Cassidy and Trey skipped the first look and read their vows back to back on a stone bridge in the middle of a golf course. Trey made it about one sentence in before he was wiping his eyes, and that set the tone for their whole Oakwood Country Club wedding in Kansas City: a lot of happy crying, a surprise dance nobody saw coming, and a dance floor that never really calmed down.
Oakwood Country Club, Inside and Out
This was my first wedding at Oakwood Country Club, and I left already wanting to come back. The clubhouse is Tudor on the outside, all brick gables and bay windows. Inside you get gothic stone arches, tall leaded windows and a ballroom with timber trusses and iron chandeliers. If a venue has lines like that, I’m going to use every one of them.
Then there are the grounds. Oakwood sits on a rolling golf course with a stone bridge, a lake with a long wooden dock, and enough old trees that mid October looked like someone had turned the color all the way up. True-to-life color is the thing I care about most, and on this day my only job was to get it right. If you’re looking for a Kansas City country club wedding where you can get ready, get married, take portraits and party without leaving the property, Oakwood does all of it.
The Gown and the Veil
Cassidy’s gown from Bridal Extraordinaire is still one of my all time favorites. It had a sleek silhouette, long sleeves, a deep V and a keyhole back with a whole column of buttons. Then add a cathedral veil with lace running down both edges, which did about half my job for me all day. Her details were just as clean: her vows booklet, a bottle of Miss Dior, a pear-shaped ring in a velvet box, and an engraved signet ring resting on a sage invitation.
Getting Ready
The morning was mostly laughing. Her people huddled over the ring in matching robes, and when Cassidy stepped out in the dress, eight bridesmaids gasped at once with their hands over their mouths. I’ve seen a lot of reveals, and that one was loud. Then came a group hug and a quiet minute cheek to cheek with her grandma. Across the club, Trey was opening a gift album and then crouching down in bright argyle socks to pin his son’s boutonniere. Remember that kid. He comes back later.
Then the bridesmaids went outside in copper satin and threw their bouquets in the air in front of the clubhouse, because why not.
Before the ceremony we took a few minutes for portraits around the clubhouse. That veil on the brick paths and in front of the Tudor entry is exactly why I asked for those minutes. Hair and makeup were by Posh KC, and the bouquet from Wild Hill Flowers was rust and blush with a long burnt orange ribbon that showed up in every frame. The guys got their turn too: ten of them in sunglasses under the brick gable.
Private Vows on the Golf Course
Cassidy and Trey didn’t do a first look. They wanted to see each other for the first time at the ceremony, but they also wanted a few minutes alone before it. So we walked out onto the course to a little stone bridge, and they stood back to back, holding hands, and read their vows without turning around.
Trey did not make it far. He was wiping tears almost right away, Cassidy was laughing at him while she read hers, and when they finished she wrapped her arms around him from behind with the veil blowing all over the bridge. If you want the emotional part of a first look without giving up the moment at the end of the aisle, this is the way to do it.
A Ceremony Under Gothic Arches
The ceremony was inside under gothic stone arches and tall leaded windows, with a floral arch at the front. The ring bearers walked in holding hands (one of them with a very sideways smirk), the flower girls came down in lavender tulle, and Cassidy walked in on her dad’s arm, grinning while he held it together. Mostly. Trey, as established, did not hold it together. Somewhere in the vows they both cracked up laughing with their hands still locked, and one flower girl kept peeking out from between the bridesmaids with a very pleased grin.
Sunset on the Course and the Dock
Sunset portraits at Oakwood come with options. We had the fairway, the lake, the dock and, from one spot on the course, the Kansas City skyline sitting on the horizon. The wind picked up right as we got out there and threw that cathedral veil straight across the fairway, which is the kind of help I will take every time. I kept them small in a lot of these on purpose. When the setting is this good, I let it do the talking.
The dock is long, the water was still, and the trees were reflected in it. We finished in front of the clubhouse with a two-tone vintage Rolls Royce.
Toasts, a First Dance and a Surprise
Cassidy laugh-cried through basically every toast, napkin in hand, with Trey tucked in beside her. Then came the first dance under marquee letters with their initials. Partway through, they waved Trey’s son out onto the floor. He ended up on Trey’s hip, Cassidy reached up to wipe Trey’s tears, and I was not the only person in that room who needed a minute.
Then Cassidy and her dad started their father-daughter dance, and it turned out to be fully choreographed. Nobody knew. The first big move landed, her dad flung his arm in the air, and the whole room lost it. Matching poses, kids sitting on the floor watching, people laughing along the walls. Still one of the best surprises I’ve seen at a wedding.
A Dance Floor Full of Familiar Faces
Elite Sounds had the floor packed from the first song. Foam sticks came out, the bridesmaids went full copper satin chaos, and Cassidy danced in sneakers so she could keep up.
This dance floor was a bit of a reunion for me, too. I had photographed Cassidy’s new sister-in-law Regan and her husband Ian’s wedding the year before, and Kelly and Logan, whose wedding at The Everly I’d photographed that August, were on the guest list. It was one of the first times I got to see my own little wedding client universe in one room, and it’s a good reminder of how much of this business runs on people telling their friends.
One Last Dance
At the end of the night they took a private last dance in the empty ballroom under the iron chandelier, and then everyone lined the brick path with sparklers to send them off. Cassidy and Trey, thank you for the bridge, the dad dance and the reunion on the dance floor.
The Team
- Venue (getting ready, private vows, ceremony, portraits, reception): Oakwood Country Club
- Florals: Wild Hill Flowers
- Gown: Bridal Extraordinaire
- Hair + Makeup: Posh KC
- DJ: Elite Sounds
- Photography: Humbly Hewn Photography
Planning a wedding at Oakwood Country Club, 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.
