Tyler and Lexi’s Heartfelt Western September Wedding at The Urban Cowboy in Nashville, TN
THIS RETRO WEDDING AT THE MADONNA INN IS A COLOUR LOVERS DREAM!
Mike and Jenn met at a bar in Venice, CA where sparks flew immediately. About three years later, Mike popped the question outside of the same bar, completely surprising Jenn with about 20 of their closest friends waiting to celebrate inside.
They didn’t have big wedding ideas in their heads when they began planning, only that they wanted a retro feel and lots of colour. The Madonna Inn was the perfect venue choice as it checked off both of those boxes! Due to COVID, they kept things small and planned the wedding in two months. The pair DIY’d a lot of the details themselves, like the ceremony balloon arch and the place card goblets. Jenn also had a hand in her own wedding day look, making her belt and headpiece as well as doing her own hair and makeup.
“The Madonna Inn is one of my favourite places in the world and I feel so lucky to have had my wedding there.” Jenn began.
“I’ve never been someone who dreamt of their wedding day so when it came around, I was pretty clueless to the details of what I wanted. All I knew was that I wanted it all to have a bit of a retro feel to it and I wanted lots of colour.”
“Luckily, the wedding package we purchased at the Madonna Inn included the dinner, cake (which was to die for!), and table settings so I had very little to worry about there.”
“We only had two months to plan everything, so it was a bit of a hustle. Due to Covid we kept it smaller than it would’ve been but everyone there had at least their first vaccine so that helped give us all a little peace of mind.” Jenn told us.
“All the planning was done online. I turned to google and yelp for suggestions. That’s how I found Albert’s Florist. I worked with Talar, the wedding coordinator who come up with the perfect mix of flowers and succulents. I was a little bit nervous as I wasn’t sure what to expect but Talar nailed it and I was so happy.”
“I also tried finding my wedding dress online at places like Reformation, LuLu’s and BHLDN. After ordering quite a few duds I decided to just go into the BHLDN Bridal shop in Anthropologie and that’s how I found the one. I made my own bridal belt because I couldn’t find anything that was in the world of what I wanted. It took a while as it was hand sewn but totally worth it. I also made a matching hair comb.” Explained Jedd
“In addition to that the morning of the wedding my best friends and I built a beautiful balloon arch. I know it sounds crazy to do that yourself on the morning of the big day, but it was so relaxing and fun! I highly recommend it if you’ve that kind of creativity in you.”
“My biggest fear about the wedding day was that the Zoom link wouldn’t work, and that fear came true! There was some last-minute scrambling, and a lot of family and friends couldn’t get into the room. Thankfully one of our friends captured the full 12-minute ceremony on their iPhone so we could send it out to everyone that didn’t get to watch.”
“The only thing I would have changed about the day; it would have been amazing to be able to invite a bigger group of people that included more family and more friends. We were restricted to a max of 20 people based on the COVID rules in late April so we did the best we could. But, of course, it would have been great to have even more of our favourite people there for the big celebration.”
“Things are going to go wrong and that’s ok! It will all be fun and in the end some of the funniest stories are about the little “disasters” that happened during your big day. Also, get a photographer! Because it was only a 20 person wedding, we felt we didn’t need a photographer but I had so many people say they regretted not having a photographer, so we booked one! She was incredible and worth every penny! I have a hard time having my picture taken and our photographer made it feel quick, effortless, and so comfortable. She was amazing!”
Photography: Mandee Johnson Photography I Venue, Catering, Cake, and Bar: Madonna Inn I Florals: Albert’s Florist I Hair and Makeup: Jenn Turgeon I
