speaker 2:And I remember like and I could be completely off so you can say, yeah, I know that was never a thing, but I felt, like you guys, after Emily and Austin's wedding, that after they said their vows, I remember us talking about that. Remember, james, you specifically talking about how like meaningful that was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think just seeing it happen sold me on a bit more and like realizing that it's not just about the legal aspects of the paperwork but like how meaningful it is to say that stuff in front of your friends and family and kind of accountability that creates, and like the celebration it creates. So I think we started moving towards. I mean, I don't know if we were ever just gonna elope, if we were gonna get married, but then it's just a matter of if we're gonna do something really small, like some of our friends did, where it's just like 10, 20 people, or if we were gonna go ahead and do the whole thing.
Speaker 1:So you had already solidified the fact that you were going to have this big wedding. But we're thinking, oh my gosh, how do we want to do this? We decided so quickly but then, as time went on, I'm hearing like you attending other weddings and seeing that friends and family connection, hearing them say words of affirmation and love to each other and make that commitment publicly and get to say those things. It made you really happy that you had made the decision to go ahead and move forward with the larger wedding.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think also the Emily's wedding was before we decided to do greenhouse two rivers, I can't remember exactly.
Speaker 2:It was.
Speaker 1:It was Okay, yeah, well, I like that. I like it that when you you know, you would already had those experiences, so that it helped. It helped, you know, in your heart of hearts what you wanted to do as far as the wedding goes.
Speaker 2:I think we were all like Terry, emily and Austin's wedding from him getting like so emotional as he was saying his vows and I remember James saying something like that. It really like kind of hit him and so, yeah, that was that was the reason why I asked that question, because it just stuck with me that James was like whoa, that was that was super emotional and cool to hear.
Speaker 1:So did you two wrote your own vows. Is that right? And I would have to say that I feel like whatever, whatever you guys witnessed and were part of as Emily's wedding, they really took to heart, because I would say that each of your vows because I got to attend the wedding and also tiered up I would say that each of your vows were very moving and heartfelt and a little bit of laughter, a little bit of love, a little bit of like it was the full recipe, it was, it was the secret sauce, it was amazing, and getting to do that and fill that and be a part of that with you guys was magical. And so I can see where you know, the inspiration had kind of come to you guys from other people's love and you're getting to witness that moment in their wedding and stuff. So that's kind of cool.
Speaker 1:I didn't know that, that you know, prior to that, those were the things that you loved. But you could now looking back I would say that that blood through I could see that in your wedding, that that was like a special moment for you guys. Good job, you lovers.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you made me cry and stuff.
Speaker 3:I didn't plan on crying, but you did, yeah, in a big way. In a big way, a lot of tears, a lot of tears.
Speaker 5:So I have a question backing up to kind of you guys made the decision to go ahead and have the big wedding, so talk me through what you guys kind of discussed whenever you started making your list of like, okay, here's the things for the wedding that are important for us.
Speaker 4:That's a hard question.
Speaker 3:For us the like community aspect of it. So it's just about who we're going to have there and like how we can spend the most time with them and make it a good time for everyone that we invite. Yeah, it's about like it was mostly about the celebration and throwing a good party.
Speaker 1:I think you also had in mind to keep it. What eco-friendly would you say, or would you use a different word?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think just in general. I mean, it wasn't like the biggest priority or something that we I don't know tried to put into every aspect. So that's something that we do generally in our life. So we lean toward options such as not using plastic or, like throwaway plates, using actual dishes and just those sort of small options to make it more environmentally friendly.
Speaker 1:And then so was it like what was most important to you specifically, sierra?
Speaker 4:would it have been like the gown, or the flowers, or the overall look, or I think, just the opportunity to have a really cool ceremony with the people that I cared about and get to say my vows. The appearance of it in stuff wasn't a big factor for me. I loved my wedding dress, definitely, and my wedding ring and all of that was really amazing. The flowers were spectacular, but that wasn't necessarily what I was focused on. Luckily, I had my mom to focus on that for me Approximately 90%.
