our unique wedding in Detroit - Leah E. Moss Designs

Our unique wedding celebration was on November 10, 2018 — black tie in a boxing gym. My dad walked me down the aisle in a landing bay for parked vans, accompanied by a live pianist. Adam built our chuppah with trees felled from my family’s cottage. He also built the tables our wedding party sat at, beneath mossed chandeliers hung from the industrial ceiling. Our band’s “stage” was set up in a boxing ring. I designed all the paper goods and wore my grandmother’s silk gown. We skipped the cake but staged an extra bartender for boozy hot cider add-ins at our dessert bar. That’s just how we roll. Oh, and it was all planned during our a seven-month engagement. A huge thank you to all our vendors, but especially Parsonage Events for absolutely blowing me away with their installation, the Downtown Boxing Gym for your incredible hospitality, and Casey Brodley for the photos and video we’ll forever cherish. Though I’m a notoriously private person, here’s a glimpse into our wedding day. It was certainly an unforgettable one.

Getting Ready / The Attire

Adam and I each got ready at The Aloft hotel in the David Whitney Building. As part of my bridesmaids’ gifts, I gave each gal a dyed BrightlyTwisted oversize shirt for hair and makeup. Adam wore a custom midnight blue tuxedo, made for him by Joshua Gold. I wore my grandmother’s 100% silk wedding gown, from 1955, also worn by my mom in 1985. The alterations on it were extensive (ahem, adding two inches at the waist, removing all of the poofy inserts at the bottom, restructuring the train…), but the surprise and joy on my grandma’s and dad’s faces in the bridal suite was worth it! Neither one knew about it, so these moments will be forever favorites. Multiple people told me I was giving major “Belle” vibes, so I’ll take any Disney princess comparison that comes my way!

Our First Look

These images speak for themselves.

Wedding Party and Portraits

While our actual event was a unique wedding, our wedding party and couple’s portraits were classic, downtown Detroit photos. Loved our group! Also, let’s discuss the epic-ness of my bouquet from Parsonage Events. It’s been years and I’m still not over the peonies in November. It was incredible!

The paper goods leading up to our unique wedding

I designed all the paper goods, obviously. Our save the date featured a watercolor wash with rose gold foil stamping. The invitation repeated the rose gold foil, and the watercolor wash was reimagined as the envelope liner. Overall, I wanted our invitation to be classic and timeless, with some modern punches as accents. We also had lots of out-of-towners, so our welcome boxes at the hotel check-in had a note with weekend itinerary and Detroit faves.

Ketubah Signing and Ceremony

As I mentioned, I’m a notoriously private person, so I’m keeping these images to ourselves. My cousin Hannah performed our ceremony and it was beautiful. We wrote our own vows. Everyone cried. Our first kiss is the “featured” photo on this blog. You get it. There’s a snippet of it in our video below, but… On to the party 😉

The Reception

Rockin’ band (thanks, Bluewater Kings!) and packed dance floor. Family style meal. Outfit change! Details, galore. Oh, and did I mention how epic the florals were?!