Sheila Brasel & Wayne Wright
Rustic Christmas
Married
Nov 14, 2024
Ridgedale ,
Missouri
Photo Credit
Joe and a Camera
Style Guide
Color Palette
Style
Rustic, Themed
Season
Fall
The Proposal
Beautifully told by Wayne, it was the year 1989 at Oklahoma State University and below Wayne’s apartment lived this beautiful sophomore that he’d thought was the most amazing looking girl he’d had ever seen. Unfortunately, Wayne was a typical 20-year-old fool and somehow convinced himself that even though he knew that after one kiss she would be the last girl he would ever date, he never asked her out; because he was too afraid that he wasn’t ready or good enough for such an amazing person. Apparently, Wayne didn’t make the same impression, because despite his charm and good looks she never asked him out either, but they were friends and saw each other on campus continuously.
As graduation happened and life occurred, the two moved on and away. They spent the next 5 years without contact until one fateful day, in 1994, when she got hired to work temporarily as sales support at the company Wayne was working for. Again, despite his charm and even better looks, she actively avoided letting Wayne know she worked only a couple desks away from him, and was actually his phone support contact, because she would look to see if he was working and if he was in the office, she would hide from him.
Wayne says, “my sheer magnetism must have intimidated her because she shortly quit without me ever knowing that we had crossed paths yet again.” Wayne soon left to spend the next years in various states including 15 years in California before returning to Oklahoma, while Sheila spent her next years in Oklahoma raising her daughter. The two had not communicated since 1994 until Wayne decided to return to Oklahoma, and reached out through Facebook to see what friends he had that were still in Oklahoma. Sheila responded and they got together for dinner, because Wayne wanted to rebuild a circle of friends, and she needed to expand her business networking. Several conversations later, Wayne managed to convince her to have a date with him, which led to their second kiss on that New Years Eve (she kissed him, and he never let her stop after that). Several years later and after many rambling adventurous road trips, Wayne knew that he wanted to ask Sheila to marry him.
During this time, her grandmother was seriously declining, and she took Wayne to see her a couple of times. On their last visit to see her, while Sheila was out of the room, Wayne leaned in to tell her that he was going to ask her granddaughter to marry him. Sheila’s favorite person in the world other than family is Steven Tyler and it just so happened that Aerosmith was playing in Las Vegas on Feb 13, 2020. Just to make sure they had the best seats, Wayne bought floor seats on the stage and also got VIP seats on the stage next to the band (and Steven Tyler). As the concert ended and the lights went up, Sheila gathered her purse and turned back around to find Wayne on his knees holding his grandmother’s engagement ring and asking to marry him. She said Yes! Next, came the pandemic before the two could make plans, but after that and several major family health issues they finally found their chance.
In Preparation
On one of the couple’s trips, Wayne took Sheila to see her favorite pianist, Dino, and surprised her by staying at Jack’s Cabin at Big Cedar Lodge, just outside Branson Missouri. They saw the most amazing incredible scenery surrounding the Chapel of the Ozarks at Top of the Rock. Their original plans were to try and have a very small, quick wedding in Tulsa before a close family member passed. When that didn’t happen, they remembered the Chapel of the Ozarks, and immediately knew that was their perfect place. It felt like our home and heaven combined. Sheila had always wanted a Christmas church wedding, but today was a day in June and Wayne knew that he couldn’t wait 16+ months to marry her next year, so the challenge was on!
The couple knew they wanted the Chapel of the Ozarks, but the only dates that were available for the Chapel and Jack’s Cabin and the other rooms they wanted meant that they were getting married on November 14th, 2024 (Wayne’s mother’s birthday, and 1 day before Sheila’s father’s). The couple now had 5 months to plan and execute the wedding of her dreams. They knew they had a challenge to balance her colors of red, green, and white to make it elegant and rustic, without looking like they were in Santa’s workshop.The rustic décor of the Chapel and Big Cedar meant that they had to walk a fine line between Santa Claus and fishing village. Sheila found that balance with a beautiful flowing white satin and lace dress with a neckline to highlight her Ruby necklace, while the groom’s party wore black suits with silver vests and rustic red and white boutonnieres to compliment the bride’s white, and the maid of honor’s red dress. After several trips to Big Cedar for planning and many, many trips to Home Depot and Hobby Lobby and the art store, the couple were finally ready to load the trailer, and go decorate their dream. Accenting with white bells, white winter trees, and lanterns to illuminate her walk down the aisle to stand before the cross overlooking the fall colors of the Ozarks decorated with the red, green and silver garland that they spent 3 weeks making. Six miles before arriving to unload, decorate, greet family and guests, they got a phone call that Wayne’s mother had fallen and broken her shoulder, on the day of their wedding finding out, that she would not be able to attend.
