Photo from our wedding in Rome, Italy. Giardino degli Aranci with Pastor Dave from Rome Baptist Church
Just over two weeks ago Mike & I had our wedding reception at Kenny’s Westside Pub on a Sunday afternoon/evening. It was a really fun time and we were so blessed to have so many friends and family members who love and support us who could make it out to celebrate!
I wanted to not only share about the day with those of you who couldn’t make it, but also give a shout out to Sean and the staff at Kenny’s for the fantastic night!
This won’t shock most people who know me, but I was running late for my own wedding reception. (There was so much to do and it took a long time to lace up the back of that wedding dress!)
There wasn’t much that might have upset me that day. I’m about the farthest you can get from Bridezilla, but I had a stressful afternoon just trying to get ready. Still when I arrived late, I was prepared to have to do a lot of set-up.
I didn’t. Everything was taken care of already.
Simple and classy had been my preference, and that’s exactly what was waiting for me when I got there.
We wanted to have a little take-away for everyone that wouldn’t end up in the trash… so Mike & I put together a playlist of songs about love, all genres, by both local and non-local artists, and set these cards out for our guests to take. I figured that even if the photo eventually ended up in the trash, the playlist doesn’t take up any space in your phone!
There were other songs we’d have loved to include, but not everyone is on Spotify. If you think there is a great song we missed by a local artists, let us know in the comment on this post and we’ll see if we’d like to add it!
My food budget wasn’t huge, but Sean put together a simple nacho/taco bar that fed everyone who wanted food for the first couple of hours.
And yes, that is a Queso fountain at the end of the table. I went out and found one and the team at Kenny’s figured out the exact consistency needed to make it work for us. It was a fun addition to the menu.
Thankfully, my good friend Amanda told me to get some right as the party started. She was right I forgot to eat again until I remembered there was cake!
The cake was awesome. It was from Costco.
Didn’t think Costco makes wedding cakes? They don’t! My friends Doug and Eileen Leunig asked if there was anything they could help with for the reception and I asked if they were interested in building me a wedding cake out of Costco sheet cake… and they accepted the challenge.
It was beautiful and delicious. They did a marvelous job. Thanks guys!
Gear began lining the stage quickly as bands came in, ready to celebrate with us! Performing that night were: Roy Ponce, Jake Schultz, Bob Kelly, James Herr, Lauren DeJaynes, Vinyl Tap, Citizen’s Band 14, Positivibez, Mike Reuschel, Alison Hanna, & Jaylin Howard! I loved how everyone kept it light and fun… I can’t thank these artists enough for coming out to the join the party!
Roy Ponce, Jake Schultz, and Bob Kelly kicked off the music for us, playing as people ate and visited. Then they opened it up to anyone who wanted to play.
I didn’t think to plan ahead for video to be recorded, but I did set a phone up side-stage to go live near the end of James Herr’s set. We stayed live for the rest of the party.
I’ve added that video here! While it isn’t the best footage, I’m so glad we have it! You can skip through it and see everyone who was a part of the entertainment that day!
While everyone’s participation was special to us, my daughter, Lauren, singing was especially awesome to me. I love her voice and can’t wait to see what happens as she matures and grows as an artist, eventually breaking through her stage fright and taking command of the audience from the stage.
Towards the end of the night, Mike got up on stage and played the trumpet with these guys. I’m pretty proud of him and his talent too. We had told people that he plays, but nobody had heard him in the kind of setting we had there. It was great seeing how surprised and impressed people were.
Looking forward to seeing him play out more now that people know he can play! Hopefully we’ll be out to jam at an open mic soon…
I know there are a lot of great music venues where you can hold an event like the one we put together. But our experience was so perfect, I couldn’t not share it with those of you who didn’t make it to celebrate with us! Thanks for checking it out! And thank you for continuing to support live local music! And supporting Peoria Music Live!
Scroll down to the bottom to see a bunch of photos from the wedding and the reception! If you have some to share, send them on Facebook and I’ll add them to the album when I have the chance!
I do want to add a little story about the wedding itself. I planned no music for the ceremony. Logistically it was too much. We were fine with simplicity. A man saw us walking into the garden and followed us in. We didn’t notice him until we heard music and turned to see where it came from. He sat about 20 feet from us and strummed romantic music on his guitar. It. Was. Perfect.
Call it a blessing or coincidence or karma… whatever you want… but it sounds an awful lot like the words you’ll find at the bottom of this page… “Support live music and live music will support you.”
(Not that anyone could have any doubt after seeing everyone show up for the reception!)
