Personal Touch: Couple's wedding reflects their style

It wasn’t exactly love at first sight for crime prevention specialist Beth Wendel and her now-husband Buck Wendel, who works in finance. After several years of chance meetings and knowing each other through mutual friends, the two finally spent some alone time together at a happy hour on the Country Club Plaza — and the rest, they say, is history. 
 
“It took us several years before we were able to see the person that had been right in front of us,” Beth says. 
 
Once engaged, they dedicated themselves to creating a wedding that reflected their personalities. For example, Buck’s love of baseball translated to a wedding-day photo shoot on a baseball field. They also opted for a non-traditional rehearsal dinner at a bowling alley. 
 
“It allowed everyone to relax, have fun and enjoy reconnecting with old family and friends, and making new friends in the process,” Beth says. “It was the perfect start to a wonderful weekend.”
 
Wedding date: Sept. 17, 2011
 
The proposal story: Beth and Buck made a point of having date nights every few weeks, and on one of those date nights, Buck made a detour to Loose Park. They started walking around the park, enjoying the scenery, and eventually sat down on a bench near the fountain. Buck got down on one knee and proposed. After an excited “yes!” the couple called family and friends, and later went to celebrate the engagement at La Bodega, the site of their first date. 
 
The ring: Beth’s ring is a princess-cut diamond with accent diamonds on either side from Shane Co. 
 
Wedding and reception location: The ceremony took place at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Lawrence, with the reception following at Abe & Jake’s. 
 
The dress: Beth selected a Maggie Sottero gown from Ida’s Bridal. The dress was a fitted A-line gown with corset closure and a hint of beading framing the bust and side hip. 
 
The jewelry/shoes/accessories: Beth made earrings for the bridesmaids and cufflinks for the groomsmen, personalized with their favorite sports team. She also made her own earrings to accompany bracelets from Charming Charlie and her grandmother’s necklace. 
 
The cake: Instead of a traditional cake, the couple opted for an interactive cupcake bar by Cupcake Construction. Each guest was able to select their own cupcake flavor, icing flavor and toppings. They also had pre-made cupcakes in a variety of flavors, and a groom’s cake in the shape of a baseball made by Buck’s sister. 
 
The catering: Hy-Vee. “The best thing, hands down, on our menu was the brisket — people are still raving about it and always ask us who catered,” Beth says. 
 
The photographer: Melissa & Beth. “These girls are beyond amazing,” Beth says. “They made everyone feel comfortable and chose so many unique shots and really listened to us and captured our day. Pictures were one of the most important things to us, and we could not have been happier.” 
 
The moments they’ll never forget: “The first time I saw Buck,” Beth says. “We had a first look, just the two of us and the photographers. When Buck turned around to see me for the first time, he had tears in his eyes. I had never seen Buck get emotional like that, and it just showed me how excited and happy he was to marry me, and I felt so loved.”
 
Advice for KC brides: “Make your wedding about you,” Beth says. “In the end, it is you and your fiancé’s day, and you want it to reflect that. And when you are booking vendors it can get very overwhelming to try to figure out where to start. We started with the vendors that could only book one wedding a weekend, like photographers and venues, and then worked our way down from there.”