Melissa and Edward created a wedding day that showcased their special connection to music and all things song related. With Revival House (revival.house) as their stunning backdrop, they had a wedding day that was very personal and gorgeous!…

Bride & Groom: Melissa and Edward McKenna

Wedding Date:  Saturday, August 18, 2018

Ceremony & Reception Location(s): Revival House (revival.house) in Stratford, ON.

“Revival House has been hosting weddings for three years.  In September of 2015, Eddie and I attended the very first Revival House wedding; a wedding Eddie also emceed.  The experience was unforgettable and after we were engaged in June of 2016, Revival House quickly topped our list of potential venues.” – M

Colour Palette:  ‘Juniper’ Green, Navy Blue, Gold, Blush/Rose, Lavender, Plum, Cream

Theme: “Eddie is a musician and we met at a show of his in 2010.  Thus, we chose a music theme for our wedding.  We made this come across in many ways – by using lyrics from our favourite artists in many décor aspects including a lyrical marquee sign, concert ticket bridal party asks and invites, and more.  We revamped old records to create our ‘artist/band labelled’ seating chart and used a guitar as our guest book.  Our kissing game requested guests sing a song by the artist identified at their table – a game that was much more popular than initially anticipated!  Amongst the bridesmaid gifts included a treble clef bracelet, and the bride to groom gift included tickets to see Ray Lamontagne – an artist who captured the infancy of our relationship back in 2010.  Finally, to incorporate Eddie’s Scottish heritage we included bagpiper, Robert Stewart, to lead guests into Revival the hour leading up to the ceremony and Fidler, Kelly Guy to entertain our cocktail hour.” – M

Flowers: Lanny and Jay from Lyric Flowers (lyricflowers.ca) in St. Mary’s, Ontario.  “Our arrangements included anemone, lavender and blush roses, Scottish thistle and seasonal foliage. Lanny and Jay provided an incredibly detailed consultation and created the perfect display from our description.” – M

Décor: “One of the reasons we choose Revival House was for it’s natural beauty and lack of need for additional décor.  Thus, we did not hire anyone!  I had a few DIY projects I was looking to include but aside from that, we did not want to mess with a good thing.” – M

Fav décor element: “My favourite décor element of Revival itself is the old organ pipes behind the main level bar and the giant mirrors on the ceremony stage.  Their large and powerful stance make it impossible to ignore the beauty they bring to the interior of this venue.  My favourite element of décor that we brought in was the marquee sign that read, ‘You are the best thing’, as I had been looking forward to making that for 2 years.  This was also the title of our first dance song.  The sign turned out exactly as envisioned and now serves its purpose as bedroom décor.” – M

DIY: “Yes, essentially all additional décor was DIY.  My DIY projects included the bridal party asks, the wedding invitations, all signage, and the favours.” – M

Invitations/stationery: “Invitations were made by me.  This was a project I was looking forward to creating.  With the help of my Cricut Explore, I was able to design a music themed cover to envelope a self designed concert ticket reception information card and ceremony information card.  The ceremony information was printed by Vistaprint and the rest was cut, printed, and put together by me.  Our guest addresses were shaped as records to enhance the theme.” – M

Cake: “Instead of a cake, we opted for cake pops.  One of my bridesmaids had made themed cake pops for our buck and doe and they were a huge hit.  She did the same for our wedding and received the same review – everyone loved them!” – M

Wedding favours: “As wedding favours, we bagged and tagged individual sized coffee and hot chocolate/marshmallow packets in burlap and twine.  The coffee packets read, ‘Let love brew’ and the hot chocolate packets read, ‘Let love marshmallow’.  Additionally, our names and the wedding date were included on each label.” – M

Groomsmen and Groom’s attire: Stars Menswear (starsmenshops.com)“Groomsmen were dressed in navy blue suits with white dress shirts, dark green ties, and a brown belt and brown shoes.  Eddie differed from the group by wearing a vest under his suit jacket and wearing a dark green and black paisley patterned tie.” – M

