How was your personal style reflected in your wedding day?

Many things were made ourselves or with the help of family (e.g., we did custom pint glass + chocolate covered pretzel party favors), and everything else was left to our wonderful vendors. In general, we wanted the wedding to be modern and whimsical, which it certainly was. We're also big fans of Dave Matthews Band, and the wedding showed it: Processional songs were string quartet covers of DMB songs, and our dinner playlist was a hand-picked selection of some of our favorite live song performances.

Tell us a little about you and Noah.

Noah works at the University of Cincinnati teaching and doing research about consumer behavior. Michelle is a former high school math teacher, current elementary special education teacher. We moved from Miami, FL to Cincinnati in July 2017 with our dog Roxy, and soon adopted a second dog, Lainey. We love the dogs, they make life exciting and keep us coming home happy. Noah likes to play guitar and work in his wood shop in his free time. Michelle plays soccer and practices hot yoga.

Tell us about the proposal.

Noah proposed to Michelle during their weekly group dog training class. Earlier that day, Michelle thought it was funny how Noah was shaving and trimming his beard before class, and thought he was just really excited to show off Lainey's progress that week. In class, Michelle was in the middle of a "distraction circle," standing with Lainey and Roxy while other dogs walked around them. When Noah came to the middle of the circle to switch places with Michelle, he instead dropped to one knee and asked Michelle to marry him. Michelle said yes, and the class celebrated with champagne!

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

Noah is from Michigan and Michelle is from Maryland. Cincinnati is in the middle and seemed like good "neutral" ground for a wedding, and a good way to get people to visit the city we call home. Once we decided on a Cincinnati wedding, Anderson Pavilion felt the most like "authentically Cincy" venue we could hope for. We wanted to give a guest experience you can only get in Cincinnati, so being downtown on the river, between the Reds and Bengals stadiums, was perfect. We also liked the carousel and thought that was a unique experience we couldn't get elsewhere.

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

The ceremony was gorgeous! The day before at rehearsal, we moved the ceremony location from the rose garden to below the Roebling Bridge to get out of the heat, and it could not have worked better. The ceremony was the first time we got to see all of the guests in one place and it was magical to see so many familiar smiling faces looking on at us.

One image from the ceremony that will stay with us is Noah holding his cell phone light on the script throughout the ceremony so our officiant had enough light to read in the dim (but blessedly cool) tunnel. After that things flew by. Dinner was delicious and the carousel was wonderful. I think everyone rode it more than one time (I know we did). I'm glad people enjoyed the carousel as much as they did, that was fun to see people's inner child come out and hop on a horse, frog, giraffe, or tiger.

Best part of being married so far?

Getting to call each other "husband" and "wife," rather than "fiancé." The new dishes and silverware are great too :)

VENDOR PARTNERS

Michelle’s Dress: Lace Bridal Couture, Antonio Gaul | Flowers: Eve Floral Co. | Makeup: Ale Lewis Hair and MUA | Cake: Sweets By LaDawn | Venues: Anderson Pavilion and under the Roebling Bridge | Photography: Good Story Co. | Catering: Anderson Pavilion Culinary Group | Music & Lighting: DJ Toad

How did you and Noah meet? What were your first impressions of each other?

We met at a bar in Miami, Florida through a mutual friend. Noah was getting his PhD and Michelle was finishing her senior year, both at the University of Miami. We bonded over drinking the same beer, both having an interest in education, and Michelle being less than concerned about wearing a shirt with a ripped sleeve.

Michelle thought Noah was a level headed, education loving, good looking guy who was more down to earth than most people in Miami. Noah thought Michelle was easy to talk to, had a good laugh, and he liked that she didn't care too much about her appearance (again, the aforementioned ripped sleeve). Both were also impressed with the other's taste in beer :)

What was your favorite detail?

The flowers!!

Tell us about finding your dress.

Linda, Michelle's sister and maid of honor, made five appointments in two days at various shops around Cincinnati. Michelle's parents and Noah's mom also came down for the trip. Michelle's dad was especially instrumental in finding something unique to say about each dress Michelle tried on. In the end, the architectural seams and silk fabric of the Antonio Gaul gown won everyone over.