Marathon Music Works Nashville

Creative Wedding at Marathon Music Works

When it comes to vivid colors, a unique design, and fun VIBES, Leah & Joe’s creative wedding at Marathon Music Works takes the cake. As a couple who has great appreciation for aesthetics, they incorporated that passion into their wedding day with bright, quirky florals from LMA Designs, mismatched blue goblets on the tables, distillery barrels from Joe’s distillery, bold linens, and vintage accents. Leah’s gorgeous satin gown from Lavender Park Bridal gown also added to their “classic with a modern twist” day. With Sweetwater Events there to make things run smoothly and Celladora Photography there to document the moments, enjoy these highlights below!

Leah + Joe

9.4.2021

Ceremony ~ Holy Name Catholic Church // Reception ~ Marathon Music Works

Guests ~ 120

How did you guys meet?

Leah: Tinder! Joe and I were both living in Brooklyn when we met 8 years ago by happenstance of both “swiping right.” After 2 weeks of texting paragraphs daily, I finally convinced him to meet up with me for drinks at my favorite Midwestern bar in Williamsburg called Burnside. He advised that he would be “the creep in the corner with cheese curds” and after a couple of drinks, we went to yet another bar and kept the conversation going. I remember making a list of topics on my phone just in case I needed something to reference but I didn’t have to check it because we hit it off so well. We quickly became inseparable and have been partners in crime ever since – but we still celebrate our “Tinderversary” every November 11th. Joe always says that his ultimate 11:11 wish came true.

Tell us about your engagement!

Leah: The first time I brought Joe back to meet my family in Central Illinois, I took him to my favorite place on earth – a little forest preserve called Allerton Park near my parents’ house that I had visited frequently since childhood. There is a Fu Dog Garden there (Fu Dogs are Chinese guardians) which Joe automatically fell in love with because his dad always had a statue of a Fu Dog at his house growing up. Unbeknownst to me, he knew that’s where he wanted to propose to me upon making that connection between both of our upbringings. Fast forward to summer of 2020, we had been together for nearly 7 years at that point and had already made the move to Nashville together with our two cats, Pip and BoBo. The conversation about a ring came up because Joe wanted to buy an Apple Watch for himself and I threw a fit about how he needed to get his priorities in order before he did that. He made an appointment at Genesis Diamonds the next day. A few short weeks later, we went back to my hometown because my best friend from the Netherlands was also visiting then, and the first thing my Mom said to me was “Is Joe going to propose to you this weekend?” With confidence, I said “Absolutely not! They said the ring would take 6 weeks and it’s only been 3!” Fast forward to Sunday morning, we decided to get brunch and go for a stroll through Allerton Park as a family, stopping along the way to snap some photos we could use on our Christmas card that year. As we got to the top of the tower in the Fu Dog garden, we took a family photo and as I started to get up from my crouched position, Joe stayed on his knee. He proposed to me directly in front of my Mom, Dad, brother and his (now) fiance… and it was perfect in every way. My brother took a video of it and at the end you can hear my mom saying “I knew it!” through her happy tears.

What was the vision for your wedding?

Leah: Joe and I are all about aesthetics. Our house is a nice blend of our personalities – we love antiques, warm colors and textures, gold accents and share passions for music and cocktails. One of our references was Sleep No More – an interactive play in New York City that anyone who has seen will understand immediately. I work in the music industry and Joe works at a local Distillery, so it was extremely important to us to curate not only the look and feel of our day, but also the music choices, food and drinks. We wanted everyone to walk away from our wedding thinking “WOW, that was SO Leah & Joe.” With the help of our amazing planner Ashley and countless fantastic vendors along the way, our vision became a reality and we couldn’t be happier!

What was your theme and what inspired it?

Leah: I would say our theme was a mixture of a few things – perhaps classic with a modern twist? If you asked Joe, he would just say he wanted to create a “vibe” – and we certainly did that!

What details were used to create your theme?

