Jessica and JR had a two-day wedding. Their legal courthouse ceremony was held on Halloween with their big reception party a couple of days later at Passalino’s, an events space in Downtown Louisville. They wanted their wedding to be like no other Halloween weddings, to them that meant keeping things minimal, elegant and modern – no themed props, pumpkins or skull decorations here!
The pair, who had known each other for a while, got engaged a week after their first date!! “After a decade of friendship, I agreed to go on a date with JR to dinner and a large fireworks display”, Jessica began. “We quickly realised we were in love. There were literally fireworks. Not wanting to waste any more time, he proposed over drinks at our favourite wine bar a week later and I said yes!”
They planned their Halloween 2018 wedding to have an ‘uptown’downtown vibe. A courthouse ceremony with a glamorous gala reception. “We wanted a slight ’90s NYC Fashion Week after party kinda vibe”, she continued. “Gorgeous cocktails to drink, egg rolls and NY style pizza to snack on. Tons of candles and votives everywhere!”
“I’m obsessed with all things early 90s and original supermodel squad related. The inspiration came from my vintage Versace jewellery and vintage 90s veil (found on eBay for $30!), which makes me think of the early days of supermodels in NYC. The inspo for the courthouse wedding ranged from Mick and Bianca Jagger, to Heather Locklear and Tommy Lee, Claudia Schiffer walking Chanel bridal, Cindy Crawford’s late 80s bridal editorial and to paparazzi pics of Kim and Kanye.”
The ceremony itself was super quick, just like their engagement! After getting engaged just a week after their guest day, their wedding was just six months later. “We did everything ultra fast, getting married six months after no period of dating or engagement! I think the wedding solidified to lots of our friends that we weren’t pulling a stunt or joke. We also split it up into two separate days with two separate attitudes. We had a very private ceremony and very public party and after party. The day we got legally married was Halloween. One of the people working at the courthouse had come in to work fully and ultra-realistically dressed like the clown from the movie IT. Floating red balloon and all. We took pics with them!”
Jessica’s favourite element of the wedding ended up being the flowers. “I did early 90s reminiscence there, too, with moody and muted colours. My bouquet was full of beautiful and gorgeous smelling eucalyptus and I didn’t put it down all night. I also kept sneaking back up to the bridal suite because it smelled so amazing in there with the other florals and burning candles. It made me feel so special and now I associate those scents with the emotions of that day.”
“The only thing we would have changed would be to have even more candles!” Jessica concluded. “My advice to others is that it’s YOUR day and so easy to feel guilty or get sidetracked into putting others wants or ideas first.”
