A Unique and Elegant Wedding at the National Railroad Museum

Sam & Jeff’s wedding was magical, thanks to a little inspiration from “Harry Potter”

Months to Plan: 18 Months   | Guest Count: 140 |
Music down the Aisle: Custom mix of “Hedwig’s Theme” & “Leaving Hogwarts” mixed with “Cannon in D” | First Dance Song: Yours by Russell Dickerson

How They Met

Jeff & Sam met on Facebook Dating. Jeff was friends with Sam’s cousin on Facebook, having worked with her in the past. When Sam saw this, she thought she’d take a chance and chat with him.

How They Got Engaged

Jeff and Sam both love escape rooms so when it came time to pop the question, Jeff thought an escape room would be the perfect place for a creative proposal. The couple had a double date with Jeff’s brother and sister-in-law to Escape Room Wisconsin – Green Bay. When they solved one of the puzzles, a secret compartment opened for Sam to find a ring. Still thinking about solving the puzzle, Sam exclaimed, “why is there a ring?”. But when she turned around and saw Jeff on bended knee, she realized this was a proposal and not a puzzle.

The Planning Process
Wedding Date: September 28, 2024

Guest Count: 140

The planning process: “I spent 18 months planning the perfect day.” “We attended the Wedding Show at Stadium View Event Halls .” Sam ultimately found her DJ and photographer at the show.

Wedding Colors: Navy, Gold, Deep Sea, with accents of Dark Purple

Style and Theme of the Wedding: Elegant and Magical with inspiration and elements from the world of Harry Potter

What was your favorite design element? The ambiance of the National Railroad Museum really brought the wedding together and made it a magical day.

Rehearsal Dinner: De Pere Community Center

Wedding Looks

Dress: Jessica McClintock

How many dresses did you try on?
“I think I tried over 25 gowns at 4 different stores.” The dress Sam ultimately chose was picked out for her by her best friend, Jamie. “It was everything I was looking for…a timeless, elegant dress that I could twirl in and made me feel like a princess,”

Rings:
Ashley from Bay Area Diamond Company was able to help Jeff and Sam pick out the perfect bands for the two. “We couldn’t have been happier to have used Bay Area Diamond Company.”

Hair:
Teele at Studio 24 did the hair for the entire bridal party. “I have silky straight hair that can’t hold a curl at all but she was able to make sure that my hair didn’t drop any curls that day.”

Makeup:
Melinda Morella-Olson and Kira Ohlsen were responsible for Sam’s wedding day makeup. “They both did an excellent job. My makeup did not budge the entire day.”

Ceremony Details

Location: Lenfestey Center, National Railroad Museum

Photographer: Jenny from JE Photography

Ceremony Details and Favorite Moments:
Jeff and Sam wanted someone who was special to the couple to marry them. The honor went to Sam’s friend and co-worker, Rebecca. Our favorite part of the ceremony was the ring warming. The rings were passed around to some of the special guests to “warm” the rings with their hands and silently wish the couple good luck or bless the couple’s marriage. “That moment felt very special…”

Ceremony Music:
Jeff and the bridal party walked down the aisle to the “Jurassic Park” theme song. Sam loves the “Jurassic Park” movies and wanted to incorporate it into her wedding. Being a big “Harry Potter” fan, Sam wanted to walk down the aisle to some of the music from the movies. She was able to find a mashup of “Hedwig’s Theme” and “Leaving Hogwarts” mixed with the traditional “Cannon in D” that was prefect for her to walk down the aisle to. For the recessional, the couple left the ceremony to “Avengers Suite,” the theme music from “The Avengers” movies because “Jeff loves all things superhero.”

Reception Details

Location: Lenfestey Center, National Railroad Museum

Food: Sangria’s in Appleton

Cake/Dessert: Cupcake Couture in De Pere

Why did you choose your venue:
Sam and Jeff had gotten tickets to take their niece and nephew to “The Polar Express” at the National Railroad Museum. “I remember walking into the Lenfestey Center all decked out for the holidays and ‘The Polar Express’ and was just blown away. I remember looking at Jeff as we were leaving and saying this would be a great place to have a wedding.” Within 48 hours of getting engaged, Sam was on the phone booking the museum for her wedding.

Where did you take photos?
“We were lucky enough that the National Railroad Museum has beautiful outdoor and indoor spaces so we were able to get all of the pictures we wanted all in one location.”

Reception Details and Favorite Moments:
The reception began with train rides and the guests being able to check out the museum. Cocktail hour featured mini quesadillas, bean dip, street corn, salsa, queso, fruit, and a candy bar. Members of the bridal party were given custom made t-shirts to toss out to the guests as they entered the reception. Dinner was a fajita bar. While dessert was an offering of cupcakes in peanut butter cookie, salted caramel pretzel, red velvet, and white wedding cake flavors. Sam and Jeff had a separate, small pumpkin wedding cake. Taylor at Cupcake Couture was even able to accommodate Sam’s dairy allergy with the desserts.
“A few things that made our wedding reception special is that we didn’t do the traditional clinking of glasses for a kiss. We ended up opting to have people play corn hole to have us kiss. Jeff’s brother, Dave, was really good at egging people on to convince them to go and try their hand at cornhole. We also didn’t do the traditional bouquet/garter toss. Instead, we did a snitch toss that was open to everyone…the winner got a Harry Potter themed gift basket.”

Unique Details and DIYs

Did You Have Any DIY Projects?
“Honestly, our entire wedding was one big DIY project.” “All of the greenery and florals were made either by myself, my matron of honor, Sarah, or my bridesmaid Jenny. My mom and dad made the wooden wedding arch we were married under.”
“One of the DIY projects that I loved doing the most was creating individual wands for all of our guests. Jeff, my bridesmaid, Jamie, and I hand-painted each guest their own personal wand for the wedding. We made sure that no two wands were painted the exact same.”

What Was Your Favorite Thing You Planned?
Sam says that, by far, the favorite thing the couple planned and their biggest DIY project was their seating chart and an animatronic sorting hat, ala “Harry Potter,” to “sort” the guests to their tables. Jeff had watched a video on Tik Tok and spent months building and programming the entire hat from scratch. The couple wrote individual scripts for each one of their guests and even hired a voice actor from the UK to record each person’s message. “It turned out better than either of us could have ever hoped and our guests loved it and many of them played the message multiple times throughout the night.”

Looking Back

What Moment Sticks With You the Most?
“I think the thing that stuck with us the most is just how much love there was that day. Not just between Jeff and I but the love that all of our family, friends, and guests had for us.”

Is There Anything You Would Have Changed?
“I wish I would have had a day of coordinator to make sure that we were staying on time and didn’t miss anything. There were a lot of things going on during the wedding and a few things that we wanted to do got missed because we had forgotten about them.”

What Was the Most Challenging Aspect of Wedding Planning for You?
“Figuring out the timeline for the day of the wedding was probably the most challenging for me. Making sure that we had enough time for things while also making sure things were done on time was probably the biggest challenge for me.”

What Advice Would You Give Future Brides Planning Their Wedding?
“The best advice I can give is to start early. We had 18 months between getting engaged and our wedding and that time flew by in the blink of an eye. The other advice I have is find a way that works for you to be organized. Knowing exactly where everything is and having all of my details in one place made not only my life so much easier, it made things go a lot smoother for my vendors, family, and bridal party, and of course, Jeff.”

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