A Timeless Summer Wedding in Stevens Point

Stevens Point in Bloom:
Daniel and Jessica’s Timeless Summer ‘I Do’

Months to Plan: 12  | Wedding Guest Count: 200  | Music Down the Aisle: Cannon in D
First Dance Song: Turning Page by Sleeping at Last (recorded by bride)

The Beginning

How They Met

Daniel and Jessica say they met teaching CCD classes to high schoolers at her home parish, St. Bronislava. His cousin was the youth minister at the time, and Jessica had been volunteering with the church for years. Technically, they actually met in an advanced freshman English course their first semester of college, where they edited each other’s essays. Their connection really started senior year when Daniel’s brother invited Jessica over to their apartment to explore the idea of her singing in the brothers’ band. Well, they didn’t end up doing music, instead they talked the whole time! At one point Daniel exclaimed, “Why are you the woman of my dreams?!” Within a few weeks, they began officially dating.

Being that his extended family was originally from the area, Jessica had known several of his cousins for years but had no idea they were related to him until getting to know him better. They had so many points of connection and must have crossed paths more but ended up getting together at the perfect time in their lives. It is a love story only God could have written!

They must have known they were meant to be from the start: Daniel jokingly asked if Jessica would marry him on their first date, and Jessica told people that she might have just gone on her first date with her husband!

The Proposal

After being in a long distance relationship once college ended, one weekend Daniel surprised Jessica by showing up at SS Peter and Paul for Sunday Mass. Later that day, they walked with Jessica‘s family into the Green Circle Trail by her house for a “photoshoot.“ Jessica suspected what was going to happen, especially when they stopped at what they had nicknamed the “proposal bench.“ Daniel got down on one knee in the snow and ice, and the rest of the day was spent in celebration!!

The Planning Process

Wedding Date: 08/17/2024

Wedding Shows Attended: Several – in Milwaukee (where we had originally thought about having the wedding), Wausau, and Stevens Point – it’s hard to remember all the details now, but I definitely did read and get inspiration from the Premier Bride magazine that I got at the shows!

Wedding Colors:
Royal Purple, Rose Pink, Ivory, Rose Gold, Magenta

Important Elements:
We had always wanted a traditional Catholic wedding, with a classic, regal, and elegant feel. We both wanted the day to be an event that highlighted the importance and holiness of the sacrament we were celebrating. We will only get married once, so we wanted to do it right and host a party to match! We wanted our big family and our friends to really enjoy themselves.

Florist:
Lily & Vine Floral and Gifts

Invitations:
Jessica custom designed the Invitations, Programs, and Holy Cards on Zazzle. She created the  Save the Dates on Canva.

Wedding Looks

Gown Designer | Bridal Boutique:
Demetrios| Elaine’s Wedding & Event Center , Green Bay

How many dresses did you try on?
I tried on too many to count (yikes)! I had a vision of wanting to look like a princess, fueled by years of “Say Yes to the Dress” being my favorite show, and nothing was quite right off the rack, especially with wanting to find something modest. I ended up finally crying in a Demetrios ball gown that had the lace and sparkle that I loved and customized it to be more modest and fit my dreams, adding full lace sleeves, a beaded jewel neckline, and a lace back with buttons all the way down the skirt.

Menswear:
DuBois Formalwear,  Green Bay
We both wanted a traditional, formal look to match the elegance of the occasion. The groom wanted a classic look in all black and white. For a cohesive look, we had our groomsmen, ushers, and dads in the same tuxedo as the groom but coordinated with the bridesmaids, personal attendants, and moms’ dress colors respectively with matching colored vests, bow ties, and pocket squares.

Did you do a trial run on hair and makeup before wedding?
Yes! It was great to be able to envision my hair with my tiara, and it was especially awesome to reconnect with my makeup artist who had previously done makeup for my high school senior photos.

Ceremony Details

Location:
SS Peter and Paul

Ceremony Décor:
We had a floral arrangement in the church’s foyer along with the bride’s custom designed welcome sign. Our wedding programs added to the decor, as they were in our colors and carefully designed. In the church there were  floral arrangements on the altar and alternating bows and floral wreaths on the pews. We had faux ivory rose petals for the flower girl (our goddaughter) to throw down the aisle. Afterwards, we had real pink rose petals that our wedding party threw as we exited the doors of the church (This made for some of our favorite photos…our photographers even used an image from it for the cover of their latest wedding guidebook for their couples!)

Ceremony Special Moments:
Before the Mass, praying together for a “first touch” was very intimate, and it was memorable to save seeing each other for when I walked down the aisle. For our ceremony, it was surreal to be so close to the altar for the Mass and to receive communion together as husband and wife for the first time. We joyfully embraced all of the moments, from being surrounded by our family and friends, to listening to our family members read the specific Bible readings we chose, to singing the Mass parts in Latin together, to having Daniel lift the blusher veil, to proclaiming our vows and love, to praying side by side, and everything else!

It was very special to get married at my grandparents’ home church, which is also the place that I attended my first ever wedding at and where our goddaughter was baptized. We are happy to now officially be parishioners at the church! During the Mass after communion, we presented a rose to Mary and a lily to Joseph as a way to honor the Holy Family, who we have a special devotion to as a couple. Another unique detail is that we had a marriage crucifix blessed by the priest and that was then on the altar for the whole wedding Mass. We now have this above our bed as a reminder of the worthwhile sacrifice marriage is!

Did you write your own vows?
No, we actually had our priest, who is Daniel’s cousin, choose the version of the traditional Catholic vows we said to each other, which was very meaningful! We loved saying vows that encapsulate what the sacrament of matrimony entails.
The nuptial Mass was truly the absolute best part of the day and was what we had been looking forward to for so long. The gravity of it, the beauty of it…it was just perfect! Everything after was just pure celebration!

