Venue: The Gatehouse at Lionsgate Event Center
Photographer: Jonathan Koder with Earl James Photography
Videographer: Adam Bradley with AdamFusion Weddings
Wedding Attire: Amanda’s Bridal and Tux
Florist: Lilli Black with Bella Calla
DJ: James with The DJ Guy
Caterer: Texas Roadhouse
Make-up Artist: Sara Duffey with Sara Duffey Artistry
Hair: Danyel Maddox and Jessica Waggoner
Photobooth: Instabooth
I had a great opportunity to work with and get to know Leah and Brad. They shared with me special details of their wedding day and all the love that went into it. Leah and Brad are a phenomenal couple who love to let their hair down, know how to throw a party, and bring their friends together. Here are a few other things I learned about them and their special day.
Shannyn: How did you meet?
Leah/Brad: Brad and I met when he was 17 and I was 16 and we worked together at the Texas Roadhouse. (A special reason why we had the Texas Roadhouse cater our wedding, it is the reason we met and are together). Brad’s twin brother is one of my best friends and I was always with him in high school. I had a secret crush on Brad, but never let any one really know that I did. We always stayed friends throughout me moving to Fort Collins for college, and I spent many weekends and summers with him and our group of friends. Finally my last year in college, he couldn’t resist my charm and we became boyfriend and girlfriend. Brad and I were together for 7 years before he proposed and I have had him in my life for 14 years and I am so excited to spend the rest of my years with him!
S: What is one thing that you love about each other?
L/B: Both, Brad and I love how caring each other is. Its a great feeling to know that we both are there for each other and our families no matter what. We have gone through many hard times and many great times together and through it all our love for each other is always strong. Even when we both have been at our worst, we can still look at each other and feel the love we have.
S: Why did you choose the location you did?
L/B: We both had been to a lot of weddings, and Lionsgate was one venue we had never been to. Working in a bridal store, I always hear about brides experiences and everyone always had good things to say about Lionsgate. As soon as Brad and I went to tour Lionsgate we knew it was the place we wanted to get married. It was beautiful, the staff was wonderful to work with, and it just fit with our personalities. It also was very important that we had our ceremony and reception at the same place, so it was great that we loved all aspects.
S: The background of the ceremony included a fountain… Tell me about that.
L/B:We loved the whole backdrop for our ceremony, the fountain, the pillars, and the trees. We always knew we wanted our ceremony to be outside and we loved the whole look of The Gatehouse inside and out. The water fountain in the background was a beautiful touch in the whole picture we had envisioned.
S: Your wedding colors were bold and bright, how did you choose your colors?
L: I love bold color combos, and I am very much one to have things be unique. Working in bridal you see so many of the same color combos, so I just needed to have something different that nobody has seen before. Also, Brad and I wanted a fifties, retro kind of feel for our wedding so we felt bold pops of red with turquoise would give it that fifties soda shop feel. I love polka-dots and having the red accent made it easy to incorporate the hint of polka-dots throughout.
S: I hear Brad is in a band…Did he do a special performance at the wedding?
L: Brad wrote a song for me a few months before our wedding that will be on his next album. The band got it recorded and mastered just a few days before our wedding. Brad called me the morning of our wedding and asked me to listen to the song, so I got to hear it all finished for the 1st time while my girls and I were getting ready. It was so special to hear and it heightened my excitement to see Brad for our wedding!! Brad was able to get a copy to our DJ, so at our reception Brad announced the song to our guests and we were able to dance to it. It was so amazing to have all of our friends and family there to share that moment with us.
S: Buttons were seen everywhere in the wedding. How did that tie into your day?
L: I have always loved buttons. I especially love vintage buttons, and the thought of each one having a past. A button that was saved because it represents a favorite article of clothing or a special time in your life. I thought it would be fun for guests to look through all the different buttons and maybe find one they love to keep and always remember our wedding. Also, Brad’s pet name for me is “Button” so it was a special way to incorporate that into our wedding.
S: What were some of the moments that made your day special?
L/B: Brad and I have agreed that one of our favorite moments of the day was me walking down the aisle, honestly the whole ceremony was amazing. It was very important to me that Brad did not see me before the wedding. I always want him to remember that moment in which he saw me for the first time walking down the aisle. I thought that I was going to be really emotional walking down the aisle but I was so happy and could not keep the smile off of my face. I felt a calm come over me seeing Brad at the end of the aisle and knowing I would be spending the rest of my life with him. Our whole ceremony was just perfect, especially because it had been raining, stopped, and cleared up right before our ceremony.
Brad’s twin brother Brian dropping my wedding band was a funny moment for us. It is just something that is so Brian, he gets nervous and things like that happen. We both love Brian so much, and it is just something funny that we can always make a joke about. Anytime I need something from him I can just say, “Well Brian, you did drop my ring!” It also made for another fun moment in the night, when Brad did the garter toss I used Brian’s back for a chair. It was just a fun way for us to show that life isn’t so serious and just make a joke and get a laugh where you can!
Signing our marriage license was so amazing, we got to be in the bridal room and just soak everything in: hug, kiss, and have a drink. It was such a fun moment!
My sister’s best friends daughter “Madison” was another fun memory. She danced her little butt off all night with everyone. It was so awesome to watch her have so much fun, and I hope that she always remembers my wedding. It was really important to Brad and I that our wedding was fun! We just wanted to everyone to eat good food, drink, and dance. When you spend the money, you just want everyone to walk away and think, “what an awesome wedding!”
S: How was working with Adam?
L: Adam has been great to work with. He is very friendly, professional, and you can tell he loves what he does. Brad and I appreciate him taking the extra time to create such a special wedding video. I would definitely refer Adam out to other brides and I feel confident he will make other couples just as happy as he has made us!
It was great to hear how Leah and Brad incorporated themselves in every aspect of the wedding from the food to the buttons and giving their guests a night to remember.
