Cortez and Alexa’s ‘Timeless’ Flower Filled Elegant Conservatory Wedding by Evan Davies Photo

Happy Friday everyone and how are you all? How has your week been? Week six of lockdown and we are nearly there, it will soon be the weekend! Homeschooling will be done for the week and we can all enjoy some family time. Today I have the most beautiful wedding for you. Cortez and Alexa have described their day as ‘timeless’ and indeed it certainly has a classic elegance to it. Their Conservatory Wedding venue is just divine and filled with the most stunning flowers, which really make the whole wedding pop. The ceremony area has to be my favourite aspect of the wedding, that and the groomsmen’s suits, they look so dapper! Big thanks to Evan Davies Photo  for the lovely images.

Our wedding day was an unforgettably timeless celebration of our love. We joined together with our closest family and friends, partied the time away and made memories to last the rest of our lives.

Cortez and Alexa were married on 15th September 2019 at Planterra Conservatory, West Bloomfield in Michigan. ‘When we first visited Planterra we immediately fell in love with how beautiful the venue was. The wide selection of lush, exotic botanicals and natural light during the day made the venue practically perfect for our special day. We had 100 guests and we planned our wedding for a little over a year.’

How they met 
We met through a mutual friend who thought we would be perfect together, that was 5 years ago now.

The proposal
Cortez proposed in Paris, France at The Louvre. I fell in love with the city on our first visit in 2017.

How did you allocate your budget?
Our wedding planner provided us a breakdown of all costs. We were able to ramp up or cut back on things that either we loved or put us over budget.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on the 5-hour bar and florals. These were two things that made the venue beautiful and loosened our guests up to let their hair down and have a great time.

How did you choose your photographer?
I’ve worked with Evan several times prior to hiring him to capture our wedding photos. His professionalism, unique eye and impressive aesthetic made the decision extremely easy. His work is stunning, and he was the only photographer we trusted to photograph our special day.

The dress
My dress came from L’Amore Bridal in Farmington Hills, Michgain. My bridesmaid dresses came from David’s Bridal, jewellery and shoes came from Macys.

The suit
Cortez’s suit was custom made by a private tailor in Houston, Texas.

Theme or colour scheme
Our theme was timeless. We wanted people to be able to look back at our photos and not know what decade it was in. Our colour scheme was blush, burgundy and gold.

Flowers
Our flowers were soft and elegant roses.

Decoration 
Our dream was ceremony and reception consisted our lush florals, gold hardware and elegance touches throughout the room.

Food
For hors d’oeuvres we had crab cakes, tomato bisque and mini grilled cheeses and mini cone chicken shawarmas. For dinner we enjoyed Tuscan chicken breast with asparagus and wedge potato dish. For dessert we had Crème Brule and wedding cake.

Wedding cake
For the Love of Sugar; our cake was simple yet elegant. The real flowers and gold foil enhanced the classic naked frosted cake.

Entertainment
We have a DJ and my cousin sung me down the aisle to John Legend – So High

Who supplied the stationery?
Our stationery came from Minted.com. The suite included gold foil and a lovely blush tone that carried through the wedding aesthetic.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
For our honeymoon, we went to Mykonos, Greece. We love to travel and Greece was the perfect place to relax, unwind and enjoy a blissful week of being newlyweds.

Personal touches
One of our favourite personal touches was the classic Packard car rented through Motor City Vintage Rentals.

Special moments 
To honour my late grandfather, we dedicated a seat with a rose and heartfelt message. We would have loved for him to be there to help celebrate our union, however he was with us in spirit. Also, when we first met, we connected over our love for Kanye West so during the reception dedicated 10 mins of Kanye’s greatest hits. It definitely kept everyone on the dance floor.

Advice for other couples?
When it comes to planning a wedding, we feel that there are some non-negotiables, these are things or moments that make the day special.

Biggest surprise 
The biggest surprise of the day was how much fun we had. We’ve heard so many couples talk about how fast the day went, how stressful the day was and how they didn’t have time to eat. Surprisingly, we didn’t have any of those problems. Our day-of wedding coordinators took care of us from start to finish. We made sure we enjoyed our day and took moments throughout the time to enjoy just the two of us.

Supplier Shout Outs

• Venue: Planterra Conservatory  
• Photography: Evan Davies Photo
• Dress: L’Amore Bridal
• Bridsmaids: David’s Bridal 
• Cake: For The Love of Sugar 
• Vinateg Car: Motor City Vintage Rentals 
• Stationery: Minted 

For more information on Evan Davies Photo go to

www.evandaviesphoto.com / www.evandaviesphoto.com/journal / [email protected] / 1-608-697-1407 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / PINTEREST

 I am based in Detroit, MI, and Nashville, TN. My favorite part about photographing weddings is capturing the entire day’s emotions from the nervousness beforehand to the love and celebration. I love photographing emotions and telling the story and feelings through the images. My style revolves around capturing the tender-hearted folks in an emotional way.