A Prairie Inspired Wedding Dreamland

Unique Nashville Wedding, Spark Vintage Warehouse, Nashville Wedding, Funky Wedding Design, Outside the box wedding, Events Plus Nashville, Mustard Draping, Organic Wedding, Unique Wedding, Spark vintage Rentals, Nashville Wedding Planner, Basil and Bergamot, Ostara Gardens, Rue De Seine, The Dress Theory, Bright Events, Event Lighting, Event Draping, Wedding Draping, Custom Draping

What do you get when the band leader for Kacey Musgraves and a Nashville artist ask you pair a prairie inspired wedding in a vintage rental warehouse with a tequila shot during the ceremony, a country western two-step band, aura photographer, and custom dinner tent made from crushed velvet mustard draping? You get a Midnight in Paris inspired wedding dreamland.

Mackenzie and Kyle are artists with different mediums. They are creative, fun and extremely kind. They came to us with an inspiration drawing from Mackenzie and a description of their wedding: “like Stanley Kubrick and The Great Gatsby hosted a cocktail hour. Unique, cinematic, intentional and intimate”. Doodling during our planning meetings wasn’t uncommon and every detail and every angle was taken into consideration. Mackenzie described it as “marital mise en scène, Bombay acid prairie and bonkers af”. That sounds amazingly accurate to us.

They didn’t want to get married at a traditional wedding venue so we searched for something unique. Mack and Kyle ended up hosting their wedding in a pink brick vintage rental warehouse that houses all the mid-century furniture and décor your heart could desire. (AKA, The Spark Vintage warehouse.) Kyle is from Nebraska and his family has some prairie land so they wanted to bring those Nebraska skies and prairie grasses to Nashville. They stood under a suspended cloud that they built and were tucked into a curve of prairie grasses. Their family and friends circled around them as they were married by one of their closest friends. We didn’t realize the true significance of this until Kyle’s dad showed us a photo after the wedding. The first time Mackenzie visited them on their land they took her out to the prairie and the cows came to her and made a circle around her. She stood in the photo laughing in the same way she stood surrounded by their family and friends.

We loved the way Mackenzie described her inspiration for the wedding for Rock N’ Roll Bride, “I guess I should start by saying Kyle is from Nebraska, and on a visit once his father took us to a stretch of prairie his family has preserved. It was stark and beautiful and honestly a little bit otherworldly. That visit, the native grasses and the wild flowers…was embedded firmly in my mind ever since. So when it came time to plan the ceremony the idea of creating something like that in an unexpected place was kind of our jumping off point. ”

The fist time they met was at a friend’s birthday party. At this particular party they were asked to partake in a group tequila shot, they did this begrudgingly but their distaste for it stuck with both of them and they had each of their guests toast tequila during their ceremony. “Funnily enough the friend who arranged the party that we met at was our officiant for the ceremony. Our ceremony was hilarious, because she is hilarious, and it ended as our relationship had begun…with everyone taking a shot of tequila,” Mackenzie said.

Also from Mackenzie, “My dad had his suit specially made for the day and he had them embroider a private joke of ours on the inner lapel. He showed it to me in the moments before he walked me down the aisle. It made me laugh and calmed my VERY pronounced nerves. I also heard later that Kyle was still scribbling down his vows as people were arriving, no judgies, inspiration strikes when it strikes.”

Each part of the day was a scene change designed to flow like a theatre production and surprise the guests from one space to the next. From the ceremony all the guests moved outside for cocktail hour. They were met with custom cocktails named after each of Mackenzie and Kyle’s parents and a ping pong table. The guests were greeted at “check in” by finding their name in a vintage ledger and given a “key” to The Hurlmoore (a play on their last names) with their table number on it.

From there, the guests moved into an intimate “tent” within the warehouse. The tent was made from mustard crushed velvet draping and was strung with hundreds of lights from mulit-color strands to chili pepper lights. The floors were lined with vintage rugs and the guests sat down for an intimate family style dinner served from their favorite Indian restaurant. The tables were set with multi-color glassware and custom menus that were hand-drawn by Mackenzie. The centerpieces were minimal “prairie moments” tucked into the table. During dinner their custom drinks were served tableside from a bar cart. They laughed, they told stories about when they met, they ate cake from their favorite local restaurant and really celebrated how much they love each other and everyone around them.

