Wedding Date: June 21, 2008
Ceremony Venue: Bethany English Lutheran Church, Cleveland, OH
Reception Venue: The City View Club Lounge, Cleveland Browns Stadium
Used from Jerry Bruno: DJ Jeff Kavali
First Dance: “At Last” by Etta James
Photographer: Duane and Barbara Himler, Photastic Images
Wedding Gown: Catan Fashions, Strongsville, OH
Cake: Carol Meier
Honeymoon: Ft. Myers, FL
How we met: Matt and I met (by fate) through a local Cleveland radio station website. Though it sounds a little “taboo” we corresponded via e-mail and then eventually decided to meet one another. We both agree that it’s the best “chance” we ever took!
How he proposed: Matt and I are avid Scrabble players, so one Saturday morning he asked me if I wanted to play a game. When I started to set the game up, I noticed that the board was missing. He looked over to the couch and said “what’s that sticking out over there?” I looked over, pulled the board out, and Matt had arranged the Scrabble letters on the board to say “Rachel will you marry me?” I used my letters to spell out “yes.”
How we heard of and decided to use Jerry Bruno Productions: Our wedding coordinator from Cleveland Browns Stadium and Levy Restaurants, Sherri Cataffa, suggested that we utilize the services of Jerry Bruno. She had wonderful things to say in regards to past events that she had coordinated and knew that they possessed the professionalism and equipment required to host a great party in a place like Cleveland Browns Stadium.
How we decided on our other vendors: Selecting our vendors was rather easy. We had a lot of assistance from friends and family. We were fortunate to have the help of our Pastor when searching for a church. Matt is employed by the Cleveland Browns so it seemed natural to invite our families (who originate from both Southeast and Northwest Ohio) to the stadium for a great party. Levy Restaurants is the licensed caterer of the Cleveland Browns Stadium so their services were contracted with the rental of the Club Lounge. We trusted the very talented members of our family to provide us with our floral arrangements, our hair and make-up, and party favors. We created a hotel block at Hyatt Place in Independence, OH for our guests who were 95% from out of town. They offered Matt and I a free stay the night of our wedding as well as for our 1st anniversary. MW tux provided our tuxedos. Our bridesmaid’s dresses were from David’s Bridal and our flower girl’s dress was custom made by a friend of the family.
Biggest wedding planning challenge: The two biggest wedding challenges for us were figuring out who to invite and logistics. Matt has an extremely huge family (23 aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.) and with both sets of friends and family being from out of town directions, hotel stays, and coordination of our wedding party was nerve racking.
Biggest wedding day pay-off: It was such a relief for Matt and I to know that our party was running smoothly and our guests were entertained. It’s awesome to hear people tell us how great the party was!