Capturing the Day

Photography:
Northbound Photography

We loved the quality of their work, with their talented eye and editing style most of all. Adam and Jessie are a wonderful Catholic married couple who work so well together and who we had so much fun with on our wedding day! We knew them beforehand as Jessica is coworkers with Adam, and they are also parishioners at the church we got married at. We’ve known family and friends that have had them photograph their weddings and the photos have always been stunning, light, and bright.

Photo Locations:
The girls took photos in Sentry’s Salon as we got ready, and then around Sentry before heading to the church. The boys took photos inside and outside Sentry as well as Al Tech Co Park to keep away from the girls before the wedding. Afterwards, we just took photos inside and outside the church and back on the Sentry grounds (including the flower hole for sunset photos of the bride & groom later in the evening!). We wanted to save time on the way to the reception by not stopping elsewhere, which completely worked out because our venues were already picture perfect!

Favorite Shots:
It was essential and worthwhile to get plenty of family photos at the altar after we were married. With our wedding party, we all had a great time taking photos, especially after having a blast on the party bus ride as a big group after the ceremony. Even though most of the guys don’t love photos being taken, we had some fun prompts which made for cute shots and funny facial expressions. Our photographers noticed how Daniel couldn’t stop kissing me, and that made for a lot of good photos with our group and their reactions!

Videographer: Sara’s Custom Video
The highlight video is beautiful, and she let Jessica pick the songs to coordinate – we love it!

Reception Details

Location:
The Grand Hall at SentryWorld

Why did you choose your venue:
 Sentry is where the bride’s parents met, so it has always been a sentimental place to us. As a couple, we celebrated our engagement at SetnryWorld’s restaurant PJs, where we have had countless good memories. Growing up in Stevens Point, I (Jessica) had envisioned having a wedding reception at SentryWorld, specifically in the Grand Hall since it is such a classy place in town and truly grand! Realistically, we loved that we could use the “getting ready” rooms (the girls especially had such a pretty space) and take gorgeous photos inside and outside at SentryWorld.

Menu Details:
We had a variety of hors d’oeuvres at cocktail hour and then a delicious meal with salads, a choice of beef, salmon, or a stuffed pepper for the entree, and a white chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce for dessert. We also had quite a few unique flavors of cupcakes, courtesy of Zest, along with pieces of our almond flavored cake available for guests. We had a late night snack of pizza, too.

Specialty cocktails/ drinks:
We had a champagne toast at the beginning of the reception, which was nice. Throughout the night we featured the groom’s signature drink as an Old Fashioned and the bride’s as a Moscow Mule, since those are some of our favorites.

Favorite moments:
One of the more unexpected favorite moments was the speeches given by our wedding party. All 12 bridesmaids and groomsmen ended up giving a short speech, and the support and kind words our friends had for us was so heartfelt that you could feel the love in the air! The best man (groom’s brother) even brought a toy dinosaur from their childhood as a prop, which was a hoot (seriously the photos capturing it are hilarious).
We had a lovely first dance with our very personal song. (My mom later ended up saying it was the best she had ever heard me sing, which was a huge compliment). We had emotional father/daughter and mother/son dances, too. Last but not least, we loved changing into our Mr. & Mrs. Converse shoes (a gift the bride gave the groom on the wedding morning) and dancing the night away to tons of our favorite music with our guests!

Looking Back

3 Words to Best Describe the Day:
Beautiful, timeless, romantic & full of love… and FUN! (Sorry, couldn’t pick just three!)

Favorite Design Elements:
Our flowers, which conveyed our theme of roses & lilies, were very pretty and made the spaces match our day. Our rose gold decor also stood out as a very “us” element, matching our rose gold rings as our favorite metal. We particularly loved our “when we were” pictures for each table number – it was super cool to make these and see our pictures from all throughout our lives side by side!
We loved the more unique elements we included, like the “Generations of Love” table we had with pictures of our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings.
We liked having our welcome sign to add formality and sophistication when coming to our wedding and reception.
It was also awesome to have spaces for our guests to take photos with our circular floral photo backdrop with the Mr. & Mrs. Sommers purple neon sign and our personalized “happily ever after” full length selfie mirror, which was filled with children’s handprints by the end of the night 🙂

Vendor Love:
Northbound Photography was the best photographers we could have had! They stayed much later than planned, took more pictures of us than any album they had delivered yet, made the day so fun and comfortable, and Jessie even joined in praying the Rosary with me and the girls on the way to Mass for the intention of our marriage. Sara’s Custom Video also stayed longer than planned to get video of the sparkler send off, which was such a cool moment and meant a lot to have captured. And, our florals came through so well to represent our subtle theme of roses and lilies. Our florist, Lily & Vine, even included purple roses, which we hadn’t seen anywhere before. We loved them so much that we got my bouquet pressed & framed and other flowers encapsulated in resin. They are a lovely reminder of our day, and they are simply stunning to have preserved forever.

Biggest Wedding Splurge:
My dress! It was very ornate with intricate lace and beading, filled with pearls, crystals, sequins, and more. I completely customized it, so it was truly my own and thankfully was just what I had envisioned and what my groom had pictured me in as well. I totally felt like royalty and got many compliments on the dress.

What advice or tips would you share with other couples currently planning their wedding?
Let this be a sweet time, full of excitement and love. Work together as a unit to make decisions for your day and your future! It’s more important to focus on the marriage than the wedding day! 🙂

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