The Big Day
With massive amounts of help from Sheila’s father and other family and friends, the couple were still able to complete everything about 20 minutes behind schedule. Despite the tragic news regarding Wayne’s mother, he knew everything would be OK, once he saw everyone pitching in to help finish decorating and glimpsed his wife to be for the first time at the Chapel. Sheila’s daughter helped keep her calm and get ready with the help of the most amazing hair stylist. The couple did first looks, at the Chapel, but when the Chapel doors opened, and Wayne saw Sheila walking down the aisle among the decorations that they had spent months collecting and planning, his heart stopped and his jaw dropped. Despite extreme pain from an earlier injury, Wayne could not think of anything other than the fact that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and that this was the most perfect day despite the tests they had overcome to get there. Sheila was as stunned by how the decorations that they painstakingly planned had turned out and at that moment, she also knew that everything up to that moment that seemed like an obstacle or roadblock, was truly just the hand and heart of God leading them to this most perfect moment in time.
After the ceremony, the couple were able to take advantage of the perfect weather to run out of the Chapel to the sound of bagpipes and their loved ones throwing their signature-colored flowers at them. After the cannon fired, they were able to join their guests at the reception in the Curved Room at the Buffalo Bar. The most perfect location that they again found simply by the grace of God. After giving up on finding a location small enough for their needs, they ran into the manager that pointed them to this room that no one really knew about. A room for 30+ people, with a wall of windows overlooking the lake and the Chapel where they were just married that would afford views of the fireworks show to come, where the maid of honor made the most beautiful toast to her mother, the bride, that brought nearly all of them to tears. The room was decorated in rustic style with red, green and brown with decorations made by them including a sign on the bear guarding their guest’s swag bags that read simply “Do Not Pet the Fluffy Dog”. At the entrance to the reception was their guest book resting on a custom-made rustic wood and leather stand surrounded by simulated snow, white lights and crystal lighted Christmas trees. The cake was custom made and displayed on a custom stand made to look like a cut log. Beside the wedding cake was a surprise for the bride…. A replica of the Louis Vuitton purse cake that Wayne had made her for her birthday that contained the tickets to the Aerosmith concert where he was proposing to her. Surrounding the replicated LV cake was a small family of sloth cupcakes; her favorite animal that were also replicas of the cupcakes that he had made her for that same birthday.
Other decorations included a custom-made antique toy pickup truck and horse trailer with their names on them. The buffet tables containing the amazing food catered by Big Cedar, were covered in pine garlands and miniature white Christmas lights. All decorations included simulated snow and were surrounded by pine garland and small white Christmas lights. The tables for the guests were decorated with rustic glowing lanterns, and red and green table runners. Near the entry to the reception was a special table decorated and displayed with memories of the couple’s loved ones that were no longer with them in person, but were with them in their hearts and that they knew were looking over them.
The Retreat
After not eating, nor having time to really talk to their guests, they left temporarily to take photographs around the stunning property before returning to say goodbye to their loved ones and retreat to Jack’s Cabin; a rustic 2 story log cabin just yards away from the Chapel and overlooking the lake and reachable only by a golf cart. The cabin was decorated with candles and rose petals arranged in the shape of a heart on the bed, and the soft lighting illuminated the interior, leading the way to a three-foot-deep, six-foot-long copper tub overlooking the golf course and the lake, both lit by moonlight. During 3 days of recuperating and quiet bliss, the couple took a self-guided Christmas light tour of Lost Canyon, went to drop off their marriage license at the county courthouse only to find out that they did not have the correct copy (it had actually been mailed in by their pastor they came to find out 2 weeks later ). On the couple’s last day in Ozark Heaven, they decided to take their specially designated golf cart on an “unapproved”, ( we got in trouble a little bit) tour of some ongoing construction of a massive new attraction and the golf course adjoining their cabin. With stunning views and autumnal trees, this course is like setting foot in paradise. There is not a single square inch of this property that is not perfect. From the roaming wild life to the trees to the cabins and facilities, this was truly a place that breathed life into the couple’s soul and love into their hearts and new life together.
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