Adam and Meghan wanted to find a suitably Rock n Roll venue for their alternative wedding in Phoenix. After a long search they eventually came across The Duce which ticked all their boxes! “We wanted the wedding to let us shine through”, began the bride. “We didn’t want a particular theme. When we were looking at wedding venues, we wanted something that was already us. In Phoenix, there are tons of country clubs and botanical gardens. But none of that really fit who Adam and I are. It was to the point that it was bumming us out that we weren’t able to find something in our budget that fit us. We had heard about The Duce through a friend, so we went to check it out.”
“The minute we walked in, we knew it would be perfect. There was Motown playing in the background, an outside bar, a boxing ring and a large indoor area that was filled with yard games – which is where the actual ceremony was held. It is a restaurant, but on the weeknights has swing lessons for the public. The boxing ring is actually used; the owner and some other boxers work out there!”
“The space already had so much character, from being an old produce warehouse, that it didn’t call for much decoration. I did, with the help of some of my ladies, collocated wine bottles from work and decorated them with burlap and twine, using our colors. They had tiger lilies in them. Next to the wine bottles on the tables, we had wine corks holding photos of Adam and me. We also made the backdrop for the ceremony. Cutting 10 foot strips of burlap and alternating those with door tinsel. The backdrop was around 20 feet long and a little over 10 feet high. We hung that and then had lights draping down over it.”
“Adam and I are not the most normal people to begin with”, she continued. “He has been in touring bands for over ten years and I have been interested in the same industry for just as long. So being 29 and 30 years old and getting married we have tons of friends, our wedding party consisted of 27 people. Adam had a few ‘groomettes’ and I had two ‘bridesbros’.”
“A past time that we love is singing karaoke, so that was extremely important for us to have during the reception! A friend of ours, who owns a media graphics company, made us a brand for the wedding. So we were able to have that on the invites, made it into a stamp, and it was on our wedding favors.”
“Adam’s advice to engaged couples would be to enjoy your wedding and make it be the best party you can have”, she concluded. “Definitely to not sweat the small stuff. Everything tends to get worked out. My advice, would be to have fun. Sometimes brides forget to and I had so many people reminding me that I needed too. I’m glad they did; I loved our wedding!”