Bridesmaids attire and accessories: “Bridesmaids were dressed in long ‘Juniper’ Green dresses of various styles.  I had eight bridesmaids in total with four different dress styles – two in each style.  Bridesmaids wore shoes of their choosing either cream or gold in colour.  Aside from two bracelets given as part of the bridesmaid gift (a Kate Spade bow bangle and a treble clef bracelet), accessories were also chosen by each individual bridesmaid.  My maiden name was Golding and so all I asked was that accessories be gold in colour as a farewell nod to the last name.” – M

Bride’s dress and accessories:  Sophie’s Gown Shoppe (sophiesgownshoppe.com) “My dress was an Ella Rosa design. The dress was entirely lace with a sweetheart neckline, thin satin straps, and a mermaid bottom.  The train was lengthy and beautiful.” – M

DJ:  Travis Blum of Main Event DJ Service (facebook.com/maineventdjservice) in Stratford, ON.

Hair & make-up:  “We had three hair stylists – Elizabeth, Andrea, and Jennifer, and two make-up artists – Angie and Sarah.  All were individually chosen and from different areas of Kitchener and Stratford, save Elizabeth who is my cousin and is from out of town.” – M

Wedding Planner:  “We did not have a wedding planner, but we did have Alysha Devocht – the Revival House Events Coordinator.  Alysha was essential in the smooth running of our day and extremely helpful in essential steps of the planning process.” – M

Catering:  “Catering was also provided in house by Revival House staff.  If there’s one thing guests are still talking about today, it’s the quality of food/unforgettable flavours at our wedding.  Dinner was presented family style with portions of salads and breads, beef, chicken, gnocchi (vegetarian option), seasonal vegetables, and roasted potatoes followed by an apple crumble dessert.  Fortunately, Revival House operates as a restaurant on a regular basis and their unforgettable flavours can be enjoyed any time of year.” – M

Photographer: Vaughn Barry Photography (vaughnbarry.com) from Barrie, ON.  “Eddie and I attended the destination wedding of two close friends in May of 2015.  Vaughn was hired for their wedding and after seeing the images he produced from that wedding, we knew we wanted him for ours.  Vaughn is extremely friendly and very easy to work with.  Whether you know what you want or have no idea whatsoever, he can help capture a beautiful moment in any setting.  Our favourite part of Vaughn is his sense of adventure, whether in a tropical Dominican island or just along the Avon River in Stratford. My favourite part of the photos lay in Vaughn’s creativity and subtleties.  Vaughn’s ability to extract comparisons from surrounding natural occurrences enhances the emotion of the subjects in each photo and this is what makes his photography truly beautiful.” – M

Biggest challenge: “For us, the biggest challenge in wedding planning was the guest list.  Since we have such a large family, to tackle this dilemma we decided our wedding would be very family oriented with only the addition of a few close friends.” – M

Fav wedding memory:“The best memory was just the happiness of everyone present.  Every moment itself was fabulous so there really is no set favourite moment beyond the general overall feeling of the day.” – M

Advice from one couple to another: “As repetitive as this advice may get – slow down and enjoy each moment of the day.  Things will go wrong (from experience believe me, sometimes major things at 3am the day of, WILL go wrong) yet in the end everything will go right.  It really doesn’t matter.  That’s not to say all your hard work and planning are irrelevant.  Entirely the opposite in fact.  You’ve put an excessive amount of time into planning one day to exhibit elements of one of the most treasured relationships in your life.  You worked hard and no matter the delivery on the day of – the time, effort, and care you’ve both input to be in the position to have a relationship like you do is certainly something to be proud of.  Keep that in mind throughout the day and you will certainly be able relish in each moment.” – M

MORE ABOUT REVIVAL HOUSE  | Revival House (revival.house) is romantically chic with a touch of modern hipster (more details in their review in The Ring, here). To find out more, email Revival House directly using the form below. 🙂