Speaker 3:Number one. I'll mention the other couples who have your mom work in the wedding and they're like I'm not going to be in the wedding.
Speaker 5:I was really curious as to how this was going to go with them, just because we know them, obviously, and we've also known weddings for years and years and years and we know how different brides and different couples have different personalities and everything, and we know how James and Sierra are really big on just their relationships with their people, that they care about and experiences with them, but not necessarily the bride, who has been looking at gowns on Pinterest for three years dreaming about what her wedding dress was going to look like, and James wasn't necessarily the super like. I got to have this name brand Tuxedo, and all of my guys got to look this certain way. Do you guys feel like Sierra and James? Do you feel like your goals of that community and that experience was achieved?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think so. And it was the wedding day went so fast it was so difficult to even get a chance to say hi to everyone. I think I missed probably half of the guests that maybe like said hi and passing and didn't actually get to talk to them. More so than I expected. I knew it would be fast and I wouldn't get to like catch up and sit with everyone, but there are so many people that I like saw and was like, oh my gosh, I haven't seen that person a year.
Speaker 4:I'd love to like hang out with them, but we were always busy throughout the night and so, getting to, we actually did an event on Friday night, since the venue had a wedding on Friday night. Our rehearsal dinner was on Thursday. So we took the opportunity to have an event on Friday night with all of our out of town guests and our close friends and family and have them over for a meal, and that was a really cool opportunity to be able to have some of that time to catch up with people, to get to celebrate with them and talk to them that we wouldn't have had if we just had the wedding.
Speaker 3:That took a lot of pressure off on the day of the wedding. It's like I may not be able to talk to him now, but I had some time with him yesterday.
Speaker 5:That's great. Don, I have to ask you because you were kind of the one who put all of that like emotion and together and everything. So what was kind of your thought process whenever you started talking about this out of town dinner and all of these things kind of surrounding the wedding, leading up to the wedding, like what was going through your head when you were thinking about that?
Speaker 2:Well, we did know that we had the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night, so that was gonna be the closer people. And on Friday night we knew that all these out of town guests were coming in. So Sierra and James' wedding gosh, it was probably at least 50% out of town guest Because James was in the St Louis area or his family does, and in Canada and Minnesota and all kinds of different places, and then their college friends, of course, all have moved away. So the thought process that came behind the multi-day event is actually from weddings that we have photographed on the coast. So when we've gone and photographed other weddings on the coast, the majority of those are multi-day events. They don't just do a wedding, they do they have their rehearsal and then they have a day where they celebrate either with all of their guests or they're out of town guests the day before the wedding.
Speaker 2:So we decided that we love that concept so that Sierra and James and it was so important to Sierra and James that they be able to spend time with family and friends. So we were able to and we have a very large yard so we were able to get a rental company to come in. They set up all the tables, the dishes. We had a caterer come in, we had a live musician come in and do music during the dinner and then afterwards it was just yard games and hanging out and spending time together as a family and also us getting to know some of James' people and James' people getting to know us a little better. So that day, honestly, was really special. It was a really cool day having that. At least I think you guys. What are your thoughts on it?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was, I mean, amazing addition to the wedding. I think if we'd just done the wedding, we would have felt like we were missing out on an opportunity to spend some time with people that we really care about and had traveled so far to come see us and we wouldn't have gotten to get to really enjoy their time or get to enjoy time with them.
Speaker 2:And there's like, of course, your vendors are gonna be excited. We actually use different vendors at each event, but you have, your vendors are gonna be super excited to help you with two different events If you wanted to do that, or if you had vendors that you were in between, like you loved excuse me, you love this person's food, but you also love this person's food. You can kind of theme it two different ways. If you love barbecue, you can do that, which you're partying the day before. And then, of course, the Sierra and James wedding was all about the Mexican food that was all for James.
