Welcome to the Jungle - Amanda and Brian...

Contributed by: Amanda (bride)

The Bengals have always been a big part of our relationship. We first said “I love you” during a Bengals game…Brian and my Dad bonded watching games together on my Dad’s big screen TV…we share season tickets with his brother…so it just seemed natural that we would have a Bengals’ themed wedding. But when it came time to actually make the vision a reality, I was a little worried that things could get out of hand and our wedding would end up looking tacky. I stuck with a few simple rules to keep things elegant and still fun…

#1. If it doesn’t normally have a place at a wedding, it won’t be at mine!
This was a really hard one for Brian to stick to, and can be especially tough when you’re working on a theme. If you can’t live without certain things, try having one of your bridesmaids throw you a themed shower and use those crazy ideas there! For example, you don’t typically find a goal post at a wedding, so mine didn’t have one either (except for on the cake topper)!

#2. If your friends think it’s a little too over the top, then it is!
I found during the entire planning process that there were lots of things I was doing that my mom, or his mom, didn’t think was a good idea. For example, my mom couldn’t believe that I was putting my bridesmaids in black. She repeatedly pointed out black was for funerals, not weddings. However, if I heard one of my bridesmaids or friends questioning a choice, such as my original plan of having the cake iced in all black with orange accents, I made sure to take a step back and re-evaluate. Can you imagine all of the stained tongues and teeth we would have had?!?

#3. He may just be a boy, but it’s his wedding too!
I think one of the biggest mistakes that brides make is to turn their marriage into HER WEDDING. You don’t necessarily have to be a bridezilla to be guilty of this one either. There were many times when Brian would gently suggest that maybe the orange scented candles wouldn’t make such good favors for the guys…and he was right (gasp!).

#4. If you’re going to use a theme…take it all the way (but not overboard)!
This doesn’t mean that if you’re having a “Pretty in Pink” wedding your reception hall should look like Strawberry Shortcake threw up in it…but you also shouldn’t have random blue flowers because you thought they were prettier than peonies. Try to keep a font (or two) that you use for all of your paper goods, keep a main color (even if you use touches of other colors along the way) and remember that the idea is to create an atmosphere, not a tropical storm.

#5. Stay true to yourself…especially when it comes to picking the menu!
As my Maid of Honor put it…if you wouldn’t typically eat rolled asparagus on a Tuesday night…don’t serve it at your wedding. Your guests all know who you are and trying to impress them with fancy food only makes you look bad. We served macaroni and cheese at our reception and it was a hit!

Here are some of the fun touches we used to keep our theme (Bengals football) and our colors (orange and black):

· Each table had an orange table runner, a vase with black glass beads, a white candle and a tiger stripe ribbon around the vase.

· Instead of the bride & groom cake topper, we converted two football people with movable arms and legs.

· Our favors were two-fold: clear shot glasses with an orange bottom filled with Hershey Kisses and event-style tickets that said “Thank you for attending the marriage of…”

· Our table numbers were a bit unconventional…each table bore the number of a former Bengal great such as Table 7 (Boomer Esiason) or Table 80 (Chris Collinsworth). On the back of each table number card was a few fun facts about the player and a quote from Brian about that player’s performance as a Bengal.

· Our music stayed with the overall theme…we were introduced to “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns’n’Roses!

· No Bengals’ themed wedding would be complete without…Who Dey! I hired the Bengals’ mascot to come to our reception and it was a HUGE hit, with both kids and adults. Don’t be afraid to do something a little out of the box…just be sure it reflects your style and isn’t inappropriate.

· As an added touch of “Who-Dey” I purchased a Bengals’ tiger tail from the Pro-shop and had my Matron of Honor attach it to my bustle.

All of the flowers, except for mine and my husband’s, were orange…ours were white.

· The guys wore black tuxes with orange vests and orange and black striped ties.

· To add a little bit of orange to the outdoor ceremony I hung orange tissue-paper pomanders, that my Matron of Honor and her sister made for one of my showers, from the arch where the ceremony took place and the chairs near the aisle.

· Guests were offered orange paper fans with black handles as they entered the outdoor ceremony site.

· Each groomsman received a Bengal’s cooler filled with a poker chip set, six pilsners with the Bengal’s logo and their initials etched on them, a Bengal’s T-shirt and sport towel with their nickname on them, a Bengal’s coozie and a small bottle of their favorite liquor.

· The pillow our Ring Bearer was supposed to carry down the aisle (he didn’t make it…somebody missed his nap!) was a football shaped Bengals pillow!

· Our programs were cathedral-fold, printed on orange cardstock with black font and sealed with a monogram set on a black background.

· Rather than the traditional unity candle, we opted for a unity sand ceremony. We used three colors…White to represent God, orange for me and black for him. Now we have something beautiful that we can always keep from our special day!

What we loved about our vendors:

Nathanael Greene Lodge was a DREAM to work with. I was a little nervous that I would forget some of the smaller details since I opted to forego the wedding coordinator, but the crew at the Lodge kept me on my toes! They made the entire experience absolutely wonderful and made certain that I had nothing to worry about on my big day!

Brown Dog Café is definitely the only place to cater your wedding. The food was outstanding and people are still talking about how great everything tasted. I was convinced I could skimp on the catering and still make my wedding memorable, but BDC made it possible to have great food without busting the budget!

The Images by Daniel Michael photographers were amazing. Our pictures are beautiful and they were careful to catch all of the details that my husband and I may have missed while tending to other wedding related fun! We felt so comfortable and natural in all of our pictures and the photographers, along with their assistant, made the whole day easy and fun.

Our flowers were done by Friedhoff Florist. They were so fresh and fragrant…people could actually smell them as we walked down the aisle!

The bottom line is that we wouldn’t change a thing…we had a perfect day thanks to our supportive family and friends and WONDERFUL vendors!!!