Hey y’all! These past few weeks have been busy ones as I’ve been juggling midterms and travel for Spring Break.  Bear with me as I get back in the swing of things and get the “From Madi to M.R.S.” posts back on track!

This next year BRS and I have a total of 8 weddings on our calendar prior to our big day…yes, 8!  It is such a fun season of life and we are so glad to have the chance to celebrate these special times with our dear friends and family. As these weddings come up I’ll be featuring these precious brides and grooms and their wedding day details here on “From Madi to M.R.S”!

I think we’ll start off with one that is near to my dear BRS’ heart… His sweet brother, David, and his new wife, Jaclyn.

Story has it that Jaclyn and David’s students saw their love story coming long before they did.  Both teachers in Harrisonville, MO, the two fell hard and fast after a teacher’s decades-dance performance in the school talent show. David’s hidden swing dancing talent paired nicely with the cute Jazzercize instructor’s choreography and the rest was history.  Married on St. Patrick’s Day, these lovebirds embraced the holiday with four leaf clover plant centerpieces and a giant cupcake stand, DIY-ed by the bride herself!  The ceremony was held at Liberty Christian Church and is rich with tradition and sentiment for the groom’s family. Their wedding day brought beautiful spring weather. Their chosen reception venue, The Rhapsody served as the perfect location for their guests with it’s outdoor patio seating.

The stained glass windows of the church served as a beautiful backdrop for the ceremony.

Emotions ran high as the bride and groom exchanged vows following a beautiful solo performed by the groom's sister.

The groom borrowed a friend of the family's '72 Mustang to escort his new wife to the reception hall.

What was your favorite part of planning?   :   Well David says food tasting [sounds just like his brother, BRS!] and I would say getting our RSVP cards in the mail. It seemed to be the first part of “hard work pays off.” It’s also exciting to get “fun mail” instead of junk or bills!

Wedding Invitations from WeddingPaperDivas.com

What was your least favorite part of planning?   :   David says, “The worst part about wedding planning is wedding planning”. For me, it was finding a reception place. That seemed to be very stressful at the time because David and I liked different venues. Many places we liked online were too small for us. I’m so glad we decided on The Rhapsody, because the outdoor part of the venue was perfect for the beautiful weather.

Do you have a favorite memory from the day?   :     Our favorite memory was our first dance. David and I were singing “Your Smiling Face” by James Taylor at the top of our lungs and dancing and twirling around like no one else was even in the room. It was so special!

Any DIY Projects?   :     We had a couple.  I ordered single roses from an online vendor and my bridesmaids and I put them together in bouquets on Saturday morning before doing hair and make-up. For the cupcake stand, I ordered it from an online vendor and decorated it myself. I spray painted it and hot glued ribbon around the outside. I also created the ‘S’ that went on the top of it. I have saved the ‘S’ and plan to finish our last name and hang it up somewhere in our house one day! And for our “ice cream sundae bar”, David and I crushed the candy and Oreos. We debated about having the caterer take care of the bar, but we knew we could do it cheaper!

DIY Rose bouquets made by the bride and her bridesmaids on the morning of the wedding

A festive St. Patrick's day cupcake stand in lieu of a cake for the guests

Who were some of your wedding day vendors?   : We used Kris Nardini from Platinum Sound Productions. He kept the dance floor alive all night long! Brancato’s was our caterer and they were awesome! From the moment we sat down, they brought us our plates full of the most delicious food I’ve had at a wedding!! They just did a great job of taking care of everything. Another favorite of mine was Burlap, LLC. They were our videographer and the creative minds behind the video we showed at our reception. [See link below]

Any advice for future brides?   :     However much time you think you need for pictures, allow more! We were rushing to get our last pictures in before the ceremony started. We had lighting difficulties and such that took extra time. Enjoy the day because it’ll be over before you know it! I really feel like I enjoyed each minute of that day and tried to squeeze every memory out of it that I could. David also told me on Friday, that at least one thing is going to end up different than we planned – some might say “something is going to go wrong.” But David said that we just need to say “Ok, that’s our 1 thing” and move on. This was helpful because, of course, things did happen and I just said “Let’s make the best of this and move on”!

To David and Jaclyn,

Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your celebration! We are so excited to see what is ahead for y’all.  We’ve got a lot of fun times as a family ahead and we’re so glad the Sanders’ clan is another step closer to being complete!

-M.T.R.