Speaker 5:So, yeah, anyways, it was really this is such a this is gonna be a very unique one of these, because you're getting the parents on here as well, so we can kind of talk about our perspectives.
Speaker 5:And that's why I kind of wanted to ask you because we knew we know how weddings are and what they said. If you only focus on the one day and if your main goal is to experience that connection with everybody, it goes so freaking fast you're gonna miss stuff. So I loved having that dinner before, because half the people I spoke to at the dinner I don't even remember seeing them at the reception because so much was going on. So getting to experience every guest there was so great and it made it more about Sierra and James and less about just the wedding and the wedding happening on Saturday. So it was really cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the wedding was like the final event and the say goodbye is, but the days leading up to it was more of the connecting days. It felt like.
Speaker 1:That sounds fun, I think it also speaks to.
Speaker 1:You know Sierra and James' hope that it would become a community that was the word that I'm hearing them say about like their vision for the wedding. They just wanted that community feeling. That just illustrates more ways that you can bring that community together and spend time with them. Like Sierra said, you know you get time with them the day before to actually talk to them. So that James that said that. So if he didn't get to talk to him at the wedding, he at least knew he had made that connection and gotten to see them while they were in town. So especially for out of town guests, the multi-day is five stars. We're giving it five stars.
Speaker 3:And it's worth it for, like, I invited right a lot of my family from out of town but they're not all necessarily from the same place and so it gives them more time for my aunt and uncle from Minnesota to spend more time with my grandma from Canada, so it's like everyone gets to spend more time, you know, not just at the ceremony and reception, but, you know, just spending time in the backyard playing yard games and hanging out. I think I made it worthwhile for everyone to have to drive or fly in.
Speaker 1:So, in creating that, that memory bank for everyone, when they think back to when Sierra and James got married, it's not just oh yeah, his vows were great and it made me cry and blah, blah, blah, but it's like this whole time in which they got to reconnect and see each other and smile and laugh. It was Great point.
Speaker 5:I never really thought about that. It wasn't just about the experience that James and Sierra got to have with everybody, it was what everyone else got to have with each other too, because some of them don't get to see each other very often.
Speaker 2:So I never really thought about that, so the way we kind of did. It was close family and friends and out of town guests. So, like our much closer family even though they lived in town and friends, we wanted them to be here to also meet James's family and then, like all the out of town guests and it wasn't small, it was- large.
Speaker 5:No, it was not.
Speaker 2:And the good thing is is that the neighbors were all very sweet and everyone's like park in our driveway, park in the road, you know. But it all worked out. It all came together so easily.
Speaker 5:And if anyone would like to rent out our backyard for your day before wedding party we do charge by the hour.
Speaker 3:I think Adam might have something to say about it coming together easily. He spent months building a brand new deck and doing-.
Speaker 2:This is true. Our deck was not super safe. I needed a little work, but man do. We have an amazing deck now.
Speaker 5:We do, we do. Okay, we're getting off town. We are, we are, we are. It's gonna be like how did Adam build the deck? Well, you see, I took a hammer and a nail.
Speaker 2:The live musicians loved it. It just became a stage. It was great. That is great.
Speaker 5:But even going off of this community and everything else aside from that, when it came down to the wedding. I mean, the wedding was amazing, designed it was, it looked amazing.
Speaker 1:It was fabulous.
Speaker 5:Everybody that came in was like oh my God. So I think the environment that was created was very beautiful as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it absolutely was and if you're listening, it will be out in our winter 24 issue. So if you're hoping to see pictures, we'll have those after it comes out in the magazine. Also online, you can go to our website and look at girl weddings. Look up James and Sierra Chacard and they will be in there so that you can kind of put some faces and moments to the or pictures with the podcast. One of the things that you had mentioned earlier, sierra, was the ring, and I know for you it was a very personal process. Do you guys wanna talk about that a little bit Like, how did you just well, you talk about it?
