Taylor & Dominique’s Old-World Romance Wedding at The Branch Museum

Sometimes, all it takes is a smile across a room (and a bold fitness-related fib) to begin a love story for the ages. Taylor swears she met Dominique during their first Zumba class in college, drawn by her radiant smile and a chance to be part of her energetic gym buddy story. Dominique, however, fondly recalls crossing paths earlier during freshman orientation. The truth? It doesn’t matter, because these two extraordinary women got their “happily ever after,” and it was breathtaking.

Their wedding day at The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design was nothing short of an elegant celebration of old-world romance. With thoughtful details reflecting their unique love story and an intimate atmosphere that allowed every guest to feel part of the magic, Taylor and Dominique’s wedding highlighted what happens when love meets design perfection.

Why did you choose The Branch Museum for their wedding day?

Dominique and I were searching for local venues and had narrowed it down to the Branch Museum and another venue. Dominique had seen a picture of the ceiling at the Branch Museum online and could not get it out of her mind.

Then we took a tour of the Branch Museum and fell in love with it even more.

The venue really lends itself perfectly to an old-world roman theme which is exactly what we were looking for and guided our decisions moving forward.

What advice do you have for others in managing the wedding budget?

Be honest with yourself and your budget. Learn to prioritize and compromise. For example, we initially wanted flowers galore, but after looking at our budget, we decided to scale back on the number of flowers to focus on other design elements that were more important to us.

What made the day unique?

We wanted their wedding to reflect their personalities and priorities.

Intimate Guest List: Due to pandemic limitations, their guest list was capped at 50, a change that matched their desire for a more personal celebration. Every guest was someone they couldn’t imagine not being there.
Private First Look: Before the ceremony, they shared a private moment to see each other for the first time. It was intimate, emotional, and one of Taylor’s favorite memories of the day. They exchanged personalized vows during this moment, surrounded by love and captured beautifully by Audra Jones Photography.
Catered Perfection: The couple’s dinner setup was inspired by a “royal table” layout where everyone dined as one unified group, symbolizing the merging of two families. The menu, crafted by A Sharper Palate, delighted their guests with flavor and creativity.
Mini Cakes for All: Instead of serving one large cake, they opted to provide individual mini cakes for their guests. Sweet Fix brought their vision to life, and it was a massive hit!

How did you decide on your photographer, Audra Jones Photography?

We specifically told our wedding planner that we were looking for a fine art photographer. She sent over a list and we looked out each of their websites and social media accounts.

Audra’s website had previously come up in a separate search and we loved what we saw, so since we had already seen her work and she was on the list from our wedding planner we set up a call with her.

During our meeting, we loved her energy and were convinced we wanted to work with her, but then we found out that we are all in the same sorority, which was a sweet, serendipitous moment and we signed our contract with her shortly thereafter.

Tell us about your decision to go wedding dress shopping together.

It may be unconventional, but we went wedding dress shopping together, just the two of us. Dominique actually picked both dresses (A-line and mermaid) that we ultimately ended up selecting, to try on for herself.

The designs on the front of each dress reminded her of the Branch’s ceiling and she loves a reference.

Taylor ended up trying on the A-line gown and loved it.

Luckily, Dominique tried on the A-line and didn’t like it for herself but fell in love with the mermaid dress, so it all worked out perfectly.

Walk us through your wedding day.

We began our morning getting ready with our bridal parties. We both got ready at our venue on opposite sides of the 2nd floor with our bridal parties so that we would not accidentally see one another before our first look.

Then we did our first look, the most memorable moment of our day. I highly recommend doing a private first look. It was so nice to be able to have a moment to ourselves before we walked into our ceremony.

Our ceremony was short and sweet, exactly like we wanted. After our ceremony, we took photos with our family and bridal parties. After photos, we took a moment to ourselves to get changed for our first dance. We took dance lessons for a couple of months to prepare a routine for our first dance. As we prepared to walk into our first dance, I panicked and wanted to skip it. I hate to be the center of attention, and also was scared we would mess up or I would forget the steps.

However, Dominique reassured me that we had practiced the dance for months and that we had done it flawlessly a number of times. During our dance, you can visually see me counting the steps, “1, 2, 3, 4,1, 2, 3, 4…” but we nailed the dance! Now when I look at our first dance video, I laugh as I watch myself count but the dance was beautiful, and I am so glad we did it.

Next was dinner, we had a single long table, also known as a royal table for dinner. We loved the look of it and having all of our friends and family at 1 table, as one unit symbolizing the joining of our two families and friend groups into one.

Next was cake cutting, we cut our cake and also did 2 speeches from our Maids of Honors. For cake, we had a large cake but also had a mini cake for each guest. This was a huge hit at our wedding.

After dinner was dancing. We closed the wedding with a private dance for just the two of us, while our guests went and got ready for the farewell. Our last dance was Ariana Grande, Point of View. It was the perfect end to the night. Dancing, just the two of us was the perfect conclusion to the night. It was a moment for just us to take in the whole day, solidify the memory of us being married, and slow down to truly enjoy one another on our wedding day. I highly recommend couples take a moment to soak in all the love and happiness of the day in a final dance.

The final event of the night was a send-off from our friends and family. We began our morning getting ready with our bridal parties.