Leah: We knew we wanted to stick with warm colors, so our linens and napkins were navy and hunter green… our water glasses were mix and match but varying shades of blue… and our decor mostly consisted of gold accents with candles and the beautiful florals that were reminiscent of my bouquet. I have never been a big rose girl, so I wanted the highlights in the floral moments to include anemone, thistle, scabiosa, dahlias, eucalyptus and kangaroo paw. We also wanted to tie back to Joe’s passion for spirits by incorporating barrels from his Distillery throughout, as well as featured cocktails using those spirits and ones that were named after our cats – Pip and BoBo. We also made blow up versions of our cats’ faces for the photo booth so they could be included in our big day. I had photos of us printed and put into each of the “Upcoming Event” posters throughout the venue to add a personal touch which was really nice. Everything came together perfectly … I was even thrilled to see all of the bathroom baskets with little wedding day essentials were tapped into! We also made sure to serve cheese curds as a late night snack (harkening back to our first date) and highlighted another one of Joe’s favorite things – Underberg. They’re a little after dinner drink… so we handed them out for everyone and had a nice little cheers before we danced the night away!

Where did you splurge? Where did you save/DIY?

Leah: We knew from the beginning that we wanted to splurge on food and drinks. In creating the ideal “vibe” for our wedding day, we knew that was important – as well as the decor, florals and photobooth. We were happy with every decision we made and did make sacrifices in other places in order for those things to happen. We did quite a few “DIY” / cost saving things – we sent out virtual save the dates , I designed our invitations, programs and table chart, we put together all of the welcome bags for the hotel guests, assembled church pew bows, got bathroom essential baskets together, wrote out our cocktails on chalkboards…. that kind of stuff! My mom did the flowers for the church ceremony which was actually really special – we got to go to Nashville Flower Market together and pick them out and put them together the day before the wedding, along with a bunch of bouquets for our rehearsal dinner.

What words of advice do you have for couples in the midst of their planning?

Leah: Ask for help! We didn’t have a traditional wedding party (no bridesmaids or groomsmen) so we ended up leaning on a lot of our friends and family throughout the process to give advice, provide recommendations for vendors / processes and be a soundboard for ideas as we helped make our dream wedding become a reality. A lot of people say “enjoy the process” and while you’re in it… it’s daunting! Don’t be afraid to ask questions and enjoy both the highs and the lows. There really is a “wedding hangover” afterwards because you don’t know what to do after the thing you’ve been planning for so long is over!

Can you share any special moments or highlights from your wedding day?

Leah: Joe and I made sure to set aside time to share our vows privately but we let our videographer join us and to me, it really makes the wedding video complete. I loved walking into our wedding to Regina Spektor’s “Us” and then sharing our first dance to our dear friend Wrabel’s “Poetry.” My brother is notorious for “icing” people (where you hide a Smirnoff Ice and whoever finds it has to chug it on one knee) and I couldn’t even escape it on my wedding day… he Iced me and my husband as soon as we sat down at our sweetheart table on the stage in front of everyone. My Aunt Diane (our DJ) was in on it and queued up “Ice Ice Baby” for the moment… and it was truly hilarious. I danced for 2 hours straight and then went to our afterparty at our hotel and was surprised that a very good portion of our 120 guests came to that as well. I think it was the first wedding a lot of people felt comfortable attending during the pandemic so it was just so special for everyone to just be together and have this time to eat, drink and be merry.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your wedding?

Leah: The morning of my wedding, I opened my dress up from the garment bag and she was wrinkled EVERYWHERE. I didn’t think about the fact that I had a huge train and that it would likely need to be steamed the morning of… so instead of my best girlfriends getting ready with me… they ended up calling a boutique down the street, literally carrying my dress a few blocks away, steaming it for about 45 minutes and then bringing it back. When the photographer and the videographer arrived and asked where the dress was, I very casually said “Oh, she’s being taken care of by my BFFs” to which they replied, “You don’t seem at all concerned about that.” …and I wasn’t! In the meantime, I got to catch up with my aforementioned best friend from the Netherlands who LITERALLY flew in JUST for my wedding day. The “gowlies” (as I call them) came back with just enough time to all get ready themselves, snap some pictures and then send me off to marry the love of my life!

This is so fun!! Special thanks to Leah and Joe for sharing their creative wedding at Marathon Music Works with us!

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Credits

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Wedding VideographerPeerless WeddingsWEBSITE
Wedding PhotographerCelladora PhotographyWEBSITE
Floral DesignLMA DesignsWEBSITE
Wedding BeautyMorgan EbrightWEBSITE
Rentals & DecorEventworksWEBSITE
Wedding Planning & DesignSweetwater EventsWEBSITE
Wedding Dresses & Bridal FashionLavender Park BridalWEBSITE
Wedding Accessories & JewelryGenesis DiamondsWEBSITE