Becca + Neil
May 21, 2022 / Kenosha, Wisconsin
How did your love story begin?: Neil and I had met through mutual friends while hanging out one summer night. It’s so funny because we have always hung out with our friends for years before we had met but never at the same time. It’s such a small world and we still can’t believe we hadn’t met before 2014! We’ve been together for 7.5 years! Neil had planned a date day at the Chicago Botanical Gardens, which is one of my favorite places to visit when the flowers are in bloom! It was where we had gone in our first date and the fact that he chose this destination for proposing really made it full circle and all that much more special. We packed a picnic for lunch and enjoyed being outside. Right before we started packing up everything he said he brought and extra special dessert for me which I honestly thought was strawberry short cake! Turns out it was even better and he got down on one knee to propose with the most beautiful pear cut moissanite with a rose gold band. I’m very much a do it yourself person and LOVE planning things! We tackled wedding planning right away and chose everything together; our venue, the color theme, little details from flowers, accessories, signage, music, gifts for our wedding party and parents. You name it we did it all together which made everything for our wedding that much more special and personalized.
What was your vision for your wedding?: We definitely wanted a very romantic and whimsical feel to our wedding. We knew exactly what we wanted and made vision boards on Pinterest for inspiration! Choosing our vendors was honestly not a difficult process for us. We read a lot of reviews, reviewed packages, pricing, and had meetings with each vendor to ensure we meshed well! We wanted to create a magical experience for ourselves and our guests so choosing vendors that would help make that happen was very important to us! There definitely were some elements that were more important to us for the wedding day. Our top elements were, attire, music, food/drinks, and photos! We wanted not only ourselves to look our best but also everyone who was apart of our wedding! We had everyone choose what they felt most comfortable in and gave a loose guideline of what color family to stay in so we had some cohesiveness. Music is another very important element because it sets the whole feel for your wedding! From the prelude music to dancing the night away late into the night, music is what sets the tone! Food and drinks was another big one for us. We wanted to make sure we had ample selections of great food and drinks for our guests and ourselves! Our signature cocktail was one of my favorite details since it was a French 75 made with purple Empress Gin to give it a light lavender color! We named the drink a French Kiss which was a nice play off of our last name Couillard which is a French last name :) Last but not least photos! We had put a lot of thought and work into creating a 2 page shot list for our photographer and making sure we had gotten every shot we wanted. Our photos are what we’re going to look back on for years to come and we wanted to make sure that we captured the love and magic from our wedding day!
Tell us all about your wedding dress!: My dress shopping experience was absolutely amazing! Strike Bridal Bar was the first shop I had visited and I went in thinking that I wanted a clean, white, off the shoulder classic A-line dress. I saved so many Pinterest inspiration photos and was very excited to try on dresses! I had four appointments set up, but only went to my appointment at Strike Bridal Bar! Emily was my stylist for the day and she chose a gown for me to try on that didn’t fit the look I had initially wanted when going dress shopping but I love trying styles that I hadn’t even thought about venturing into and I’m so glad I did! The dress English Ivy by Alena Leena was stunning and made me feel so beautiful! It fit the vibe of our wedding aesthetic perfectly and made me feel like an ethereal fairy princess. The botanical details, the light blush, gold threading and all of the tulle was flowy and breathtaking. I fell in love with the dress!
You planned and you planned, but how did the day ACTUALLY go?!: Our wedding day was absolutely magical! Our wedding was non-traditional and very much go with the flow. We truly felt so calm getting ready that morning because we trusted everyone who was apart of our day and knew that even if there were small hiccups, everything was still going to be amazing. From mimosas and brunch in our getting ready suites to bar hopping at the end of the night for a late night cap, the day was perfect and a slight blur lol but all in all we felt all of the love and everyone had a great time! My favorite part of the day in all honesty I think was when we were able to dance! We love dancing and after doing all of our formal dances and chatting with our guests after dinner, I was so excited to be able to let loose some more and dance like a crazy person on the dance floor! Neil and I had been taking dance lessons for first dance, which was a choreographed bolero to Ed Sheeran’s “Kiss Me”. So we whipped out some fancy moves we had learned through the rest of the night! I do have a great story that had happened while the dance floor was open and everyone was having fun. My step-dad used to be a wedding DJ back in the day and loves singing (which he is so talented at!) and dancing, he also used to do a side gig with one of his friends where they would perform as the Blues Brothers. Our DJ had given my step-dad a microphone and played Shout for him! My step-dad then proceeded to dance around the dance floor with different guests singing the song and really hyping everyone up. It was the greatest thing ever! A special detail we had done for a photo was we not only did a first look between Neil and I but we did first looks with my Step-dad and Neil’s mom. We had two photographers for the day so our photographer who was with me and the bridesmaids and moms in the bridal suite sent Neil’s mom to the guy’s getting ready suite for a first look and photos while the photographer with Neil, the groomsmen, and dads had sent my step-dad to the bridal suite for our first look. We are so happy we did these photos because it was a truly special moment between us and our respective parent. One last special surprise was my mom gifting me my great great grandmother’s engagement ring from the late 1800’s as my something old to wear for the wedding day. It was such a beautiful moment and gesture that my mom had given me. To have a family heirloom gifted to me for my wedding was a truly special surprise.
What is your best advice for future brides-to-be?: Honestly I would say 100% book a videographer for your wedding day! So many people had told me that the day will fly by in a blur and it truly did! There’s just so much going on that it’s hard to see everything, experience everything and remember it all! I’m so glad we hired a videographer because even though I love our edited footage, the raw footage is my favorite! They caught so many things happening through the day that we didn’t even get to see! Like our guests having fun, dancing, taking photos in our photo booth, laughing and chatting. Not to mention it was fun seeing all of these candid moments on video.
Vendors:
Dress: English Ivy by Aleena Leena at Strike Bridal Bar
Photographer: Niconic Photography
Videoographer: Petit Four Films
Venue + Caterer: The Stella Hotel and Ballroom
Hair Stylist: Amy Barnett
Makeup Artist: Style Hype
Photobooth: Hipstr
Wedding Cake: Lovin’ Oven
Flourist: Lynkz Studio
DJ: Midwest Sound
