Written by: Alexandra Sferra
On March 11, 2017, our Blush Bride Sarah met the love of her life, Jonathon for the first time. They met for dinner at Yard House at the banks in downtown Cincinnati. “When we got there, we had an hour wait before we could get a table... talk about being terrified and hoping that this was a good date and not a brutal hour waiting for our table! The great news is we hit it off right away; we had great conversation talking about growing up in our small towns, and how we both went to Miami University in Oxford and had no idea! We even graduated at the same ceremony! My dad was a police officer and his dad was military, so we laughed about how they could be very strict with us. We talked about family and friends, our jobs, and anything else that came to mind. We had such an awesome conversation that our hour wait simply flew by.”
Sarah continued, “A funny story from our first date is that I ordered a meal and he ordered chips and guacamole. He literally only ate like five chips before he said he was full. He had told me he met up with some coworkers for a happy hour after work, but I later found out he actually had dinner with his parents that night for their usual Friday night skyline dinner and he was nervous to tell me that he gets dinner with his parents. Little did he know, I loved that because family is so important to me! He paid for our food and drinks, and even offered to pay for my parking garage parking fee. He’s always been such a gentleman opening doors for me, standing up when I get up from a table, etc. It was such a great date that we ended up getting together again the very next night! He was funny, nice, and so handsome. I was sold!”
We asked Sarah how her relationship was before he proposed, and her answer was as real as one can be. Leading up to the second New Year’s Eve together, they both had definitely come to terms how they felt about each other, but just haven’t expressed it yet. They went to Fountain Square to watch the fireworks at midnight, and that moment was when Jonathon told Sarah that he loved her. “During our relationship, we went through a ton as a couple. We quickly moved in together after about a year and a half of dating because we obviously were in love with each other, but he was also trying to start his own business. We were living in a small, 2-bedroom apartment that was my place before he moved in. Condensing the things from two apartments into one was crazy, stressful, and messy, on top of the stress of him starting his own business and not bringing in any income yet. This time of our lives was definitely the toughest time of our relationship, but we clearly made it through and we are stronger because of it. We have always had a very fun and sassy relationship. There’s a running joke between us that he tells me that I will never be bored, and he’s right! We make each other laugh every day. “ Sarah and Jonathon were together for a little over four years before he got down on one knee!
After Sarah told us how her four-year relationship blossomed, we asked how he proposed. We were so excited to hear the story! “Jonathan proposed Memorial Day weekend of 2021. I had actually scheduled a dinner for us to go to Boca randomly that weekend because we love Boca. He was talking to me earlier in the day asking if we could go grab a drink with one of his buddies down at Yard House before. When we got down there, he said that apparently his friend and his friends fiancé were actually getting their photo taken in front of the Sing the Queen City sign, and he said we should go get one taken there too. We walked through the grass while I’m wearing stiletto high heels, nervous that they are sinking into the mud, and we make it to this Sing the Queen City sign. There was a woman taking photos of the sign, and he said “let’s just have her take some pictures for us.” As I’m walking in front of the sign with him right behind me, I start to think to myself, how is this woman going to know to take pictures of us and how are we going to get those photos. So I turned around to ask these questions to Jonathan, and he dropped to his knee and opened up the ring box and said, “Sarah Yothment, will you marry me?” I of course said yes! I was literally smiling and laughing so hard! Turns out, his friends weren’t down there meeting us, it was just a rouse to get me to the sign, and the woman taking photos was hired by Jonathan! We had a mini engagement shoot before we headed to Boca for dinner! After, we went to my parent’s house for a surprise engagement party! Our friends and close family were all there to celebrate with us! We had more champagne and had the best night celebrating!”
After hearing her fun engagement story (they’re our favorite, we are always so excited to hear about our brides engagements!) we asked how wedding planning went. “I’m not sure how many brides say this, but I absolutely loved planning the wedding. I honestly would be happy to one day have a wedding planning company. I was very involved in every single detail. I did hire a wedding coordinator who helped planning along the way as well as day-of coordination! I would highly recommend all brides to hire someone to help out if they can afford it! The planning process itself was only a little stressful at times, but working with the Renaissance Hotel made it even easier because they have their own wedding coordinator as well as they handle so many of the details of the wedding. The day of the wedding, all I had to do was worry about enjoying the day with my Bridesmaids, my family, and our fabulous vendors, and getting my hair and make up done while sipping some champagne!
When you get engaged, one of the first things you think about, besides the excitement of spending forever with the love of your life, is what type of wedding you want. We asked Sarah what her main vision was on her dream wedding she is about to plan. “I really wanted a wedding that was a very timeless, classic, beautiful wedding. We are very traditional people, and we wanted our wedding to reflect that. We had a pretty beautiful and simple religious ceremony in Burnham Hall, followed by a very timeless reception. We decorated the tables with black linen, white napkins, gold chargers and gold chairs with a white cushion. I also wanted our flowers to be very simple and elegant. We stuck with mostly white and green florals with a little pop of blush to match the color scheme the bridesmaids were dressed in. We also wanted it to be FUN! After the elegant wedding ceremony and dinner, we wanted people to know it was time to party! I wanted people to leave our wedding saying, “Wow. That was the best wedding I’ve even been to.” Or saying, “Wow. That was an absolutely beautiful wedding.” We’ve heard both from many people, so mission accomplished!”
