The Big Day: Harmon + Kristin

Reception: All Life Center

Music: Jesse Powers, Chad Warren, Tony Bonardi, Andre Walker

Dress: AliExpress (ceremony); Renz Rags (reception)

Suit: Pursuit (reception)

Food: Timmy’s Meltdown

Cake: Two slices of cake, limoncello and carrot, from Weiland’s Market for bride and groom; cupcakes, cookies, and donuts from Schneider’s Bakery in Westerville

Booze: specialty cocktail Garden Mule, by bartender Sean Smith

Rings: bands came from The Grandview Mercantile and Review

Officiant: Rev. Molly Cameron, Columbus Center for Spiritual Living

It’s hard to stand out in the wedding crowd.

But that was hardly a challenge for Harmon and Kristin, who took the notion of eschewing tradition to a whole new level for their Big Day.

For one, it was actually Day(s).

In addition to holding their reception on a different day of the small ceremony, which allowed for a relaxed, flexible arrival, the couple donned duds that you are not likely to see at any other coupling this year. First, Harmon in a kilt made by a family member, and Kristin in her self-dubbed “Blood Flood,” a custom-made red dress from China that clocked in at just a couple hundred bucks.

Fittingly, getting married in the same place as Humphrey and Bacall, these two set an almost cinematic tone for their wedding. One for the ages…

Give us a range of your budget. Did you go over? Or stay under? We didn’t come up with an “official” budget but rather came up with an estimate of cost and then made monthly savings goals to work towards.  The only thing we aimed for a hard number on was the cost of the honeymoon. I think our goal was to stay under $10,000 and we were right around $7,000-$8,000 on our trip. Total cost for everything was about $14,000.

What do you wish you had spent less money on? I wish we had spent less on our caterer, or at least done more research about the one we chose.  I was very dissatisfied with the catering we had at our venue but was so happy that I hired a food truck—Timmy’s Meltdown—to supplement. Tim really saved the day at our reception food-wise.

Was there anything that you wanted to avoid when you envisioned your wedding? There was a whole plethora of things I wanted to avoid including a white dress, fresh flowers, trite vows, overpaying for things that are completely unnecessary or would fill extra space in a landfill, having a huge crowd of people that I didn’t know, etc.

If you could tell us one thing that made your Big Day unique, what was it? Our Big Day was two days and very unique to who we are as individuals and as a couple. We were wed in the same place as one of our favorite Old Hollywood couples, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. We’re very non-traditional and did almost everything in a unique way that likely won’t be repeated.

Besides making it official, what was the ultimate highlight of your Big Day? The biggest highlight for me was singing my vows. I wrote a very catchy pop-like song and my maid of honor played guitar. It was a secret and Harmon had no idea. It was such a thrill to be able to sing and write a song that I know he’ll remember for the rest of our lives. 

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