St Louis sage green wedding with intimate family dinner, a sunset ceremony, and cocktail style reception

When thinking about inspiration for their wedding, Beth & Walter aimed for a timeless, elegant, and approachable celebration. Knowing they wanted a black and white dance floor, this colour scheme became the springboard for the rest of their wedding style. "We took a lot of inspiration from our venue, the WORLD'S FAIR PAVILION in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri. The park is what inspired the green accent, and the overall sophisticated garden look." Captured by Missouri wedding photographer ASHLEY CARRINGTON PHOTOGRAPHY the end result was a sunset ceremony followed by an intimate family dinner.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS LOCATION? I am originally from Dallas, TX, but knew that I couldn’t plan a wedding states away. So, when we made the decision to get married in St. Louis, where we live, I knew I wanted to get married at a spot that was iconically St. Louis, and the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park was the perfect spot.

HOW DID YOU MEET? We met, like many couples do nowadays on a dating app. Our first date was at Schlafly Bottleworks, a local St. Louis brewery. During our wedding weekend we made a nod to our first date by hosting our Welcome Party for all our out-of-town guests at the original Schlafly Tap Room.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: In true “us” fashion, our proposal was at home on a Friday night. We were home after a long day and Walter got the call that the ring was ready. Before he could even wait to pick it up, he proposed with a flashing light up ring, promising to not only love me for the rest of my life, but also that we could pick up an actual diamond the next morning before heading to brunch to surprise my best friends.

TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS/ATTIRE: To find my wedding dress I went back to my hometown of Dallas, TX. Much like Katherine Heigl, after trying on 27 dresses, I found my perfect one, a Lela Rose gown from Neiman Marcus Bridal. My mom, best friends, aunt and cousins joined me on my journey.

The groom wore a black tux from Savvy Formalwear in St. Louis. He also wore gold cufflinks engraved with his late mother’s handwriting, so she too was with us on our special day.

DID YOU HAVE ANY DIY ELEMENTS? When it came to wedding DIY, I wanted to keep it simple, I designed all of our signage for the weekend along with the flower cones that guests held to shower us with flower petals as we came back down the aisle.

DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: Our wedding flowers were the flowers of our dreams. Bloomin’ Buckets did a magnificent job bringing my vision to life. Keeping with being timeless and elegant, I wanted all white flowers with true greenery. I took inspiration from the black and white colours of anemones, so not only were they incorporated in the floral arrangements, but we also used black matte vases as a nod to their dark center. We wanted our florals to make a statement at the ceremony but not take away from the beautiful Forest Park background, so having them on the clear acrylic columns achieved that look.

FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: Our favourite detail of the day might be our black and white checkered dance floor – from day one of planning I said give me a checkered dance floor and a great live band, and that is all I need. The dance floor and the Charles Glen band did not disappoint. Our late-night snacks and monogrammed cups are a close second.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? My biggest piece of advice is to do what is true to you – if you want to spend more of your budget on a live band then a full sit-down dinner, do that; if you want to have an adults only day, do that too; if you have a vision of something that isn’t “traditionally” done, throw tradition out the window. Stay true to yourself while also thinking about guest experience, choose a feeling you want your guests to have when they leave your wedding and do your best to achieve that.

As for logistical advice, get a wedding planner, or at minimum a day of coordinator, having someone in charge of the day of a
ctivities takes so much stress off you and allows you to enjoy the moments throughout the day.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? Our most memorable moment was walking back down the aisle as husband and wife. Our friends and family were cheering as they showered us with rose petals, This Will Be by Natalie Cole was playing, and we had the most perfect dip, I felt like I was living out my dream Rom Com happy ending.

WHAT ASPECT OF THE WEDDING WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU BOTH? Outside of the vows, the most important aspect of our wedding was the band and the dance floor – we love to dance and wanted to be sure that our dance floor was full all night and that guests left saying, wow this wedding was so much fun!

ANY OTHER DETAILS THAT HELP TELL THE STORY OF YOUR DAY? We had a bit of an unconvention
al wedding timeline – we chose to get married at sunset, 7:30 PM, followed by a cocktail ½ hour with lite bites, charcuterie, and drinks, before the party began with a toast from the bride and groom and our first dance, we then danced the night away and enjoyed late-night snacks. I was a little nervous not doing a traditional sit-down dinner, but we instructed guests to eat dinner prior and to come donning their dancing shoes. We got so many compliments afterwards on the non-traditional format, that I would encourage those who are trying to stretch their budget to consider doing the same.

Also, because we got married at 7:30 PM, we were able to have an intimate dinner with just our families. I wanted it to feel like the brunch from the iconic scene in the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding, all sitting at one long table laughing and eating before saying “I do.” This was another favourite memory of the day and a respite before all the other guests arrived.

Another one of my favourite parts of the evening was our food truck that provided his and hers late night snacks, a McDouble for him and a slice of pizza for her.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HONEYMOON: For our honeymoon we went to Greece, both Athens and Santorini. We were so excited to explore a new country, and even did a 6-mile (10 km) hike from one end of the island of Santorini to the other. Our favourite parts were the food, enjoying the beautiful sunsets and taking a catamaran cruise in the Aegean Sea. Seeing and learning about all the history in Athens was also very cool.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE OR DO DIFFERENTLY? Make it last longer – the day went by so quickly and was so fun, we wish it could have gone on forever. There isn’t a thing we would change.