Speaker 4:Yeah, when James and I have had talked about a ring before, diamonds weren't something that we were very interested in, partially coming from a geology, geological engineering background. Also, like diamonds are that much more valuable than other precious stones, and so we wanted to do something a little bit more unique, and so James is the one that found this design, if you wanna talk a bit about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I just started Googling, looking for pictures and examples and I figured, I mean, I know Sierra loves the outdoors and loves like designs inspired by nature, so I was looking for something that would use like the colors of the stones to create like a different kind of feel like that. And so I was looking for something that used emerald to like create leaves in the design. And so I Googled that and found one that I thought was really good enough here if she liked it. And then I took that to cornerstone jewelers in Springfield and they were able to make one similar. They didn't make the exact same one, but they ended up making a custom one that we liked even more.
Speaker 3:And we went in a couple of times and they had like example one for me to try on and we adjusted it and changed the sizes and yeah, they were able to build it in the computer and then use like a 3D printer to make the wax mold which she was able to try on first. So before they even cast the metal, she's able to try on the wax and, like we were able to give them notes based on that, so we're able to customize it quite a bit as we went.
Speaker 5:That's cool. I did not know all of that happened. I didn't either. I had no idea. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Luis and Billy are pretty amazing. Yeah, yeah At Cornerstone Wow.
Speaker 1:So the process, the problem it was a very involved process that you guys got to go through as you're planning and it's kind of like it's growing and being made along with all of these other wedding plans, and then comes to fruition and now you have a one of a kind of work of art on your finger that your husband designed for you. So I think that's pretty cool Not everybody has that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, really awesome. Yeah, it's beautiful to you.
Speaker 5:I thought it was really cool because I mean, my God, we've taken pictures of so many rings over the years at weddings and it was such an interesting thought process and was, like you know, it doesn't have to look like it's supposed to look like. You know, it can be completely unique and it's still beautiful in its own way. So I actually love that they broke broke traditional mold of wedding rings and bands and stuff and they made this super cool, like art piece that she gets to wear every day.
Speaker 2:Well, and you know, the cool thing is, even with all the weddings, that we've shot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of weddings over the years, if I were, I'd see her as ring, as one that I would remember. Yeah, remember, it would be one of those rings that I would, I would, I would. I don't remember very many people's rings.
Speaker 5:No offense to your rings.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. But see, I mean it's just. You know, engagement rings are engagement rings and everyone, most people's are beautiful, but what Sierra has like would always stand out in my mind, just because it was so unique and different. And then the one other thing that Sierra mentioned earlier was her wedding dress, which I would say their clothing, their wedding attire, was important to both of them. Like, james knew what he wanted to wear, which was awesome. It was cool that you, he had like the I did his head of exactly what he wanted it and he sent us a picture and it was awesome and it looked really good. And then Sierra had, she came down for her dress to try on dresses, went to all the stores and then, yeah, go ahead and tell the whole talk to us about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I had one picked out from one of the stores in Springfield, but we hadn't quite decided on it and we were about to go choose it and my mom said that I didn't seem entirely happy with it, and I said that what I really wanted was a dress that had color in it, with some like embroidered flowers that were colorful. And none of the dress stores had any when we had gone, and so she, my mom, called back to the places to see if there was any options for that, and Norman's actually just got to address them that had flowers, and so I came back.
Speaker 2:What was that? They had actually just ordered it. They didn't even have it in. None of the stores at that point had it in. So he to all the brides out there if embroidered flowers or something incredibly unique on your dress you got. You got to tell your mom that first Sierra got back and then she was like, well, here's what I actually want. And she sent me this picture and I was like, oh, my goodness, that was important information before you came, Cause I didn't know that whenever she came down and did her original dress fitting, I think she kind of was looking for it in the stores, but she'd never spoken out loud I told you beforehand.
Speaker 4:You just don't remember.
Speaker 2:She did not tell me mom and daughter.
Speaker 5:This is raw, uncensored.
Speaker 1:She did not tell me that she could do the red flag and the instant replay, because I don't know, let's check the tape Roll it back.
