Cassie & Cameron Kertis | 9.14.2024
What was your favorite moment of your wedding day?
My favorite moment was our private vows. We had a spot with just the two of us. There wasn’t any other wedding or wedding party member in sight. We got to see each other for the first time that day and we exchanged our vows.
Why did you host your wedding at Celebrations on the River?
Celebrations does it all. Between family with chronic illnesses or living across the country, I knew I needed help with our big day. Celebrations provided our timeline, all the set up (with their own decor), and all the clean up. It took so much stress off us, and it allowed us to really enjoy our day.
What was your color palette? Why did you choose those colors?
Our colors were beige, emerald, white, and black. We really liked the look of light beige suits and wanted it paired with a timeless color, like emerald.
What was your favorite moment of your wedding day?
My favorite moment was our private vows. We had a spot with just the two of us. There wasn’t any other wedding or wedding party member in sight. We got to see each other for the first time that day and we exchanged our vows.
Would you change anything if you could do it all over again?
I would have made it assigned seating instead of open seating for the reception. I had two tables reserved for certain family members and friends, and there were people sitting at those tables that were not supposed to be at the reserved table. I think having assigned seating would have avoided that trouble and stress.
What was one thing you obsessed over, but realized it did not matter?
I obsessed over my day of timeline. It got throw off right away when the bridesmaids were getting ready. We did all our pictures before the ceremony, so I was worrying that we wouldn’t get all the photos done before it. Everything still flowed well that day. We got all the shots we wanted (plus more). We were efficient in getting our family and bridal party photos, so that didn’t take nearly as long as we scheduled for. We still had our ceremony start exactly on time!
What advice do you have for future couples planning their wedding?
Just go with the flow. Not everything is going to be perfect, and that’s okay!
How did you manage your guest count?
We really wanted to have less than 200 people at our wedding. That was were we felt the most comfortable – we wanted to be able to say hi to everyone and that worked best for our budget. We have too much family to invite all of a group (ie all of our cousins, or all of our parents cousins, etc). So we decided upon our close friends and family, and then for our extended family, we invited the people we felt should be invited. I am a big advocate that you don’t need an explanation to why or why not people are invited to your wedding. There were no courtesy invites. That worked best for us.
Who were your vendors? (DJ, Photographer, Hair/Makeup, Florist, Dessert, etc.) How did you choose them?
- Photographer: Alder & Root
- Videographer: Emma Gewitz
- DJ: Ever After Entertainment
- Hair: Taylor Anderson (TLA Hair)
- Makeup: Olivia Anderson-Sarno
- Flowers: Flowers from the Farm
We found a lot of our vendors online. I loved all our vendors. We had a few hiccups with our DJ (starting songs at the wrong time and switching up the order of events like speeches and our photo dash). I did feel like we always had people on the dance floor though. We chose Alder & Root for our photography because we thought her editing styles would look amazing with our colors. Lindsey was amazing to work with!
We used Emma Gewitz photography as our videographer. I found her on Facebook from the coulee region wedding group. I was interested in an affordable videographer that would capture our ceremony and vows. It was Emma’s first time doing videography (but she has been doing weddings for a few years as a photographer already). She was so much fun to work with. She even had a little bag of day of emergency supplies for us to use (she let me use her mini fan after we took pictures and we got all sweaty). Lindsey and Emma worked so well together. It seemed like they have been doing wedding together forever, but it was really their first time.
Taylor Anderson (TLA Hair) was our hair stylist. I did a hair trial with her, and I’m so happy I did because the style I thought I wanted was not as I pictured it. So I went with a different hair style the day of. I’m glad I did because I loved my hair the day of. It was humid the day of, so I lost a bit of my curls and touched up through the day. She was insanely quick with her curls and styles with my bridesmaid and finished ahead of schedule. Olivia Anderson-Sarno did our makeup. I know her through one of my bridesmaids. She is a self taught artist, so it was more affordable for everyone. She did an amazing job, and as someone who has been in multiple wedding before, her makeup wore THE BEST through the entire day.
Our florist was Kathy through Flowers from the Farm. She made all the bridal party bouquets, corsages, and boutonnières. They were faux flowers, so they were much more affordable. She was easy to contact when making adjustments to our order.
