A Greenhouse-Inspired Wedding at a St. Louis Country Club

Although Mac and Denver always shared a few mutual pals, it wasn’t until May 2018, while separately visiting those friends in New York, that they officially met. At the time, Mac was living in St. Louis and Denver was living in Fort Worth—and both were in relationships. They hit it off at the party and remained friends for the next four years, occasionally catching up with the same group of mutual friends at weddings and over the phone. “Covid-19 happened, life events occurred, and we reconnected in early May 2022,” Mac says. Two weeks later, Denver booked a flight to visit Mac for his birthday and the two never looked back. Nine months after they started dating, Mac moved to Fort Worth.

The couple always knew that they wanted to exchange watches when they got engaged, so when Denver reached out to his friend whose family owns Simons Jewelers in St. Louis and learned that the watch Mac had been eyeing had just come in (and that another wouldn’t be available for a full year), he took it as a sign. He held onto the timepiece (which he had engraved with “timing is everything” on the back as a nod to their love story) for five months before popping the question while Mac was cooking breakfast. The proposal might have been private, but Denver had a larger celebration already planned; the pair’s friends flew in from around the country and helped him pull off a surprise engagement party later that night.

The weekend after the proposal, the couple flew to St. Louis to celebrate with more loved ones—and also secured their wedding venue, a local country club, for their October 26, 2024, nuptials. “Mac and his family grew up going to this club,” says Denver. “His parents’ wedding reception was here, and his grandparents and his great-grandparents also had wedding-related events at the club. It really wasn’t even a discussion when we started talking about where to have it.”

When the time came, they invited 250 guests to their fall garden wedding, which complemented the venue’s architecture via a green, champagne, black, and warm brown color palette. “We wanted the colors and tones to be soft yet impactful,” Denver says. They hired Jill Perez Events and vendors across Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, and St. Louis to pull off their vision. Read on to see all the details in photos captured by Mike Cassimatis.

Mac and Denver worked with their close friend Aubrey Pass of Le Cle Studio for all their wedding weekend’s paper goods. “It’s like we were able to communicate telepathically, and she nailed exactly what we wanted for invitations with little direction,” Mac says. They invited 70 guests to a welcome party the night before the wedding, so Aubrey included an illustration of the venue, Deer Creek Club, in the suite. The invitations also included a custom monogram, tree imagery, and a gold wax seal, incorporating the wedding day color palette of green, champagne, black, and brown.

The couple worked with stylist Danielle Cubellis (the friend Denver was visiting in New York when the couple first met!) to curate their big-day looks. Denver wore a Billy Reid Custom double breasted peak lapel tuxedo; he had his pants made to fit his custom black alligator wedding boots with his initials and wedding date on the pulls. He also accessorized with gold cufflinks with his initials that were a gift from his parents and his engagement watch from Mac, a white gold Rolex.

Mac wore a peak lapel black tuxedo in Loro Piana fabric, also from Billy Reid Custom; he accessorized with patent leather loafers from Belgian Shoes and his Rolex Yachtmaster watch.

The couple chose to have a first look to get their jitters out of the way. “We spend a lot of time together and it was already going to be weird not seeing each other since the night before,” Denver says. “We wanted to get out any nerves or emotions before the ceremony.”

As guests arrived for the ceremony, they visited a large circular black bar—punctuated with an oversized arrangement of white and green florals in a black stone urn—in the middle of the venue’s courtyard for welcome cocktails. “This area was a main focus throughout the evening,” Mac says. “We wanted to keep as much of the club’s architecture and landscape exposed, so we decided to take a chance on the weather and leave the courtyard open (most weddings there tent it).”

Mac and Denver’s ceremony took place on the club’s lawn overlooking the driving range and polo field. Two extra-large arrangements were displayed in urns on pedestals at the altar; the aisle was lined with white floral arrangements at every row.

The couple asked their friends Natalie and Brian if their children could be the day’s ring bearer and flower girl. Natalie grew up with Mac and became friends with Denver at college; Brian was in Denver’s fraternity. Their wedding was one of the events the two attended before they started dating. The children looked adorable in head-to-toe white outfits and stole the show during the processional.