Mack described her inspiration for Rock N’ Roll Bride, “We held our ceremony and reception at the same venue but we wanted to divide the space in a way that made it feel like the world of the ceremony was completely different from the world of the reception. Our solution was to swathe the entirety of the reception space in curtains. We had our hearts set on a very specific crushed velvet curtain, but no rental companies in town had anything close to what we were picturing. Bless our wedding planners, they never gave up and found a way to commission custom draperies in the exact ‘so bad it’s rad’ mustard velvet of our dreams. That rental was one of our biggest expenses but it was so amazingly vibey.”

Dinner is always an important part of a wedding reception and Mackenzie and Kyle made sure theirs was meaningful. “We approached our favorite Mom & Pop Indian restaurant in town and asked if they could make food for a group of people as large as ours. They gave us an amazing deal and the food was fucking incredible. Also, instead of a traditional wedding cake we had one of our favorite restaurants in town make us a few of their crowd-favorite ‘Tennessee Waltz’ cakes….they weren’t fancy looking but damn did they taste good. We served dinner family style and looking around the room at people from all different eras of our lives passing food to one another was one of the best things ever.”

After dinner, everyone moved back into the ceremony space that had been transformed into a disco dance party. They were greeted by two-step music followed by a DJ session. At this point Mack changed into a killer party dress. They hired an aura photographer who captured the aura of each guest and shared it with them as a gift. At the end of the night Mack and Kyle headed out in a vintage Cadillac limo for one of their favorite dive bars in East Nashville.

When Rock N’ Roll Bride asked her for advice, she had some serious wedding nuggets to share, “Don’t get too caught up in what people are going to think. I fretted for ages about my dresses, and the food, and the vibe. When in reality everyone who was there had shown up to love and support us, not sit in quiet judgement, haha. They didn’t give a shit about which chairs we rented or the warmth of the lighting around the perimeter of the room, they just wanted to celebrate us…and party their faces off. Don’t worry too much about the way things are ‘supposed to be.’ You don’t have to get a massive wedding cake, you don’t need to have it at a wedding venue. We saved the most by doing things the way we actually wanted. ”

Nothing is too crazy and nothing is too outside the box. We love customizing and catering a wedding so it is a reflection of our couples and Mack and Kyle were no exception. In fact, we’re still pretty giddy when we think about this one.

When asked what the best thing about planning their wedding was, they said, “Without a doubt: working with our planners. They never batted an eye at some of our wilder requests…. “You want to find a venue that nobody has been married in before? We just met someone with a pink warehouse full of vintage furniture that says she’s in!” “You want to build a prairie inside the warehouse? Sure, and our favorite florist will grow the grasses from seed!” “Oh now you’d like to create an Indian restaurant ? We have a lead on sourcing the chili pepper lights!” They found an aura reader, a DJ who spins vinyl and a mixologist to build a custom Indian infused drink menu. No idea was too weird…they were incredible and without them (no shade) we probably would’ve ended up at City Hall.” Ok guys, we’re blushing.

You can see their wedding featured on Rock N’ Roll Bride here!

We can NEVER pull off a wedding or event like this without the help of amazing vendors. Seriously, every person involved is key. We are so grateful for the kick ass people who made this one come true:

• Photography: Andrea Behrends | • Officiant: Joy Todd• Ceremony + Reception Venue: Spark Vintage Warehouse | Dress Shop: The Dress Theory Designer: Rue De Seine | Shoes: Top Shop 2nd dress: Lirkia Matoshi |shoes: : ASOS • Cake: City House Nashville • Flowers: Basil & Bergamot | • Stationery: Mackenzie K. Designs (bride) | • Caterers: Taj Nashville + Service: Details Nashville• Band: The Cowpokes | • DJ: Spin Nashville | Instagram • Other Entertainment: Aura Photography: Tertiary Sight | • Tables + Tabletop rentals: Music City Tents and Events |Vintage Rentals: Spark Vintage | Custom Draping(velvet goodness): Events Plus | Lighting: Bright Event Productions |• Transport: Matchless Transportation | • Mixology + Bar: J. Jackson Mobile Mixologist | • Hair/Make Up: Paula Turner • Suit: Studio Suits | • Bridesmaid Dresses: Reformation