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Our Wedding Story: A Dan and Sarah Themed Party
- Sarah Sonder
- Oct 15
- 13 min read
Updated: Oct 16
Dan and I's love story is my favorite and enough for its own blog post entirely, so I won't go into the beginning too much here. This is about our wedding. Both of us coming from long marriages to the wrong people, and through the magic of online dating(Thank you, Bumble), we found in one another the other half to our souls. Both of us were thinking about forever from the first date. Dan sent his good friend Chris this Marco Polo three days after matching with me. (We also played it for our guests before the ceremony started)
We enjoyed a whirlwind romance, spending every day possible with one another over the course of the next year.--Fast forwarding to April, Dan asked me to marry him.
When we got engaged, we both knew we didn't want a long engagement for a number of reasons. I think a lot of folks assumed we would go to the courthouse or elope because we often got looks of shock when we told people we were planning a wedding. Both of us had been married before, and while we had different experiences in our own first weddings, neither of us felt our dream wedding had been realized. Even more than that, we wanted to celebrate our union with those closest to us. We wanted to have a wedding we were excited to go to and would remember fondly for years and years. We wanted a way to celebrate our love in a big way.
I am a project manager at heart and have planned and executed large scale events and projects since I was a young girl, so planning a wedding and the logistics that go into it is where I thrive. Initially, we were thinking of getting married in the Spring of 2026, with both of us feeling like a year-long engagement would be plenty long--after all, it was the marriage both of us were really after. While on a road trip over Memorial Day weekend this year, we started brainstorming on the wedding plan. When considering venues, The Contemporary Art Center in Peoria, IL stood out to us for a couple of reasons. Our first date was originally supposed to be at the Rhythm Kitchen, right below there, and we had taken Salsa dancing lessons there on New Year's Eve this past year. We also love the arts, supporting the art community, and the cozy and eclectic feel of the Gallery on the 2nd floor. A quick email exchange confirmed that they were open for our Spring dates, but on a whim, we asked them about their availability for the fall. To our amazement, they were open on the year anniversary of our 2nd date, August 30th. This was the end of May and Dan turned to me in the car and said, "Can we plan a wedding in 90 days?!" to which I replied, " I was born for this!"
Our first goal was to make our wedding as fun and as authentically "us" as we possibly could. When we built our wedding website through theknot.com, I put "a Dan and Sarah themed party!" half-jokingly and assumed we would put something more meaningful in its place eventually. But, "Dan and Sarah themed" became our mantra during planning and we couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Will it be FUN? Then we tried to include it!
Our second priority was supporting as many local and/or female owned businesses as we could. In my career as a small business consultant, I saw how often people opted to go with a large company, order online, or go for the best deal over local, sometimes only saving pennies. Additionally, there are so many wonderful female owned businesses that do not get the credit or publicity they deserve simply due to.....sexism? Patriarchal societal norms? Whatever the reason, Dan and I wanted to see if we could really plan the wedding of our dreams, and support some amazing small businesses while we did it. Spoiler Alert: we did.
The Invitations and Signage
Invitations and signage were created thanks to local female owned business, Lost Art Design and Print. Danielle and her team put together a beautiful invitation suite and some great signage for seating charts, table numbers and various informational posters to help our guests navigate all of our fun features. We were able to work with Danielle to include an information card in our invitations that had a list of all the small businesses we were supporting with our wedding, so our guests got a feel for (and a chance to check out) our vendors before the wedding day!
The Music
Our entire night of music was organized and performed in part by local female owned business, Sarah Marie Dillard. The music for our wedding was so important that Sarah was our first planning email we sent to see if she could take on the task of organizing all of our wedding music on such a tight timeline. She met with us on a number of occasions to discuss our desires, our song choices, our band ideas, and to hear about a specially coordinated idea we had for a mariachi band to play as a surprise right as we were pronounced "husband & wife". Sarah loved the idea, but when the mariachi band scene came up with no availability, Sarah said, "I just saw the Manual HS drumline perform at Ignite Peoria a week ago. How would you feel about a drumline instead?!"--Dan and I couldn't jump at the idea fast enough. Sarah learned a new song for our first dance, made that song into an instrumental to walk down the aisle to, played for our cocktail and dinner hour, and then organized the band to come and play for our full reception. She also ran sound for that band, and ran point for our ceremony and reception to keep everything on time and on task. Her precise management and timing on the drumline cue was crucial and made such a huge impact to mark the moment we become husband and wife! We literally couldn't have done this thing without her and she brought the energy we knew and loved her for on the stage that night. We love Sarah and hope you will seek her out for all of your entertainment/music needs!
The Food
Dinner was served by locally owned business, Smokin' Notes BBQ and it was a crowd pleaser!! Delicious brisket, pulled pork(which we finished completely), ribs, coleslaw(with RAISINS!!), potato salad, green beans, and mac & cheese filled the menu with something for everyone! Guests went back for seconds and thirds and we still had plenty to send home with family after the party was over. They served our guests buffet style, and everything was delicious. We have eaten at their restaurant in East Peoria many times in the last year, so they were our natural choice as the food we wanted to serve at our wedding. We heard only rave reviews from our guests! Check them out for dine-in or carry-out from East Peoria. You will not be disappointed!
