Jenni and Jake's Autumn Jewel Toned Wedding in Ohio by Kate Legters

Today I am delighted to share with the you the gorgeous autumn wedding of Jenni and Jake. Their wedding was originally supposed to be outdoors. Indie Hollow, their wedding venue, is right on a lake with a beautiful view. Unfortunately that day they had 50 mph wind and rain in the forecast. The decision was made to move the ceremony under the tent a few hours before the ceremony. While that wasn’t the original vision, it certainly still ended up working out! The results are this bright and light jewel toned wedding, with the sweetest first look. Big thanks to Kate Legters for capturing it for us.

Our wedding day was relaxed and full of love and personal touches that reflect the couple Jake and I are. The number one thing both of us heard that day was ‘we’ve never seen 2 people more in love.

Jenni and Jake were married on 5th November 2022 at Indie Hollow, Loveland, Ohio. ‘We really wanted the flexibility to supply our own selection of alcohol (not stuck to pre-developed venue packages) and have a pig roast. Unfortunately, almost all venues we looked at required us to use their vendors. Indie Hollow’s flexibility, and outdoor scene made it easy to select. We had 100 guests and it took 11 months to plan, we were engaged in December of 2021, and married November of 2022.’

How they met
We met in 2017 on Tinder (ha) and I was ready to marry him 3 months in. I’m glad he figured it out 5 years later.

The proposal
Due to COVID Jake and I were working from home- which resulted in challenges in keeping things secret. So, I knew a proposal was going to happen at some point- but somehow, he still managed to surprise me. Jake had his best friend and his wife- from Chicago come in for the weekend and I was told it was to just visit/ see Cincinnati. I believed it. Saturday morning around 7a, Jake woke me up and told me we had to go get donuts from Holtman’s for our guests and could stop to get Starbucks on the way. When we got back to the house, Jake got out with the donuts and ran in while I parked the car. When I came into the house, he asked me to come to the living room and was down on his knee with 48 red roses. I was completely shocked- but the surprises didn’t end there. After saying yes, Jake yelled “she said yes!” which I again- assumed was to our out-of-town guests and heard yelling. The volume of yelling seemed loud compared to 2 people, but how often do you hear multiple people yell from one floor to another? Then all of a sudden, my 6-year old nephew Llewyn came down the stairs. I was completely befuddled how he got there as they live 30 minutes away. Then shortly after, my entire family and local friends came down to congratulate us. After realizing there were a lot more people in the house than we had donuts I started to panic- until Jake announced he had set up a brunch reservation at a local restaurant for all of us to continue celebrating. Despite living on top of each other due to working from home- he still managed to surprise me in all the ways. It was the best!

How did you allocate your budget?
Due to COVID and supply chain shortages, nailing down a budget was really challenging due to the availability and price increases of items needed. While Indie Hollow has an offering to be a wedding coordinator etc., I ended up doing everything myself- minus day of coordination.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We definitely splurged on the food and alcohol in order to make sure we got what we wanted. We also splurged on the rehearsal dinner as we invited all of the out-of-town guests, wedding party + family to a brewery and had an open tab + food provided. I think the only place we really saved was on the stationary as my sister-in-law’s wedding present to us was designing all the items.

How did you choose your photographer?
We chose Kate for a few reasons. 1) Her photography style was exactly what we were hoping for- light and airy to show the joy of the day. 2) Our first meeting was really easy, suggesting she’d be an easy person to work with on a day that holds a lot of emotion. Ultimately- it was the best decision possible as not only was the overall experience easy, but her organization around the day was absolutely wonderful and extremely helpful when managing a lot of moving pieces. Jake and I knew what we were doing and when and were able to relay that information to the rest of the wedding party.

The dress
Kenneth Winston was the designer of my dress. Accessories including vail, opal necklace, and matching bracelets- all came from Etsy. My shoes were Anne Klein as they were literally the only nude shoes with a 1” heel (by getting a 1” heel I eliminated the need to have my dress altered height wise). My shoes were my least favourite part, but they allowed the focus to be on the detailed dress.

The suit and bridesmaids
Jake designed his wedding suit at JOS A. Bank. For the bridesmaids dresses I leaned into an eclectic vibe. Due to COVID and supply chain issues, I was nervous about selecting 1 color dress/ style as I was afraid someone wouldn’t be able to get it. So instead, I had all the bridesmaids get a dress they liked in a jewel tone and made it work. I really liked the colorfulness each person picked, and style as they were all different!

Theme or colour scheme
Our colour scheme was dark blue and copper. But overall, the theme was more boho. I didn’t want to commit to hard to a colour scheme (hence the bridesmaids dresses) due to the supply chain issues we were experiencing.

Flowers
I sent the florist boho inspired images and let her pick! It was a fun surprise to see what she was able to do!

Decoration
Since this wedding was outside under a tent in November, decoration wise I had garland, lanterns filled with pinecones, small pumpkins, and fresh flowers. It was a small nod to fall. Additionally, we rented a couch and rug for photos.

Food
Our menu was one of my favorite parts of the wedding as we had:
-Whole smoked pork with BBQ Vinegar + Sweet and Spicy Sauce
-Cornbread + Weisenberger Corn Meal + Black Pepper Butter + Cane Syrup
-Smothered Grean Beans
-Mac n’ Cheese: Smoked Poblano + White Cheddar
-Pickled Collard Green Slaw
-UDF Cookies n’ Cream Chocolate Milkshake Shooters (Jake’s favorite!)
-Apple Cider donuts (Jenni’s favorite!)
-Locally roasted coffee from Carabello Coffee

Wedding cake
The wedding cake was made my by maid of honour- Rachael Samm and her company Lulu’s Confections

Entertainment
-DJ
-Photo area (with polaroid cameras)
-Kids entertainment packets had: A coloring book I drew + crayons, Bubbles, Glowsticks

Who supplied the stationery?
Since my sister-in-law designed all stationary, we had all invites printed through Smartpress. One really cool thing about Smartpress is they have paper that has a soft touch and could foil print. The stationary was really unique. For the thank you notes we used Shutterfly.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
Jake and I went to the UP of Michigan in pursuit of the northern lights. While we weren’t able to see them, we did have a relaxing time in the woods of Michigan.

Personal touches
I ended up doing a lot of things myself including:

I made the sign holders welcoming guests to the wedding + for the photo area
I drew a colouring book for the kids
Assembled all table decorations + dinnerware
Handpicked the alcohol for the wedding
Cut all of the menus and table numbers out for the tables
Made the table seating arrangement
Made clay ornaments as a thank you gift (and it communicated the table numbers to the guests)

Special moments
While the date was intense, it was filled with so much love. We made the wedding day about our relationship and less about traditions for tradition’s sake. As mentioned before, the amount of personal touches from the music selected for the ceremony (included some Beatles and Monkees!), to laughing through the ceremony, to having a bourbon unity ceremony with our families, and the small nod to our cats, to the food and alcohol selection (I was taught you show your love through food!) and more. These moments were some of my favorites.

Advice for other couples
I was always reminded to live in the moment as your wedding flies by. I think this is valid advice and would relay that to other couples. I would also say- this is your day to reflect who you are as a couple- things you like together etc.

Biggest surprise
I know I mentioned this before, but the biggest surprise for me is still the number of people that came up to Jake and I independently saying they could feel the love between the two of us/ haven’t seen a couple more in love. Our love was communicated through all the personal touches included in the event and was enhanced by the amount of happiness Jake and I exuded. It was the best.