I had the privilege of photographing Jamie Roach and Bryan Montemarano in my hometown of Dubuque, Iowa over the 4th of July weekend. Jamie and Bryan's vision for their wedding was truly magical and made for a weekend to remember. I asked Jamie and Bryan to share their vision for their wedding with me so that others could get inspired as well.
"Our goal was to show all of their friends and family from other cities and abroad how lovely and lively the midwest can be. We appreciate the history of the area. We also knew we wanted a full weekend of celebration, so the 4th was perfect. We started with our location, my aunt and uncle's winery on the Mississippi, built in the late 1800's. We made the connection to Art Noveau with this period, which influenced our flowers and other things and symbols, such as peacock feathers. We followed the history of the period letting Art Deco and the 1920's and 30's influence our creative choices, especially the French influence on the Deco- lavender in our flowers, food, of course, Champagne, and even a 1930's car to boot
Our ceremony and luncheon invite list was intimate with close friends and family, and we wanted to perpetuate a feeling of warmth, so we had food served family style and had wine and champagne, homeade iced tea and lemonade on the tables in ice sculptures to keep them cool.
There was a firework show the night after our wedding, and we took our friends on a Mississippi River Cruise the day after our ceremony.
The following night we had our "bon voyage" reception, to which we invited more, had a 1940's-style big band, and brought in some other influences that say something about our personal likes-Mediterranean tapas, gelato served in ice sculptures, cupcakes, Cava, homeade sangria.
