What do you get when the band leader for Kacey Musgraves and a Nashville artist put on a prairie inspired wedding in a vintage rental warehouse?  Throw in a tequila shots during the ceremony, a country western two-step band, an aura photographer and a custom dinner tent made from crushed velvet mustard draping and you have a Midnight in Paris inspired wedding dreamland.

Mackenzie and Kyle are artists with different mediums, so their wedding was always going to be creative and fun. They approached planners Modern Vintage Events with an inspiration drawing from Mackenzie and a description of their wedding – ‘like Stanley Kubrick and The Great Gatsby hosted a cocktail hour. Unique, cinematic, intentional and intimate.’ “Doodling during our planning meetings was a common occurrence and every detail and every angle was taken into consideration,”  designer Becca told us. 

“Kyle is from Nebraska, and on a visit once his father took us to a stretch of prairie his family has preserved,” the bride continued. “It was stark and beautiful and honestly a little bit otherworldly. That visit, the native grasses and the wild flowers…was embedded firmly in my mind ever since. So when it came time to plan the ceremony the idea of creating something like that in an unexpected place was kind of our jumping off point.”

As a graphic designer, Mackenzie designed the invitation suites, menus and keepsake motel keychains and matchbooks to save some money. “I also would’ve been an awful client,” she laughed. “I also made a cloud that hung over us during the ceremony out of wire, papier-mâché and blanket filler. We managed to light it from the inside, but apparently it had a short so it was flickering a bit during the ceremony. People thought it was intentionally meant to look like a moody storm though so… win?”

They held their ceremony and reception at the same venue – Spark Vintage Warehouse in Nashville, Tennessee but divided the space in a way that made it feel like the ceremony and reception were in two different worlds. “We swathed the entire reception space in curtains. “We had our hearts set on a very specific crushed velvet curtain, but no rental companies in town had anything close to what we were picturing. Bless our wedding planners, they never gave up and found a way to commission custom draperies in the exact ‘so bad it’s rad’ mustard velvet of our dreams. That rental was one of our biggest expenses but it was so amazingly vibey.”

Their ceremony was officiated by the friend who hosted the party that the couple met at, and it ended as their relationship started – with everyone in the room taking a shot of tequila. “My dad had his suit specially made for the day and he had them embroider a private joke of ours on the inner lapel. He showed it to me in the moments before he walked me down the aisle. It made me laugh and calmed my VERY pronounced nerves. I also heard later that Kyle was still scribbling down his vows as people were arriving – no judgement, inspiration strikes when it strikes!”

They saved the most money on their catering. They approached their favourite Indian restaurant in town and asked if they could make food for a group of people as large as theirs. “They gave us an amazing deal and the food was fucking incredible. Also, instead of a traditional wedding cake we had one of our favourite restaurants in town make us a few of their crowd-favourite ‘Tennessee Waltz’ cakes….they weren’t fancy looking but damn did they taste good.”

“Without a doubt, working with Modern Vintage Events was our favourite thing about planning our wedding. They never batted an eye at some of our wilder requests…. ‘You want to find a venue that nobody has been married in before? We just met someone with a pink warehouse full of vintage furniture that says she’s in!’ ‘You want to build a prairie inside the warehouse? Sure, and our favourite florist will grow the grasses from seed!’ They found an aura reader, a DJ who spins vinyl and a mixologist to build a custom drink menu. No idea was too weird…they were incredible and without them (no shade) we probably would’ve ended up at City Hall.”

“My advice to any future couples would be to not get too caught up in what people are going to think. I fretted for ages about my dresses, and the food, and the vibe. When in reality everyone who was there had shown up to love and support us, not sit in quiet judgement. They didn’t give a shit about which chairs we rented or the warmth of the lighting around the perimeter of the room, they just wanted to celebrate us…and party their faces off.  Also, If you are able, hire a planner. It allowed my husband and I to stay in the fun creative headspace and not be bogged down with the minutiae of how to actually make it all happen.”