Flowers
Flowers courtesy of everyone's favorite local female owned flower business, Kira's Flowers. Kira and I have known each other for a while now, meeting usually at farmer's markets as vendors and we have supported each other personally for just as long. When we started planning the wedding, I knew she was the obvious choice for our flowers. With an emphasis on locally grown flowers, Kira is able to ethically and sustainably source flowers that are native to our lands here in Illinois and create beautiful masterpieces from them. She was extremely easy to work with, delivered exactly as she said she would, and our flowers looked beautiful for days and days after the big day. I currently have my bouquet drying in hopes of framing it as an installation above our bed.
The Cups
Glassware favors thrifted from local female owned business, Two Sisters and a Warehouse. When we were thinking about planning elements of our wedding, waste, or reducing waste, rather, was a big piece. I have always hated the cheap(sorry, useless) favors you get at a wedding and feel like there are very few things I am happy to leave a party with. Dan and I also love to thrift together and have spent many an afternoon wandering through dusty thrift shops. From this combination, we came up with the idea to thrift the best(read as "quirkiest") glasses we could from a thrift store and offer up a way for our guests to choose which cup spoke to them most. A choose your own adventure, of the drinkware variety. Along with our kids, we hunted and discovered over 70 vessels to bring to our guests; mugs, champagne flutes, goblets. Some of them weren't even cups...like a big pink flower vase that Van's buddy Tyler snatched up based on the volume it could hold, ha! Or perhaps the heart shaped candle holder on a stem that called out to Kate's daughter, Adelaide. Or, our personal favorite, Ryan Skolaski picking up the tiny cream pitcher with a goose on it and casually drinking his Modelo from it all night. "It's a sipper" he said. Walking around and seeing which cup which guest chose had us giggling for days and days. And we are happy to report that almost everyone went home with their personally picked wedding favors and we supported the lovely ladies at Two Sisters and a Warehouse. Stop in around lunchtime and eat at their cafe in the middle. YUM!
The Cake
Our geode cake and four flavors of cupcakes were made by local female owned business and cake WIZARD, Princess Creations. When I was working as a social media manager and business consultant, I would attend trade shows and different events for my clients. At wedding expos, I would regularly be told to grab a cupcake from Princess Creations before I left. I generally am a savory type of gal, so the free cake didn't appeal to me, but after a couple of years and several suggestions, I grabbed two cupcakes as I left a wedding expo sometime in 2023. As I sat, single and never planning to marry again in my Honda Pilot DEVOURING the cupcakes I had just picked up before I even turned my car on, I knew that there was only one cupcake baker I would ever turn to for events and sweets in my future. Just two years later, when we started planning the wedding I never saw coming, I exclaimed, "I have the perfect cake baker!!" We did a cake tasting with her (best hour of the entire planning process), picked up 2 more cupcakes when we popped in in person to pay our bill, and traveled around the upper eastern US with 24 of the left over wedding cupcakes all through our honeymoon! She is located in Canton, Il, but she has fans driving from all over the state to get her cakes. I would drive 2 hours or more to get her cupcakes, but luckily, she is just about 25 min from our house. Run to her place for two or three. Buying only one would be a mistake.
Photos
All of the beautiful photos in this blog are by local female owned business, Initial Impressions by Samantha Tomblin. I have worked with Samantha in many capacities professionally and personally. She took many photos for my clients during the time I was a small business consultant, she has taken my headshots and photos in the studio for Sarah Sonder, and she took Dan and I's engagement photos--but they're NSFW. Samantha is professional, has an amazing eye, edits like an artist, and is upfront and clear in her communication. She kept us on time, respected the timeline of our day, and gave us over 500 gorgeous moments to cherish forever through her photos. 10/10 would recommend!
Tattoos
Tattoos instead of a unity candle or sand pouring to signify our permanent bond courtesy of local female owned business, Xandra Ink is one of our favorite parts that felt truly "us". We both love tattoos, but even more, we love the permanent symbolism of both getting matching initial tattoos on our ring fingers. When asking around, Alex was everyone's first choice for fine line tattoos, and when we asked her, she was stoked to participate. She said she had been wanting to do a wedding for a while and was glad to be involved. She was professional, the chill-est, and delivered some great tattoos to both Dan and I with our wedding tattoos, but also our guests who opted in. I think about 13 people opted to get tattoos, plus Dan and I both got a second tattoo from the flash sheet, in addition to the
"d + s" we got on our ring fingers. Not everyone that attended is a fan of tattoos, but those who are, had fun with it!!
The Flower Girl
The flower girl was my friend Lizz and Andrew's little girl, Iris and she was a doll! She wore a green floral dress and entertained us for the weekend! She had rose petals in her basket that Dan and I had dried from bouquets celebrating each month's anniversary over the course of the first year. Each month we got the number of months in roses, each month a new color added; first month was 1 red, second month was 1 red and 1 yellow, and so on. Iris loved practicing the dumping of the petals in the back, but got a bit of stage fright when the big event came up. As I told her mom, Lizz, a flower girl's job is simply to be however she feels inclined to be. In any case it is cute, and Iris was no exception. Just look at that adorable face!! Iris' mother, Lizz, is also the one responsible for my make-up and pre-wedding facials. Visit her at Artemis in Peoria Heights for all your skincare needs!!