Denver’s mother walked both him and Mac down the aisle as a string trio played Canon in D. ”We thought this was a sweet ode to Mac’s mother, who passed away in 2015,” Denver says. The couple asked Denver’s longtime family friend, Reverend Paula Jefferson, to officiate the ceremony. After three friends shared bible verses, the couple exchanged traditional Episcopal vows.

Mac and Denver didn’t have an official wedding party. “We did bachelor trips and most of those people were included in the rehearsal dinner, but nothing official day-of,” Mac says. Denver hosted his bachelor party in Montreal, while Mac had his in Chicago. “We couldn’t leave out our best ladies, so we then did a joint trip with us and them in Palm Beach, Florida.”

Guests gathered in the club’s dining room for dinner. “The room is gorgeous without anything in it so we played off the colors of the scenic wallpaper for our inspiration,” Mac says. They paired long tables with champagne colored linens with black chairs; stations held green and white floral centerpieces, glass hurricanes with tall candles, and smaller votive candles. Place settings included clear chargers with a gold rim paired with silver julep cups, green napkins, and custom menus, which doubled as individual place cards.

Mac and Denver brought in a bronze-framed glass tent for the reception. “We wanted a garden vibe that was elegant and sophisticated, but not cheesy or whimsical,” Denver says. “The tent gave us a great base with a greenhouse look.” The tent’s entrance was draped in green velvet with custom velvet awnings and an oversized urn flower arrangement. One of the couple’s first decisions was to bring in oversized pendant lights. “We loved the neutral color with the black accent piping and really thought the fabric would help soften the black frame tent,” Denver says.

The couple selected a taupe and black stripe fabric for the stage façade and the custom awning above the bar to incorporate the feeling of an English greenhouse or pool house. The bar had black iron-framed wooden shelves decorated with topiaries and candles. Guests enjoyed several comfortable lounge areas and grabbed custom matchboxes with the couple’s wedding date and logo; the pair purchased several boxes of Palo Santo by Trapp Candles and placed them throughout the tent to add another layer to the guest experience.

Denver’s mom welcomed guests to dinner with a heartfelt speech. “Many guests have told us it was the best and sweetest parent speech they have heard at a wedding,” Mac says. Guests enjoyed a three-course meal, starting with a Caesar salad and followed by a duet entrée of prime filet and chilean sea bass with roasted Brussels sprouts and au gratin potatoes. The couple served espresso martinis as their signature cocktail and carrot cake and French vanilla flavored wedding cake for dessert.

Mac and Denver decided to skip a traditional first dance. Instead, they chose to have the horns section of the band Simply Irresistible come into the dining room playing “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind and Fire as they led guests through the courtyard to the tent for dancing.

Simply Irresistible, a 13-piece band, specializes in Motown and today’s hits—which went over supremely well at the couple’s reception. “Our friends kept telling us this was the best band they had ever experienced,” Denver says. Mac and Denver hired Technical Productions to create a warmer atmosphere with spotlights on the important areas of the space and uplighting to highlight the tent and architecture. “We even had them light up the exterior of the club and the 100 year old trees that surrounded the lawn and tent to really give the greenhouse effect,” Mac says. “You could see the trees lit up through the top of the tent throughout the night. It was incredible.”

At the reception, Mac and Denver changed into white tuxedo jackets for a second look—and on the dance floor, they popped on a few fun wigs. One of their favorite memories from the night? “Taking a photo in the same place as where Mac’s parents took their exit photo on their wedding night,” Denver says.

Mac and Denver decided to give themselves a year to plan and look forward to a honeymoon in South East Asia, India, or South America. To couples in wedding planning mode, Mac and Denver recommend keeping your guest list on the smaller side. “Big parties are a blast. We would have had 1,000 if we could have, but really it just comes down to enjoying the weekend with your main people, and getting to spend quality time with those people.”