-10 Degrees Never Stopped Anyone

Event Feature

Jan 20

ABBY & BRANDON’S WINTER WEDDING

Abigail and Brandon’s wedding was quite literally a winter wonderland! Their wedding was at White Iron Ridge in Smithville, MO (just outside Kansas City) on January 13, 2024. For those of you who remember, that’s when we had that VERY long cold snap. It was also the same day the Chiefs had their playoff game…in KC!

Their day was absolutely gorgeous! If you didn’t notice the resemblance, Abigail is Morgan’s younger sister, so this is definitely a wedding she holds near and dear to her heart! Morgan always knew she would be helping Abigail plan her wedding, but she also had the pleasure of helping Brandon plan the proposal (that’s another story for another day)!

photo courtesy of the Bullock family

Tori Alizabeth Photography

The planning process was pretty typical, with the exception of the fact that Abigail and Brandon lived in Austin, Texas, Morgan was in Wichita, Kansas, and the venue was near KC. Needless to say, there was a lot of travel involved and quite a bit of research on Morgan’s end.

As the wedding lingered closer, Morgan had a lot of work to do when it came to making sure all the vendors were on the same page. Abigail and Brandon were not able to travel up for the final walk-through, so Morgan went in person and was able to Facetime Abigail so she could see the venue again and ask any questions she had.

Abigail only had a few specifics when it came to wedding focus. She had a specific designer in mind for her dress (Pronovias), she wanted a floral arch under the staircase at the venue, greenery on the stairs, a private dinner, and a rockin’ dance floor. She felt comfortable handing most of the other details to Morgan, but wanted to make sure her input was heard.

Tori Alizabeth Photography

A few weeks before the wedding, the DJ (KC Event Company) reached out to Abigail with a proposal. KC Event Company was relatively slow in January and offered to bring ALL of their fun things for just $1,000 more (it was just under a $10,000 value). They just wanted to take some promo video of the set-up as well and some video and photos during the wedding that they would share with Abigail and Brandon! For context, Abigail and Brandon booked KC Event Co for DJ Services, Cold Sparks, Regular Photo Booth, Custom Monogram Logo, and Uplighting. The additional items included Video Boards, CO2 Cannon, Light-Up Dance Floor, and a 360 Photo Booth - it was a party!

Now, during the planning process, Abigail and Morgan kind of joked that it would be awesome if there was snow because it would be GORGEOUS for photos, but that it needed to be safe for everyone to drive…well they got snow.

About a week before the wedding, they realized that it was going to be SO cold and snowy on the day. Unfortunately, there were several guests who let Abigail and Brandon know last minute that they could not make it up because either their flight was cancelled or they were not going to be able to drive down with the weather (they had several guests coming from Iowa).

The night before the wedding almost all of the wedding party members and family were able to make it to the venue for the rehearsal dinner. They were only missing one groomsman and they sent LOTS of good thoughts that his flight actually would make it in. White Iron Ridge has an incredible basement that includes 6 guest suites, a bunk room, and a living room area and kitchenette. They also have a loft area that is the Honeymoon Suite. The entire wedding party stayed at the venue the night before the wedding, so at the end of the day, Abigail and Brandon knew they would at least have their wedding party there for the day of!

The morning of the wedding it was a crisp -8°! It had snowed again overnight and they were nervous about vendors and family coming in. Thankfully the Hair / Makeup Artists (Posh KC), Photographer (Tori Alizabeth Photography), and Videographer (Corkill Media) made it to the venue without too much hassle. Since Abigail had rented the venue for the weekend, KC Event Company set up the day before and the marquee letters (Alpha-Lit KC) were picked up by Abigail’s parents and brought in with the rest of the decor. The florist (Good Earth Floral) was the last vendor to come in that morning and they made it out okay as well.

photo courtesy of the Bullock family

The rest of the day went by just like any normal wedding would. It warmed up to -5° degrees, so before the ceremony, the wedding party took some VERY quick photos outside…we still can’t believe you don’t notice them shivering in the pictures. It was so cold, in fact, that the groomsmen’s boutonnieres flash froze! (Thank goodness they didn’t take the bouquets out there!)

Tori Alizabeth Photography

The ceremony was absolutely GORGEOUS, Abigail and her father made a beautiful entrance from the barn doors with the white wonderland in the background - it was seriously breathtaking. Cocktail Hour took place on the heated deck while Sunflower Events and White Iron Ridge flipped the room. Dinner was absolutely delicious, Plaza Catering served Lasagna and Chicken Speidini, which was perfect for such a cold day. Finally, guests filled up on some of the most incredible cake and cupcakes by Ohmygoodies LLC by Sara Jean (check out the cute little surprise on the cake)!

Tori Alizabeth Photography

Finally, it was party time…and my did they take that literally! They started with a group photo on the dance floor after the Anniversary Dance, then KC Event Company brought out the CO2 Cannon and the rest was history! The drinks were cold but the dance floor was hot all night, especially when the beer bong came out!

Tori Alizabeth Photography

The final event of the night was going to be a doozy though…the sparkler send-off. By 10pm it had gone down to -10°, so Morgan went out with the blowtorch and sparkler to make sure they actually would light! They did, so we brought out all the guests during the private last dance. Thankfully most of the guests had plenty of alcohol in their system to keep them warm! The night was topped off with the coldest send off in history (maybe…), the shuttles came to take guests to their hotels, the bridesmaids and groomsmen continued the party downstairs, and our newlyweds lived happily ever after!