Playful and quirky with lots of spunk!! This adorable wedding from Andrew O’Dell of Design Central Studio (you may remember some of his previous work here) is just so much fun- and guess what? We get to hear about how it all unfolded from the groom’s perspective!
View images from this wedding in the gallery
From the groom: “Janelle and I met at secondary school. I transferred to her school but funny enough, we never noticed each other until the following year. It wasn’t really love at first sight, she was cute but a tad bit annoying in her attempts to get me to go out with a friend of hers, and if I remember correctly I was a bit anti-social with her and her friends. As time passed we got to know each other better and even went out a couple of times together but, never anything serious. After a while we noticed we were best friends, not quite sure how that happened but I guess you can say we were always there for each other no matter what. At some point, when neither of us were in a relationship, we decided to see how things would be if we got together. It was a little strange in some ways initially, but definitely pretty great and before we knew it, we were officially a couple!
Eventually, we started looking at moving in together. The plan was to buy our own home and go from there. What my wife, didn’t know is that along with looking for the perfect house, I was also looking for the perfect ring for her. As luck would have it, by Christmas eve of 2011 we had moved in to the family home where my grandparents had raised me for most of my life. It was perfect! Our first Christmas living together and it was about to get better!
I had arranged for a big family dinner that Christmas night at my mother’s house, hosted by myself and J. After all of our families arrived we engaged in some chit chat and gift opening over drinks and that’s when I surprised her! I had bought her a book titled, “Happy Bride’s Survival Guide” by Leigh Crandall, well I bought her two actually! In trying to be romantic I had spent most of the previous afternoon cutting a hole in the book so it would act as a box for the engagement ring. She was floored! She played it cool but she was completely awestruck! I had written “I Love You, Marry me” on the inside and all she asked me was “Seriously?” by then I was down on one knee and smiling and all she could say was “Yes!”
Fast forward to July 20th, 2013. Our color scheme came to us from a Highland Spring water bottle. Purple, blue and silver, we liked it and we made it work!
The day was perfect! I think even fairy tale princesses would be envious. Everything went smoothly and according to plan, even taking in to account that my lovely bride would run about fifteen minutes late. For both of us, the most special moment of that day was our first dance! We did the rumba to “Stay” by Rihanna and Mikky Ekko which we had practiced for about two months, twice a week for about two to three hours with Kenrick Greaves from “ViKtory Dance Studio.
Second to that, for me, was seeing all of our friends and family having an excellent time. You know that family will always love you but when you have such heartfelt speeches from relatives, friends and teachers about when you were a kid, that really warms your heart. Our wedding was the most epic highlight thus far of our lives, and we will never forget that day!
We wanted our personalities and our style to shine through. Even though it is supposed to be a wedding, with the bride all dressed in white and all of those things that people traditionally do, who says you can’t put your own twist on things! J rocked a pair of purple K-Swiss while myself and my best man wore silver and black K-Swiss. We had a photo booth with props where our guests could really ‘wild out’ as well as do some video shout-outs. We even had the DJ play The Undertaker’s theme sound as my bride got ready to walk down the aisle! Just for laughs of course! There were even plans to have a mechanical bull for fun but we ended up opting out on that one due to a minor back injury a few weeks earlier.
However, this epic wedding could not be possible without the help of so many- we didn’t do it alone. I also have to give my wife the majority of the credit for this. We only really started serious planning maybe about five months before the wedding and she did an awesome job bringing it together, along with everyone who worked hard for us!”
Photography: Andrew O’Dell of Design Central Studio | Ceremony and Reception Venue: Mahogany Ridge | Catering: Corbin’s Catering Services | DJ: Scratch Master of South Central Entertainment | Event and Floral Design: Renaissance Designs Inc | Wedding Dress: Special Occasions | Headpieces and Accessories: Majestic Creations & Accessories | Bride’s Shoes: K-Swiss | Groom’s Suit: Men’s Room | Groom’s Shoes: K-Swiss | Make-up Artist:Vanessa Carol | Hair Stylist: J’nelles House of Beauty | Groom’s Cake: Simply Weddings Cakes & Cupcakes | Florist: Floral Fantasy | Wedding favors: WOW Photo Booth Rentals | Wedding Stationery: Pyoni Designs Inc
Design Central Studio, Renaissance Designs Inc and Pyoni Designs Inc are members of our Vendors and Venues Directory.
