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Julie and Jon
St. Louis, Missouri
ABOUT THE BRIDE: Julie grew up in St. Louis and attended college at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She most recently was a store manager for Pier 1 until she decided to return to University of Missouri - St. Louis to get her teaching certification for elementary education.
ABOUT THE GROOM: Jon moved to St. Louis from Denver when he was eight and brought with him a love of the Denver Broncos. He is a bartender/manager for Mike Duffy's Restaurant and attending University of Missouri - St. Louis to pursue a degree in environmental science.
HOW WE MET: We were both working at Mexican restaurant in St. Louis and spent two years as friends before we started dating.
ENGAGEMENT: We had been together for three and a half years when we began to seriously
consider marriage. One afternoon in October of 2001 we went to Eckerd's orchard to relive a
childhood activity that I loved -- picking apples. In the middle of an apple orchard, to my
complete surprise, Jon proposed to me. After the proposal, we took the hayride back and toasted
our new engagement with apple cider. We further celebrated with lunch at Fast Eddie's -- a low-key
day filled with the kind of fun we love to share!
PLANNING: We tossed around several ideas of when to have our wedding and after some time
chose June of 2003. The first thing we booked was the Randall Gallery. It was the first place we
looked and we could have booked it that day had it not been for my indecisiveness. We loved it
because it would be perfect to have both our ceremony and reception and the artwork was classy and
yet so unique and interesting. Mark and Debbie, the siblings who own the Randall Gallery, provided
us with wonderful suggestions and helped guide us through making decisions based on what was right
for us and the best way to use our budget.
Our motto during this whole process was to make decisions that would reflect our personalities --
from the vendors we chose to the invitations we designed to the pre-wedding activities including
a 50-person barbeque at our house and outing to a Cardinal baseball game, golf tournament for the
guys, and a bridal luncheon for the girls. We wanted our family and friends to share in the
excitement as much as possible during our wedding weekend.
THE CEREMONY: We knew a traditional ceremony would not suit our personalities.
We were fortunate to work with a wonderful officiant who helped us create a ceremony that
incorporated our love for each other, the blessing and support of our family, and beautiful
passages. The result was a ceremony that people said was "so you" and included lots of tears
and laughs on my part and calm, loving looks from Jon.
THE RECEPTION: One of the reasons we loved the Randall Gallery so much was because
of the different rooms for the reception. Immediately after the ceremony, guests moved to an
adjacent room for cocktails and appetizers while a pianist played. Guests then dined in the
upstairs room on a wonderful dinner of beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, and vegetables
while listening to a string trio. One of our favorite things we did was to name the tables
based on important things to us in St. Louis. At each place setting was a booklet with the
dinner menu and an explanation of why the table names were significant to us. Following dinner
we headed back downstairs for dancing and drinks. From the first song, Arvell and Co. kept
guests dancing. People commented that we looked like we were having a blast, which we were!
We finished the night with a horse drawn carriage taking us away from a wonderful night that
ended too fast.
THINGS WE LOVED: Our personalized ceremony, seeing all our family and friends in one
room, dancing the night away to wonderful music, and having guests still comment on what a
wonderful wedding it was!
SOME OF OUR VENDORS:
Ceremony, Reception, and Catering - The Randall Gallery
Photography - Martin Schweig Studios
Cake - Sugaree
Transportation - St. Louis Carriage Co.
Bridal Attire - Robins Bridal
Groom's Attire - Stallone s Formalwear
Hair and Makeup - Ginger Bay Salon
If you have questions or comments for Julie and Jon please
e-mail them.
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