The Clay Theatre: Scene 2
Thank you so much to everyone that checked out Part 1 of this post earlier in the week. We have been blown away by all of the sweet messages about our wedding, comments about the last post and questions about our venue, The Clay Theatre! One of the questions I received several times that I thought was so great and important to answer was: “Was the team at The Clay Theatre organized on your wedding day?”
Short answer: YES!!!
Long answer: When I say “dream team”, I mean it. Everything was so perfectly planned out and discussed ahead of time that there were zero hiccups with our timeline on our wedding day. The whole team at The Clay Theatre truly wants your big day to be flawless, effortless and stress-free and they make sure of it! Everyone communicates with each other in such an efficient way that it all feels very natural, not like you’re on a tight, rushed, schedule of things you have to do just to get through your wedding day. It’s still unbelievable to me that The Clay Theatre opened roughly six months ago but are as organized and streamlined as if they have been doing it for 50 years! A really well-oiled machine, to say the least.
Tonight I’m taking you through some of my favorite moments from our ceremony and reception from flower walls to Cole becoming an unofficial member of the Bay Kings Band! Enjoy!
Josie from Anything With Plants created the flower wall of my DREAMS! I couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful to get married in front of, aside from Cole haha!
WE DID IT!!!
This is one of my favorite photos of the night. Literally just married and finally able to relax and enjoy the evening after months and months of stress planning the wedding and trying to make everything perfect. It was all so worth it! I think Cole might have just been relieved because he knew he would never have to listen to me cry about place cards again haha!
Cole saying the blessing before dinner—such a sweet moment. He actually wasn’t prepared to do this AT ALL and had to step in last minute but you would have never known! He’s definitely the “cool under pressure” one in this relationship.
Just some of our supermodel friends looking flawless!
The ceremony space was flipped during dinner for the reception. We never planned on having this tent in the courtyard…I loved the idea of having it open and seeing the night sky above while everyone danced BUT we did have rain in the forecast so we had to put up a tent (from Luxe Party Rentals) just to be safe since we had the band playing outdoors. Both Cole and our wedding planner, Lauren, can tell you that I was the biggest baby about this tent and hated the idea of it more than anything but I can 100% say that I loved it after seeing it all come together! It truly felt like another indoor space—not like we were outside under a tent. Josie, from Anything With Plants — aka “The Flower Whisperer” — surprised me by putting up these cute little greenery chandeliers and it made all the difference!
Our first dance! If you don’t know by now Cole LOVES to dance—and sing, which you’ll see in a minute—so I decided to change into a shorter dress for the remainder of the reception so that we could twirl and twirl as much as we wanted without having to worry about messing up my wedding dress. I’m so glad I changed into a second dress because shortly after this shot was taken he flipped me upside down—I’ll spare you that image! FUN FACT: When Cole and I first met, I would NEVER dance with him because 1. I didn’t know how and 2. I was terrified BUT after a while I gave in and, now, I’m still a horrible dancer, but dancing with him is one of my favorite things to do!
Cue the “AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWS”
Cole loves vintage cars and Grand Marnier nightcaps so I had this idea to get his grooms cake made as our “getaway car”, a white 1955 Cadillac Convertible, flavored with Grand Marnier and chocolate and It turned out even more amazing than I could have ever imagined! Husband and wife team Nils and Bailey of Crème de la Cocoa in St. Augustine, FL are true masters of their craft and were such a joy to work with. There’s NOTHING they can’t do!
Cole, finding his true calling in life as Lead Male Vocals in the Bay Kings Band! He sang about four songs at the end of the night including his pièce de résistance, Bennie and the Jets! If you’re engaged and searching for entertainment, I would highly recommend Bay Kings Band—such an incredibly talented group of musicians and so fun to work with. Though I can’t promise that Cole will make an appearance, you CANNOT go wrong with using them for your wedding band!
GLOW. UP. HUBBY.
Our last dance. It was so sweet to have this final moment at the end of the night before our sparkler exit—it felt like the first time we really got to talk to each other the whole night!
Ahhh! The lighting is one of the coolest features at The Clay Theatre! They’re able to change the lights to any single color, color combination and can even make the lights pulse to music! This is exactly what I’m talking about when I say that the attention to detail Andrea and Daniel put into this venue is IMPECCABLE.
I absolutely love seeing this place all lit up at night—it’s like stepping back in time (in the best way). After all of the stress that comes with planning any wedding, I would do it all over again exactly the same way one hundred times over again! The Clay Theatre sure is something special, ya’ll.
All photos by Gandy Photographers
Mr. and Mrs. Wildes…off to…sleep for five days straight—and then live happily ever after!