Speaker 2:Roll it back. I think Sierra told me in her head, because she actually said I had sent pictures to. Emmy, and after she had tried on her dress, after she come here and tried on dresses, then she sent me those pictures and I was like, oh my goodness, yeah, they were, they were cool.
Speaker 5:Let this be a moment for all brides and moms listening right now. It's okay.
Speaker 2:You all do this, everyone does it, it's all right. Well, if she told me, I probably was like uh-huh and then went on to the next thing and didn't quite actually fully taken what she had said.
Speaker 1:And Sierra's defense. I've told Dawn things before that she was swear to you. I did not, so it is possible yeah.
Speaker 2:I do not remember that at all and I think I would have remembered that, but I swear to nothing these days because I have to come and admit to the yeah, we're all to the point that, yeah, but once she sent me a picture I was like, oh yeah.
Speaker 5:So Norman's had one Bring it back.
Speaker 2:Norman's had one coming in.
Speaker 5:Just kind of going off of what you guys have talked about. If you're a bride looking for a dress and you have found something that you like, talk to the wedding dress place about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, hey, this is.
Speaker 5:This is what I'm actually looking for. Is this possible?
Speaker 2:Yeah, showing them pictures.
Speaker 5:Because a lot of the times I mean I don't want to speak for the gown stores, but they have more available than what they have there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes, or they'll pull. They'll pull for you what they know, that would match up.
Speaker 5:So, sierra, continue you um you told your mom about it way before you went looked at dresses.
Speaker 4:That's not true. Well, after Norman's got the dress and I came back to Springfield to try it on and loved it and it had, um, the flowers throughout it and um, it was. It was what I was looking for, um, and so it was a great match and it fit really well and, um, it ended up being amazing and working well with my ring and my the picture I had in mind for the wedding.
Speaker 1:So something that I know about Sierra and and I'm hearing you guys talk about that I would like to go ahead and throw out to all of the couples listening is one if you are, if you're into something that's not traditional, that you're not finding just all over Pinterest in your first Google search, that's okay.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be every girl's wedding. Your wedding can be simply whatever you want it to be, and don't be afraid to bring those ideas to the table, whether it's the gown or the ring or the flowers or whatever. I think you'll find a lot of the merchants are ready, willing and able to do new and fun and cool and creative ideas. I don't think they want to be in the box of like rinse and repeat. So I think bringing these ideas, like Sierra has, to the table is refreshing to them. And sometimes I don't know if Sierra specifically was this, but I was kind of one of those girls and so I was a little afraid to bring some of those ideas because I didn't want to everybody think I was a strange bride, but I'm like I don't necessarily want it to be like that, I want it to be different. But I was scared to say that out loud because I didn't want everyone to just be like okay weirdo but I think it all came together.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. So I think it's okay to say those things and then, like Adam and Dawn were trying to bring up, as just you never know what they have, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, I think we had seen a few of our friends get married in pretty non-traditional ways, and so it's easier for us to to do that and not feel weird about it. But yeah, I would say to anyone like trust your own taste and your own design preferences and if there's something you think is cool, go for it, and if there's a tradition that you think is dumb, don't do it. You don't have to, you know you can. You'll love the wedding the most if it's what you want.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and one thing that I can kind of branch off of the same thing is we had a specific thing that we had to take on as a challenge with this reception and that's an allergy, a pretty serious allergy Alpha Gaol, blah, blah, blah. We can go on and on and on about that, regardless. Sierra has the allergy, don has the allergy. There's other members of our family that have the allergy and it goes beyond just like your typical. If you eat this it'll make you sick. It's the smell of the foods and everything else. So we knew when we approached this reception we were gonna have to be the same way with a caterer of saying, hey, we're gonna need this to be a very specific way. So it's another little notch in this whole planning process for us of how we needed to uniquely have these unique requests. And I have to say, the caterer stepped up to the plate, no questions asked, no frustration whatsoever, shout out Simply Delicious.
Speaker 3:And they killed it and we ended up having an entirely vegan reception with food complete, we have a lot of pretty adamant meat eaters who were there yes, several times said, wow, you may have turned me vegan tonight. Yeah yes, yes, I didn't think I was gonna eat. I thought I was gonna wait till I got home to make something for myself.
Speaker 2:It's so funny because my brother, who is a big hunter, and I mean he just sent me a message about coming to my house so they could like siden their scope for hunting. So I mean he's a big hunter, he at the reception I walked up in, his plate was completely empty and he goes. Okay, there you go, you finally did it. I finally cleaned my plate.
Speaker 5:With vegan food.
Speaker 4:With vegan food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah trust me, he cleans his plate all the time, but not at my house.
Speaker 5:But he did it at the reception.
Speaker 2:He said he like loved it. And beyond the alpha gal, which is incredibly important because you guys are alpha gal and there's gluten free and we had celiacs at the wedding, so there were so many different things that had to be dealt with that day, but you guys were pretty plant-based even before alpha gal.
Speaker 5:I have to share this story.
Speaker 3:I don't know, if Sarah remembers this.
Speaker 5:So a couple of few years ago we had this whole conversation with Sarah about someday if you have a wedding, and Sarah said if she had a wedding she would want. This was before alpha gal, before allergy. Sarah had said well, I would like for my reception to probably be all vegan and I remember Dawn and I because we've been in the heat of weddings for years being like you have to think about all your guests, you can't just make it about you and you have to accommodate everyone. So maybe an all-vegan reception wouldn't be a great idea. Fast forward, the universe made us vegan.
Speaker 2:And we said forget the other guests because there's meat there. We're all gonna get sick.
Speaker 5:So Dawn and I have laughed about this. And then we had the vegan reception and I mean everybody loved it, like loved it, everybody loved it. So it wasn't even an issue. I love Brito bowls.
Speaker 3:I know right, Brito bowls with meaty stuff Fair point.
Speaker 2:The Brito bowls were good and I had several people were like, oh my God, that is tofu. That was in the, because that was one of the options you could put in it and people like loved it and they're like I can't stand tofu and that tasted amazing.
Speaker 5:So I have one last question for you guys, Aside from the community and everything else. Just if we talk about wedding, like the aspects of the wedding, like the decor, the music, the DJ, the food, the drinks, any of it what was your guys' favorite part of the wedding itself? It's tough, Uh.
Speaker 3:Uh, the finalize, I'd say the flower.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I don't know his name, but a live musician at the reception or like during the cocktail hour.
Speaker 4:The jury that was inside, that we listened to.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the guitarist.
Speaker 3:Nice. I guess there was someone else that we didn't get to hear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was. So you guys so the floor. Yeah, your florals were insane, they were beautiful and we just let him do his thing. You guys said your colors and he's a total creative, so we were like it's flat Pat, it's flat.
Speaker 5:It's flat, phillips. Ha ha, ha, ha ha. I need one more cup of coffee this morning.
Speaker 2:I haven't quite reached my limit to be talking.
Speaker 5:Oh, we're calling it flat Phillips with the flower merchant from now on.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness. So Pat Phillips with the flower merchant. See, there, I got it. He's an artist. We let him do his. We just told him to do his thing. And yeah, I'm so glad that you said that, James, because he put his heart and soul into the florals that day, in the floral design, so, and they were amazing. And yeah, the other people you're talking about so during the cocktail hour was Jason Morlow did piano for the guests during the cocktail hour and then during dinner service it was Sean Monday did the guitar and yeah, that his you know, Sean Monday doing the guitar is always a pretty cool thing.
Speaker 5:I'm learning very quickly with these. There's a lot to talk about when you talk about weddings, so we're gonna need more time For our listener's sake.
Speaker 1:we'd like to see this For listener's sake we need to keep it.
Speaker 5:But it's so hard to cover everything that goes into Cause. I mean, we haven't gone into the big fireworks and off and all these things.
