The Midnight Gem Wedding, Kori and Trevor
Kori and Trevors Midnight Gem wedding in Swisher, Iowa was dark, moody, and intimate; a perfect combination for The Midnight Gem! Kori and Trevor opted for a main color scheme of black and white, but when it came to their bridal party, they threw in a little emerald green to really make things pop!
Photo By: Zach Lefebure Photography & Design
The Midnight Gem is one of my favorite venues in Eastern Iowa, I love the clean, sleek, and modern asethetic, but all looks aside, this venue has one of the best staff teams I’ve ever seen at a venue. Each team member is incredibly sweet, and you can tell that each person genuinely cares about your wedding day as if it were their own. They take care of so much for you on your big day, ensuring that all the tables and chairs are set up for you the day before your wedding, stocking the mini fridges in your bridal suites with your favorite drinks, and even coordinating your vendors to ensure everyone knows the plan and timeline moving forward on the big day. Their email response times are great, and their venue managers even meet with the couples as often as they want for venue tours to plan out the space before the wedding.
Another feature they have that I like, is that they offer two bridal suites. While most venues only offer one, or they give the groomsmen a ridiculously small room to get ready in, the Midnight Gem has two very large rooms for both parties. Each suite is modern luxe and offers natural lighting, with a few other fun features. For the bridal suite, the girls have a 5 mirror vanity to sit at and do their hair and makeup with not only natural light, but vanity lights as well. They also have a large couch and coffee table to lounge on and mingle while getting ready, along with a private outside lounge, en suite bathroom, floor length mirros, a dress rack for everyone’s dress, and a mini fridge that is stocked to the brim with mimosas and other beverages you like. Seems hard to beat, right? Well for the guys, their suite includes a large couch and flat screen to watch whatever game is on tv, or they can hook their xbox up and play games while the ladies are getting ready. They also have a poker table, en suite bathroom, floor length mirror, a rack for everyone’s suit, a mini fridge stocked with everyone’s favorite beers, and access to their patio area where they have a putting green to play a bit of golf.
The design of the midnight gem
Boring signage and stationary is out, we’re making headlines now! We’re bringing a fresh take to your wedding signage, and making it hot!
Take Kori and Trevors welcome signage: It made a statement, and we love that! Gone is the “welcome to so & so’s wedding”, no duh, your guests know who’s wedding their at, so let’s make our welcome signage stand out!
Not only was their welcome sign a hit, but guests loved the couples polaroid guestbook! It helped keep everyone entertained during the cocktail hour.
The Midnight Gem has a beautiful welcome area for guests to mingle before the ceremony, to drop their cards/gifts and sign your guestbook, all while being closed off from the reception space; Which wedding planners like me LOVE!
The Midnight gem wedding ceremony
I LOVED Kori and Trevor’s wedding ceremony, for 3 reasons:
1.) I love Kori and Trevor
2.) They had a flower bro instead of a flower girl
3.) Finally, they had their puppy walk down the aisle for the ceremony
Adorable right?! I love flower bros because they always give guests something to giggle about, and they take their job very seriously! But I also love it when couples include their fur babies on the wedding day, so this was a win win for me!
The Midnight Gem has one of the smartest designs for their ceremony area, by making sure it’s covered! With a covered patio, it ensures that any couple, regardless of the weather, can get married outside. They also use benches for the guests to sit on during the ceremony rather than actual chairs, which helps with spacing issues, and it allows us to customize the size of the aisle for each wedding. The best part? If you want to take the benches out completely, you can! You can use the covered patio space for anything, because the benches aren’t permanent and can be moved around! I’ve seen couples get married offsite and use the covered patio space for their cocktail hour, as an outside lounge area, or even as a cigar bar. Your options for this space are limitless!
The Midnight gem wedding reception
One of the nice things about the Midnight Gem’s venue space, is how much space they actually have. Between their covered and uncovered patio area, and their large reception hall, guests have so many areas they can lounge and mingle during the cocktail hour!
After the ceremony guests went inside for the cocktail hour while the bridal party took a party bus offsite for photos. Once the bridal party got back, we did grand introductions, first dance, cake cutting, and speeches and toasts.
After dinner the party offically started, and dancing commenced!
The floral details
One thing that really stood out to me from Kori’s wedding, was her bouquet. Her and Trevor have 3 dogs, two of which were unable to attend the wedding physically, but they were there in spirit thanks to the charms Kori had around her bouquet.
She had a friend make a special charm with photos of their three dogs to wrap around her bouquet, so they could be there with her all day; how sweet!
The Midnight gem wedding decor
The Midnight Gem only offers these long wooden tables, (no round tables) so we stuck with decor that ran along the length of the table, instead of decor that just piled up in the middle.
We kept the table decor simple for the wedding, with black runners, babies breath garland, and multi heighted pillar candles weaving in and out along the table. We also placed black dinner plates, gold silverware, and black napkins at each place settings for guests.
Overall Kori and Trevors wedding at The Midnight Gem in Swisher, Iowa was a huge hit, thans to all the amazing vendors who helped with their big day!
Vendor Team
Venue: The Midnight Gem
Planner: Elizabeth Bliss Events
Photographer: Zach Lefebure Photography & Design
Caterer: Kalona Country Catering
Bakery: Sweet Cheesecake
Florist: The Century House
Dress: Embody Bridal
Suit: Skeffingtons Formalwear
Jewelers: Siebke Hoyt
Stationary: Canva
The Midnight gem Wedding Venue
Address: 2613 Ders Drive NW, Swisher, IA, United States, Iowa
Email: info@themidnightgem.com
Costs: Peak Wedding Season $6,500 +, Off Season $4,500+
Capacity of 300 guests
Amenities included: Tables & chairs, indoor and outdoor ceremony space, bar setup and staff