4th of July Wedding at The RiverRoom

On July 4, 2014, The RiverRoom celebrated the wedding of Mary & Joshua Mathews! Mary & Joshua are so adorably in love! Mary & Joshua did a "First Look" photo session before the ceremony. I love it when couples do this because it allows for beautiful photos of just the Bride and Groom with no one around to spoil this special moment!! It's a chance for the bride and groom to see each other before the ceremony as the photographer captures the special moment on camera as they see each other for the first time! Seeing Mary's face as she saw her handsome groom and watching Joshua hold back happy tears as he saw his gorgeous bride was priceless. The first look was done in downtown Wilmington a couple hours before the ceremony. They were also able to get most of the formal bridal party photos done at this time to allow for a shorter cocktail hour so they could spend more time with their guests! Indigosilver studios was hired to capture the big day on such a special holiday. We love working with Lori & Jeff and we're so excited to share some of their beautiful photos from the big day!

Knot Too Shabby Events was contracted to coordinate the big day, while A Boxed Event was hired for the design concept through a wedding "Travel Box". For those of you unfamiliar with ABE's Travel Box, you can create a custom wedding tablescape by picking out your linen type and color, theme and vision in whatever budget you may have. Then, Khalilah creates a custom travel box for each table, including the florals! Mary & Joshua dreamed of something different. They wanted to incorporate something blue, while still having a modern twist with metallics. What we created was better than they could have ever imagined!

The ceremony was set up on the deck with draping Edison lights along the brick wall and lots of blue orchids in blinged-out vases. A friend of the bride and groom from Jacksonville officiated the ceremony. A Boxed Event also designed the floral bouquets and boutonnieres for the bridal party.

Following the ceremony, guests headed inside The RiverRoom for cocktail hour. Thyme Savor Catering is one of our preferred caterers! They served lots of delicious appetizers, including my favorite, fried mac n'cheese bites! The cake, cupcakes and special grooms' cake were from Hot Pink Cake Stand! Mary made the cake stands that held the cake and cupcakes!

The RiverRoom was set up for the cocktail-style reception with seating for 56 guests, high cocktail tables for the bridal party and a lounge area provided by AbeL-Custom Lounge & Specialty Rentals. Etc. Party Rentals provided additional cocktail tables and all of our linens. We especially love the silver and black printed linens - they're reversible too!

DJ Professionals & Video was here to play music for the ceremony and reception! After cocktail hour, we introduced the new Mr. and Mrs. Mathews into the reception. The newlyweds went right into their first dance to "Yellow" by Coldplay. Then, Mary danced with her sweet father to "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns N' Roses. Joshua also shared a special song with his mother, dancing to "I Can't Live Without My Mothers Love" by Sun Kil Moon. I think we all cried a little bit for this one!

Our favorite part of the evening was the firework display across the river at the Battleship! Indigosilver did an amazing job capturing photos of Mary & Josh with the night's sky filled with fireworks! This fabulous wedding reception had to come to a close but we had a great time celebrating with Mary & Joshua! We even gained some lifelong friends out of it! Congratulations!!!