If purple is your color, then Michelle and Jordan’s Palladium wedding is for you. The high-school sweethearts are from Pittsburgh but shared their new town, St. Louis, Missouri, with all their family and friends in a lovely day filled with lavender-hued details. Our favorite, of course are the artful florals by Bloomin’ Buckets. The huge blooms are classic, gorgeous and perfectly held together with long purple ribbon ties. And you guys HAVE to check out the glittering lavender tiered cake by La Patisserie Chouquette—amaze. Thankfully, Grey Collective member Carretto Studio was on hand to capture all the pretty-in-purple in their signature fine-art photography style.
What made the wedding special and unique?
Jordan and I met in high school, and our families live less than 5 minutes from each other back home. However, after college, we packed up and moved out to St. Louis, MO so that Jordan could attend Logan College of Chiropractic to receive his doctorate. As we were planning our wedding, we decided that we wanted our friends and family to experience our new home-away-from-home and opted to host our wedding out here. It was so unbelievably special to have all of our guests travel here and get to show them our new city over the weekend. To top it all off, the Pittsburgh Pirates were in town playing the St. Louis Cardinals that weekend and we had over 100 people attend the game with us on Sunday!
Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!
I searched high and low for my wedding gown, but couldn’t find anything that felt like me. Finally, while searching for bridesmaid dresses back home in Pittsburgh, I came across this beautiful blush pink dress that had a little bit of lace, a little bit of glam and a whole lot of me all mixed in! Needless to say, we ended up not buying bridesmaid dresses that day, but my wedding gown instead.
What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?
We tried to make every single detail extremely personal. We wanted a wedding that felt like “us” and not just any other wedding day. A few of the smaller details included mini-margaritas as our signature drink, which were an ode to our love of Mexican food date nights, hush puppy appetizers, which is a must-have snack the second Jordan and I get to the beach every year, and mini-pies for dessert, which is the only kind of dessert Jordan likes! Our first dance was a song from Steve Moakler, who is a growing artist that actually attended the same high school as us. Our programs included sketches of each bridesmaid/groomsman, done by a good friend of mine, and a short paragraph about how we knew each person and what we loved the most about them. The majority of our stationery items were created by my sister as a wedding gift to us. The most personal aspect of the wedding day, for me, was sharing a special dance with my uncle who had just undergone several intense surgeries and procedures for brain cancer. My birthday wish was to share a dance with him on our wedding day, and, at that point, we weren’t sure if he was even going to be able to make the trip to St. Louis. It was so unbelievably special for me, and my whole family, to have him there and able to share a dance together.
What was the most memorable part of the day?
Oh, there’s so many! I would have to say my most memorable part of the day would have to be the moment we were pronounced husband and wife in front of all of our friends and family. Turning to look out at every one, with my best friend next to me, was such a powerful moment and I remember being so overcome with joy and gratefulness.
Tell us how you met and became engaged.
We met in high school, actually on a double-date with other people! We were best friends throughout the years, and started dating towards the end of our senior year. We did long-distance all through college, and when I came back home after graduation we decided to go sky-diving to celebrate our achievements. It was something we had always wanted to do, and we figured it was the perfect celebratory activity! Little did I know that once we scheduled our appointments, Jordan orchestrated the whole thing with the facility, my family, his family, and our friends to plan the perfect proposal. Jordan jumped first, and I followed shortly after. He had landed just a few minutes before me and managed to run over and grab the ring from my dad without me seeing. When I finally landed and was making my way towards him, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!
Photographer: Carretto Studio // Consultant: Absolutely IN! Events // Floral Design: Bloomin’ Buckets // Stationery: The Ink Spot // Ceremony Venue: Shrine of St. Joseph, St Louis // Reception Venue: Palladium // Videography: Gaadt Productions // Gown: Essense of Australia, Bridal Beginning, Pittsburgh // Hair and Makeup: Emily Miller // Shoes: Sam Edelman // Engagement Ring: Reis-Nichols // Wedding Rings: Helzberg Diamonds // Bridesmaids: After Six, The Dessy Group, Bridal Beginnings // Menswear: Savvi Formalwear, St. Louis // Catering: Butler’s Pantry // Cake: La Patisserie Chouquette // Rentals: Exclusive Events