When the story is coming to life as Sarah is telling us how she envisioned her wedding, we wanted to know the full scoop. Sarah proceeded to tell us all the details on her wedding day, and we truly believed she had the best day of her life. Sarah and her crew started getting ready early, as every smart bride does, at 8:00 AM. As the girls got ready, the guys grabbed lunch at Yard House, their first date location! So cute! “The photographers arrived around 1:00pm to start photographing us finishing up our hair and make up. I was in the make up chair at that time, so it worked out pretty perfectly to capture those getting ready moments. We had a photo shoot of all of the girls in our super cute getting ready pajamas before I got in my dress and got some photos taken with my mom and my maid of honor who helped me get ready. “
After the girls got their pictures taken, the bridesmaids started getting ready, and the photographers went to get pictures outside of the groomsmen and then the bridesmaids followed along with the rest of the family. “The wedding ceremony started on time, roughly at 5:30pm, and we were done before 6:00pm. During the cocktail hour, we had pictures done with the bridal party and family inside and then the bridal party went outside for more pictures. Jonathan and I came up towards the very end of the cocktail hour so that we could do a first look of our reception hall. It was so beautiful!”
Sarah and Jonathon made their grand entrance into the reception, joining all of their friends and family who has watched their love grow. The bridal party did their entrances and then the bride and groom kicked it off right after, headed to the dance floor to immediately enjoy their first dance to ‘You Are The Best Thing’ by Ray LaMontagne. Cutting the cake, dinner, and dancing followed, having the time of their life with a full dance floor to kick off the party. Once the sun went down, Sarah and Jonathon slipped away from the party for a few to get stunning photos outside in the street and lights!
After a dreamy day of love, dancing, and having their favorite people surrounding them, they enjoyed a full day following the wedding to relax and recover before heading to the airport to board their flight to St. Lucia. Sarah and Jonathon stayed at Serenity at Coconut Bay. “We had our own private suite that had a private outdoor space that included a stocked bar, a hammock, lounge chairs, a little outdoor canopy, and our own private plunge pool. We had a butler he would bring us drinks and food anytime of day, and we had a lot of awesome amenities added on for our romance package including a couples massage, a catamaran cruise at sunset with champagne and appetizers, candlewick pool cabana, a pool cabana for the day, and a beach cabana with a fully stocked cooler of beverages including a bottle of champagne! It also included a chauffeured island tour where we got to go see an active volcano, soak in sulfur springs, cover ourselves with a mud all over our bodies, go see and get in a waterfall, and drive all around the island viewing all of its’ beauty! They had a super fun rum tasting and dinner one night, where they brought in some amazing performers. The resort was amazing and we had so many fun experiences while we were there. Jonathan’s birthday took place while we were there, so they decorated our dinner table and our suite with balloons and flower petals, and they drew us a bath with flower petals and a bottle of champagne to celebrate! We will absolutely be going back to St. Lucia to this resort.” We truly can’t believe all the adventures Sarah and Jonathon got to experience, and are insanely jealous! * Writes down Serenity at Coconut Bay in St. Lucia in notes! *
“Our newlywed life is going so well! Since we have already been together for so many years and own a house together so it didn’t seem much different after the wedding. I will say though, the post wedding and honeymoon blues are a real thing. It’s so fun to come home and open gifts and work on your thank you cards and organize all of your new items that you got from the wedding, but once it’s all said and done, you really start to get a little gloom. I recommend planning some fun date nights so that you still have some exciting things to look forward to during this month or so! “
Last, but certainly not least, we asked Sarah how her experience was with Blush Bridal. “My experience at blush bridal was fantastic! I actually know Colleen from my old job at Orange Theory, and one of my bridesmaids in my wedding used to work at blush bridal as well. Molly was my girl, and she was awesome! She was very friendly and accommodating, and she made me feel very special and stress-free. I brought just my mom, my Nana, my mother-in-law, and my maid of honor for the day, where I tried on dresses. It was really great having a small but awesome crew to give me honest feedback, but not too many people that would have very overlapping opinions making it hard for me to choose. We all loved my dress so much! We knew it was the one as soon as I put it on! It was an awesome experience! My dress even came in like 2 months early, which was so exciting! I even did my alterations at Blush. It was the best experience, and I didn’t go anywhere else!”
Sarah – we are so incredibly happy for you, and we are so excited that you had the perfect wedding day marrying Jonathon. You two are such a cute and loving couple, and we couldn’t want more for our brides. Congratulations, and thank you so much for being the star of Blush for the Bride Blog! We hope nothing but happiness and love in your future, and we can’t wait to follow the next chapters of your life! WE LOVE YOU!
