Jennifer and Jeremy
Wedding Ceremony - Jewel Box

ABOUT THE BRIDE: Jennifer grew up in Lebanon, Missouri and attended the University of Missouri - Columbia, receiving a master's degree in social work in 1999. She is the Residential Director of Father Dunne's Newsboys' Home in St. Louis.

ABOUT THE GROOM: Jeremy grew up in St. Peters, Missouri and also attended the University of Missouri - Columbia graduating in 1998. He is currently employed at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital as a Physical Therapist.

HOW WE MET: We originally met our freshman year at Mizzou through various intramural activities between our neighboring dorms. I immediately developed a crush on Jeremy, though he was oblivious of my feelings. We officially began dating our junior year after a chance meeting at a local bar.

ENGAGEMENT: On our sixth anniversary Jeremy sent a dozen roses to my work, then decorated our apartment with 24 candles and another dozen roses, both dozen roses and the candles symbolizing the 24 seasons we had been together. He got down on one knee and proposed, I accepted, then he said that I needed to pack a bag because the limo would be here in 30 minutes. We had dinner in Clayton and then headed to the Landing, where Jeremy had invited all of our friends to surprise me at Morgan Street Brewery and celebrate with us.

PLANNING: Since our 7th year anniversary fell on a Saturday, we decided that would be the perfect date to celebrate our wedding. We immediately scouted out wedding locations and were lucky enough to book the Jewel Box, our first choice, on the date and time we desired. My mother spent many weekends traveling from Lebanon to St. Louis to help me find the perfect dress, reception site, flowers, etc.

ATTIRE: Dress shopping proved to be a more stressful experience than anticipated. I wanted something simple yet different than the traditional gown. I really wanted to incorporate a lot of silver in the gown, and was delighted when I found a dress that I could alter to have a silver sash all the way down the train. The bridesmaid's dresses were the opposite of my dress, silver with a white sash. Each bridesmaid carried a different red flower and the junior bridesmaid carried a combination of all five flowers.

THE CEREMONY: The ceremony was also very simple. We combined many elements of a traditional wedding without an overly religious feeling. We wanted to have a civil ceremony that expressed our commitment to each other and the love that we would share in the future. In addition to the flowers in the Jewel Box, my favorite part was the string quartet that played throughout the ceremony. The last minute coordinator we hired was also a must-have due to the only one-and-a-half hours we were allowed in the Jewel Box.

THE RECEPTION: The reception for 190 was held at Heart of St. Charles Banquet Center, also our first choice because of the many windows and rounded room. Our main goal in planning the reception was to ensure that all of our guests had a great time. As an added touch we also learned to dance the fox trot to our first song, Fly Me to the Moon. We also booked a DJ with karaoke, which turned out to be a great end to the evening.

SOME VENDORS WE USED:
Photography - Preferred Photographics
Florist - Jupiter's Garden
Ceremony - Jewel Box

If you have questions or comments for Jennifer and Jeremy please e-mail them to jswhitty@sbcglobal.net.