Real Weddings: Lauren & Sam

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This one time at band camp, I met my future spouse. Yes, marriages can blossom via the youthful innocence of college band practice. Indeed, such was the case for Lauren and Sam who met on the very first day of their college band camp, in August of 2015. These Louisiana State University tuba players grew closer on a band trip to Disney World, and Sam, who’s now a Marine Corps aviator, began to see a future with Lauren. He pursued her, though she wasn’t ready to take things past friendship yet. “Sam wasn’t put in my life just to be my friend,” Lauren reflects of their relationship, “God sent him to me to answer every prayer I’ve ever prayed.” Finally, it was Lauren who asked Sam to be her boyfriend, after he had spent many years trying to woo her. When Sam was ready to propose, his first order of business was to seek the permission of Lauren’s mother, who lives in Baton Rouge, LA. Lauren, who’s currently a lab technician, thought she and Sam were on their way to take in the first LSU football game of the season in 2019. Her mother even came to town for it. After getting ready for the game, Lauren walked around the corner to enter the kitchen and was surprised by Sam down on one knee. At their small, pandemic-affected wedding in the Cleveland, OH metro area, Lauren was gracefully walked down the aisle by her step father wearing her dream wedding gown. It was the gown she’d been eyeing since she was in high school. Lauren had always known the style number and designer, so she dug around and found a place that sold that very gown. It was even more magical in person than she had remembered.

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Wedding Details

LOCATION: Solon, OH

TIME OF YEAR: Fall

WEDDING STYLE: poised, classy, authentic

CEREMONY & RECEPTION: Signature of Solon Country Club

MENU: Passed hors d’oeuvres began at cocktail hour, including a delectable chicken satay, a charcuterie of assorted cheeses and a Caesar salad spread. The featured dinner were filet mignon with a garlic butter and asparagus and tri-colored potatoes alongside, or chicken marsala with roasted seasonal vegetables and tri-colored potatoes; and finally a vegetarian option of pasta Julienne

DESSERT: Cake

FIRST DANCE SONG: “Die A Happy Man” by Thomas Rhett

INSPIRATION: the colors were the main inspiration, as they are the bride’s favorites

SPECIAL FEATURES: bride located and wore the wedding dress she had dreamed about since high school; did the tradition of lighting a unity candle; favors were personalized hand sanitizers and shot glasses; guestbook was a personalized wine barrel that guests could sign and place cards inside; bride and groom used Sam’s ceremonial sword to cut the cake in true saber fashion; sparkler send-off; bride’s attendants including one of her best male friends

HONEYMOON: unable due to military orders shortly after the wedding

COLORS: