This week’s Sports Wedding Bride is Heather from Iowa.  Her and her husband are huge fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes and wanted to include their favorite college football team in their most special day.  Their wedding was held on the banks of the Missisisippi River in Dubuque, Iowa at the Grand River Center.  It was photographed by Tamara Holden from Luminous Life.

“Brian is a native Iowan who grew up rooting for the Hawkeyes. Heather is a California transplant who was told that if she didn’t love the Hawkeyes, she would need to go back to California. A mutual love of sports, especially Hawkeye football, was the initial spark of our romance. Heather has always been more of a tomboy who loved sports in general and the idea for a Hawkeye and tailgate themed wedding was her idea. But, don’t freak out! The wedding wasn’t some backyard kegger!”

Iowa Hawkeyes Wedding

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Iowa Hawkeyes Football Themed Wedding

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Iowa Hawkeyes Football Themed Wedding

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“We used SportsThemedWeddings.com for our invitations which you can see on their website. Our guests loved them! I can’t tell you how many people still have the invitation. We really wanted to make our big day simple but elegant. We went with the classic Hawkeye black and gold for the groomsmen (and my man of honor). We also decided to ditch the jackets and go with ties and vests. For the ladies, we chose a simple black dress with a gold and black mesh sash. The guys wore black Converse Chuck Taylors as did I… Brian and I had extra embellishments. Our ring bearer had a Hawkeye football with the rings attached instead of a pillow.”

“Flowers were done by my cousin in Texas. We also enlisted the help of a local florist to help refresh the flowers after being shipped and they added a few fun embellishments. We decided on yellow roses for all the wedding party. My bouquet also had crystal embellishments and black feathers. The boutonnieres were yellow flowers with a black feather. Our parents had orchids.”

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football themed wedding flowers

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“Our ceremony was at the Dubuque Grand River Center in the River Room. This room is gorgeous with a view of the Mississippi River. We didn’t do much with decorations as we didn’t want to distract from the amazing beauty of the room itself.”

“We wanted our ceremony to really reflect us. Our best man, Gene Ploeger, was also our officiant. He knows us better than most and was a perfect choice to lead our ceremony. Brian and I wrote our own vows. Since football (both college and NFL) is such a big part of our relationship, I needed to make sure to let Brian know that I would be a shoulder to cry on all the times the Titans lose. I walked down the aisle to a traditional wedding march and as we were leaving as a couple, we walked out to the acoustic Big Bang Theory theme song.”

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“Our reception was tailgate themed and at the Best Western Convention Center in Dubuque, IA. We and our wedding party walked in to the Iowa Fight Song. GO HAWKS! We did a burger and brat bar with a variety of salads… but most popular was the bacon! Everyone loved the bacon! The spread was beautiful and it cut our food costs in half! It’s definitely something to think about when doing a sports themed wedding.”

“Our cake was done by Koppes Kreations in Cascade, IA. We really wanted the Iowa Tigerhawk to be incorporated into the cake and loved the football thrown into the cake!”

Iowa Hawkeyes Wedding Cake

“Iowans are known for their love of beer and so it only made sense that our favors were koozies. Brian designed our koozie with the Iowa I in the statement I do. It was a hit!”

Iowa Beer Can Koozies

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