A Romantic Outdoor Wedding at Crosley Estate

Erika + Scott's wedding day was a summer dream of joy-filled hearts, dappled sundrops on orchard leaves and an abundance of white roses and peony. Erika's love of all things romantic made Pinecroft at Crosley Estate the perfect venue with its stone walls, elegant grounds and old world charm. Floral walls, hanging lights and twinkling chandeliers added to the resplendent ambiance of the fairy-tale evening. Photography by Veritas Studio.

How did you and Scott meet? What was your first impression of him? What was his first impression of you?

Scott and I met in high school at a dance. My high school always has a fun dance every year in their parking garage called the “garage get down”. Each year we have different themes to dress up as and that particular year our theme was “famous duos”. I didn’t have a boyfriend at the time so I ended up dressing as a Teletubby just for fun. Scott was friends with one of my friends at the time and they decided to go together as Barbie and Ken. Since I was flying solo that evening at the dance I didn’t really care about what “my date” would think of me so I just let loose and was dancing like a complete idiot haha. This caught Scott’s attention and he said he knew that moment he wanted to marry me which is really funny because I was dancing like a fool!! But we’ve been dancing through life together now ever since and it has just been so much fun.

How was your personal style reflected in your wedding day?

I love all things romantic and beautiful and I don’t think there is anything more gorgeous than all white. My year of engagement was so fun for me because I love to wear white! Haha so I knew I wanted something that looked and felt romantic for my wedding dress, and when I saw it for the first time it was love at first sight! I love pearls and wear them everyday but I wanted my wedding day to be a little fancier so we found gorgeous pearl/diamond drop earrings that I loved. And then I’ve always just been super laid back and flowy with my hair so I knew half up and half down was the way to go for me. I tried to combine the styles I love with the things I feel most comfortable with and glam them up a little bit for our wedding day and I think that’s how I was able to reflect myself the best on our wedding day.

What's your style?

Casual or Formal - Casual

Vintage or Modern - Vintage

Chocolate or Vanilla - Vanilla

Roses or Peonies - Both!

Cake or Pie - Either with ice cream :)

Lipstick or Lipgloss - Chapstick haha

Diamonds or Pearls - Pearls

Rustic or Urban - Rustic

What was your favorite detail?

My favorite detail was my veil. My cousin who was a bridesmaid in the wedding had passed away earlier that week so in honor of her I decided to wear her veil (which ended up perfectly matching my dress). It was so special to have a piece of her with me the whole day and her veil is absolutely gorgeous, so it ended up being my favorite detail of my wedding day look.

Tell us about finding your dress.

I went dress shopping at a local shop in Cincinnati with all of the women in my family, (my mom, sister, aunts, etc.) and I thought I found the perfect dress. But as I was standing there looking at myself in the mirror I realized I didn’t want to make this decision without my dad being there (I’m a total daddy’s girl as you can probably tell). Afterwards I saw the Hayley dress by Hayley Paige online and knew that this was going to be my dress. My favorite movie in the world is Beauty and the Beast and the rose detailing on the sleeves reminded me so much of that movie, plus it had the romantic elegance I was looking for so I couldn’t wait to try it on! That next week or so my mom, dad, sister and I headed down to Lexington, KY and sure enough- that was the dress for me!

Tell us about the proposal.

Ault park is really special to Scott and me. We would go there all the time to watch the sunset and spend time together on our date nights. I remember the first time he took me there the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and it was honestly one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen (I was sad to find out they only last like that a few weeks of the year). So, on April 2, 2016 Scott took me to Ault Park and pretended our friend who is a photographer wanted to do a couples shoot of us. We had a wedding that evening so we were already dressed nice, and when we got to the park our friend texted us and said she was running a few minutes late. Scott was like “oh well, lets walk around” so we began walking and we found these clues that belonged to a scavenger hunt Scott put together for us. He took me to all of my favorite places in the part until we finally found ourselves at a beautiful arbor spot where we watch the sunset and the final clue read, “Erika, will you marry me?” and I looked down and Scott was on his knee reading me a speech he had put together before he asked the question out loud. I screamed yes!! And then as I turned around both of our families were walking towards us which is so special because I am extremely close to my family. It was the perfect day!

How did you decide on your venue? Why was it the perfect choice?

I love romance, and our venue was just that. The outdoor orchard and old mansion just screamed romantic to me, and when we went into the covered tent and saw those chandeliers it was over for us! Pinecroft was absolutely everything I could’ve ever imagined. I always wanted a wedding like the one in the movie Twilight, just filled with white flowers and romance and Pinecroft was the perfect place for this to come true. Plus Funky’s catering is the best! :)

Describe your wedding day. Is there a particular moment that remains in your memory most vividly?

My wedding day was honestly such a gift from God. The day before was one of the hardest days of my family’s lives when we had to bury my cousin who was supposed to be a bridesmaid in the wedding. This whole week I honestly was so sad from the sudden loss of my cousin that I didn’t think I would be able to be happy on my wedding day. But God is really kind and our wedding day was a beautiful celebration and just full of a lot of peace. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining down on us, and honestly it just seemed like a fairytale where everything was as I had perfectly dreamed of. I think that being able to celebrate and have joy in the midst of such a hard week was what stood out to me so vividly. To see my family be able to dance and have fun at the reception after so many tears the days before really was something special to see and we knew Jenna was with us the entire day.

What is the best thing about marriage so far?

The best thing about marriage so far is being able to grow through whatever life throws at us, with each other. The first four months of our marriage have been a lot, with the passing of my cousin the week before my wedding and going through that grieving process, these first few months have been nothing short of a learning experience. The way Scott has been there to support me and lead me in this particularly difficult time has been such a gift. I love being able to wake up every day and face whatever life throws at us together as a married couple so I would have to say that has been my favorite part of marriage so far.

Apart from that, our first kiss was an extremely special moment for us. Scott and I are Christians and about three years ago we decided that we wanted to try to obey God as much as we can in our relationship together so we decided that from that day forward we were not going to kiss each other until it was on our wedding day. This was hard in the waiting… but it really did make our wedding day and “first kiss” that much more special.

Thank you so much Erika + Scott for sharing your absolutely gorgeous, romantic wedding with us. Your love shines through every single photograph. All the best to you in your journeys!

Check out Erika + Scott's wedding video by Studio 58 Films here

check out Erika + Scott's wedding feature on Cincinnati Magazine