The Details
Our third point of focus when planning our big day, was making sure that our personalities really shined through as well as symbolic touches from different important moments throughout our relationship. It started with the video that we shared before we walked down the aisle(shown above), the blue ducks scattered about that signified our first date at Blue Duck Tavern(since the Rhythm Kitchen was closed), the snack table filled with all of our favorite snacks; every piece had significance to us. One of our choice cupcake flavors was Key Lime, an homage to our shared piece of Key Lime Pie on our first date. We are sappy, hopelessly romantic and detail oriented-and it showed!!
There were mishaps, sure. My dress had a hand-sized hole in it before I even put it on that day. 4 alteration appointments and so so many tears later, I thought I had all the issues with the dress resolved. Imagine my surprise when I put it on and felt a hold in the lace big enough to slip my entire hand in. This was 2 minutes before my first look with Dan and there was just simply nothing that could be done. Later in the evening, I used packing tape to hold it in place, until the hard seltzers and all the lovey-dovey feelings made me care less and I lost the tape somewhere Downtown later that evening.
We also shared in some grief over some of our friends and family who chose not to attend our wedding. Some things just cannot be avoided and big travel or health concerns are understandable, but some others just plain chose not to come to our wedding and that hurt. We dealt with the feelings of disappointment and had a great time, but the sting of rejection held on for a couple of weeks after the wedding was over. This pain was only rivaled by the numbness in my toes after wearing the 4" heels required for my dress hem just a little too long that night. That, too, took some time to heal.
We ended the reception with all of our people helping pick up the space, pack cars and get our belongings to our house. A few close friends stayed after and helped us paint the town in celebration of the wedding and marriage of our dreams. We walked down to the Murray Baker Bridge to take a recreation photo of our first picture(exactly one year prior), shut down several bars and walked blocks upon blocks around the Downtown Peoria in our wedding dress and suit. By the time we stumbled into our hotel suite a little after 3am, the rip in the side of my dress had gotten considerably worse, but the rest of the dress had gotten worse for wear, too. I never intended to wear it again, and the hole in the side and improper fit made sure that would be next to impossible. I shoved it in a garment bag in the back of my closet for now. Maybe forever, let us be very honest.
Three very special shout outs go out to our oldest son, Van and my best friends, Vanessa and Kate.
The Arbor
Van designed and created this custom arbor for us to get married in front of. He started welding a couple of years ago and when I asked him if he could fabricate something with our newly shared last name, he said, "sure!" He sketched up a design, I asked our friends at Montefusco HVAC to help us with the letter cut-outs, and then Van put the entire thing together with the help of a couple of his closest friends, Tyler and Grant. Not only was it amazing to get married in front of, but our guests used it as the perfect backdrop for photos! This arbor now rests in our flower garden outside our back porch where we spend as many of our days as possible. Thank you, Van! We love you.
The Ceremony
One of my closest and longest friends, Vanessa Coletrain, is ordained and was definitely the best person for the task of marrying us. Not only was Vanessa there and a part of my life when I met and first started dating Dan, she also understood my story, in particular, in such an intimate way, that it made the significance of her marrying us all the more special. She flew here from Arizona just for the occasion, met with us virtually to discuss the ceremony multiple time, and was crucial in helping us set up that day, as well as celebrating properly that evening!! She did an amazing job delivering the ceremony that Dan had written and having her there by our side as she pronounced us husband and wife was nothing short of magical. We love you, V! Vanessa also did my hair for the wedding and for her I am eternally grateful.
Katherine the Great
My dearest friend Katherine said it best. When asked if she was Maid of Honor or what her role for the wedding was, she replied, "I ran that bitch!" and run it she did! Not only did Kate emotionally and physically support us in all of the hoopla leading up to the day(did I mention the 4 alteration appointments!?), but she understood our plan for the day and she kept every single detail in place, kept all of our tasks on schedule, took care of things I am not even aware of, and still managed to be by my side, enjoying, partying, and celebrating with us like we wanted. She cleaned up, packed up, picked up, served, dished, walked miles and miles at a speed closer to jogging, iced, shushed, fixed, bustled, held my dress, zipped it up countless times, helped me with my shoes (I couldn't bend over in the dress), made sure my drink was never empty, photographed the afterparty, got us all home safe AND made sure we hydrated all. day. long. She is a queen, a boss, the kindest of souls and the chilliest of people. She makes me want to be a better friend and she has been there for me in every conceivable way possible. We love you Kate and we just absolutely could not have gotten married, enjoyed, or celebrated without you and all you do. Love you long time, boo.
The Afterparty
All in all, it was a dream. We felt loved by the people who matter to us most. We partied until we could party no longer. We appreciate each an every person who attended or made this beautiful celebration possible. Now, on to the rest of our lives!! - Sarah and Dan Leman
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