Speaker 1:James and Sierra, you have 15, 10 seconds to name.
Speaker 5:Oh my God.
Speaker 1:All just start shouting about all the fun things that we haven't talked about, that you guys did at your wedding 10.
Speaker 3:Champagne wall.
Speaker 4:Champagne wall. The trip afterward.
Speaker 5:The trip afterwards Fireworks.
Speaker 1:Sparkler Fountains.
Speaker 5:The what are they called?
Speaker 1:Cold Spark, cold Spark.
Speaker 4:The cold. Spark Painting Live painting. Oh the live, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the live painter Christine Westwood, those were. She was amazing.
Speaker 1:Signature drinks Photo booth.
Speaker 3:Having our dog come down the aisle.
Speaker 2:Aw, that was the best little allocate.
Speaker 4:Having someone we know be the Officiant.
Speaker 3:Officiant.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And they did a great job.
Speaker 1:Okay, you're out of time. I'm sorry to all the people we didn't mention, but we are out of time.
Speaker 5:I mean there's so much we could go on with. There was like vegan cake and regular cake. There was so many different things that we had there. Oh, the cake was so good.
Speaker 1:We're totally going to get off here and be like oh man talk about that.
Speaker 5:It's like, how do you yeah?
Speaker 1:That's why they can look it up in the magazine.
Speaker 2:They can online, they can like it in the magazine and there's going to be another podcast with Misty Willinger where we talk a little bit more about the design and stuff at the wedding.
Speaker 5:From like an inherent and planner perspective.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so you know if you want to, just if you just want to continue in listening about all this.
Speaker 5:How about that for a second? How great was it having Misty as a part of the process?
Speaker 1:Yeah, good point.
Speaker 2:They probably don't even know how great it was because they weren't as involved with Misty, but oh my gosh, like she would call me and she saved my bacon so many times on stuff. And yeah, calden is like, uh, you don't have enough transportation to get people back to the hotel. We, you know. Yeah, yeah, the planner is like so key.
Speaker 5:Yeah, what was it?
Speaker 3:What was it you were going to say, James? Having someone there to do the child or watch kids during their reception? And they dressed up as like princesses and we didn't have a ton of kids there, but they really appreciated it and the parents loved getting to give it to their kid for a while.
Speaker 5:So the moral of the story is this if you're listening to this all the way to the end, check out the magazine, because we're barely even like scratching the surface of everything that went into play with this wedding, and check out the accompanying episode with Misty Willinger, the coordinator, where we're going to talk about more of that stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we can hit on more of like who the vendors were that were a part of that, because, yeah, like the princesses that came, that was that was huge, yeah, and yeah, the parents did really appreciate that. I'm sure parents got to be on the dance floor and have fun and talk to people while the kids were like in the room singing. Let it go with Elsa, okay.
Speaker 1:So I didn't tell James and Sierra this, but how we're going to sign off with all of these is you're going to recite your wedding vows now for us live there you go. Cue the tears they're like what the hell is wrong with her.
Speaker 2:All right fine.
Speaker 3:That's what happened?
Speaker 5:I do say I had a very specific view of the vows because I had Ellicate their dog on my lap Right and one of my favorite moments was whenever Sierra was talking and she just barked right in the middle of the ceremony. And she only did it once and it was whenever Sierra was talking and she didn't bark again before or after she had something to say about it?
Speaker 2:It was as Sierra was professing her love. You're saying I object. Everyone has to know that Ellicate's been Sierra's dog since like the eighth grade, so went to college with her. So yeah, I think she's taken you in, james. I think you're okay. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for spending time with us and taking a deep dive back in memory lane. I know this was like not your. You didn't call me and say, hey, we want to talk. So thank you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you, it's been fun.
Speaker 3:All right, bye your mom will call you later.
Speaker 2:I know I'll call you later and tell you how much I love you guys later, bye, bye.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for Metropolitan Weddings Engaged podcast.
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