Claudia and Joe got married on a Monday. They had a short guest list, a Hotel Kansas City wedding in a ballroom with two stories of stained glass, and dinner at a French bistro in Westport with oysters and steak frites. If you’ve ever wondered whether a Kansas City microwedding can feel like a full wedding day, this is the one I’d show you.
Hotel Kansas City: A Wedding Venue With Good Bones
Hotel Kansas City is a historic building downtown that’s been updated without losing any of what made it worth saving. The lobby has fringe chandeliers, a coffered ceiling and Gothic windows. The ballrooms have carved woodwork and real stained glass. And the suites are bright, which matters more to me than almost anything else on a wedding day.
As a Kansas City wedding photographer, I can tell you light is the whole game while you’re getting ready, and this hotel has a lot of it. The rooms are big enough that nobody is tripping over a garment bag, so families actually relax. There’s a restaurant and bar on site too, which means you can get ready, get married and raise a glass without leaving the building.
Plenty of couples get married somewhere else, like the Nelson-Atkins or Loose Park, and still book a room here to get ready. I get it. It’s an easy, good-looking place to start the day.
The Details
Claudia put real thought into her flat lay: a letterpress invitation, a citrus envelope liner, pearl mules and two ring boxes in olive velvet. Wild Hill Flowers did the florals, and they went bold. Orange ranunculus, blue delphinium, cosmos. True-to-life color is the thing I care about most, and these are exactly the colors that were sitting on that marble counter.
Getting Ready at Hotel Kansas City
The suite was white and modern with brass lighting everywhere, and the windows did the rest. Claudia’s mom and sister buttoned her into the dress, and they laughed through most of it.
I mostly stay out of the way while people get ready. But when the good light is right there and someone is standing a foot away from it, I’ll say something. With Claudia it was one line: “Could you turn a little toward the window while you put on your necklace? Perfect.” That was all the direction she needed, and her mom laughing behind her is the photo I’d frame.
Hair and makeup were by PoshKC: soft glam and vintage Hollywood waves.
A Dad First Look That Got Me Too
Before Joe saw her, Claudia did a first look with her dad in the suite. He turned around, took one look at her and kissed her hand. Then he prayed over her and gave her his blessing. Her mom and sister were across the room in tears, and honestly, so was I, behind the camera. Nobody scripted any of it, and that’s exactly why I still think about it.
Then everyone pulled it together long enough to pin on his boutonniere, which took two people and a lot of laughing.
A First Look in the Tudor Ballroom
Joe waited for her in the Tudor Ballroom, which is two stories of stained glass and carved woodwork. The afternoon light came through those windows and pooled on the wood floor like somebody had lit a movie set. He knew exactly who was walking up behind him and could not keep a straight face. Then she cried, and he went straight for the tears.
A Microwedding Ceremony Under Stained Glass
The ceremony happened under that same wall of stained glass. A Kansas City microwedding means a short guest list, and the upside is that the bride gets to hug every single person on the way in. Claudia did. They exchanged rings in that colored light, and their parents led the applause at the end.
Afterward we wandered the hotel for portraits. The stairwell has a chandelier that spirals down the middle, so I went up a floor and shot straight down. The main hall has an ornate staircase and a checkerboard mosaic floor. When a building is this good, I let the building be the subject and keep the two of them small in it.
Dinner at Westport Cafe
Then everyone headed to Westport Cafe, a French bistro in the Westport neighborhood. It’s a little corner of Paris in the Paris of the Plains: black and white checkerboard floors, red velvet curtains, exposed brick and a gilt mirror over the bar.
There was one long table for everyone, set with candles, orange florals, red napkins and a name tag at every seat. The spread was an oyster bar, charcuterie, French wine and the cafe’s famous steak frites, and then cake. If you want a microwedding reception spot in Kansas City that isn’t a barn, this is it.
We stole them for a few minutes in the window booth and under those red curtains, and I didn’t have to do much. They laughed the whole time.
The Vendors Who Made It Work
A microwedding runs on a different schedule than a 200-person Saturday, and not every vendor is set up for that. These two were.
Wild Hill Flowers did every arrangement, from the bouquet to the table florals. They can do soft and classic, but I love them most when they go loud like this.
PoshKC did Claudia’s hair and makeup for the wedding and for her engagement session at Big Mood and The Ship. Here’s a PoshKC policy worth knowing about: you can use your makeup trial for your engagement session. You get to test the look on camera before the wedding, and your engagement photos come with professional hair and makeup. One more thing: trust your glam team when something feels heavy. Makeup that feels bold in the mirror almost always reads soft in photos.
Planning a Kansas City Microwedding?
A few things I’d tell anyone planning one:
Look at a weekday. Claudia and Joe got married on a Monday. Vendors have more room on weekdays, and a lot of them have packages built for small weddings.
Get ready at Hotel Kansas City, even if you’re getting married somewhere else. Big rooms, good window light and a lobby you’ll want photos in.
Use the Tudor Ballroom if you can get it. Two stories of stained glass do a lot of the work for you.
Pick a reception spot with character. A restaurant like Westport Cafe gives you one long table, real food and a room that already looks good.
Claudia and Joe, thank you for the Monday, the dad first look and the steak frites.
Planning a microwedding at Hotel Kansas City, or anywhere else around Kansas City? Take a look at Kansas City wedding photography pricing, build your own quote in a couple of minutes, or get in touch.
The Team
- Venue, Getting Ready, First Looks + Ceremony: Hotel Kansas City
- Reception: Westport Cafe
- Florals: Wild Hill Flowers
- Hair + Makeup: PoshKC
- Photography: Humbly Hewn Photography
