Photo courtesy of Adrienne Maples

Erica and Brent Beshore take a break on top of the Tiger Hotel, where they hosted their wedding reception. When planning their wedding, the Beshores’ goals were to show their guests the best of Columbia and share their favorite things. (Photos courtesy of Adrienne Maples Photography, amaples.com) •  See the Slide Show

Erica and Brent Beshore had been to weddings where the guests do nothing but sit on the sidelines and watch the cake cutting, special dances and speeches.

“You feel like you don’t see the bride and groom that much,” Erica said. “We wanted to make it multiple events so they could see people and interact.”

With 11 months to plan everything, the Beshores, with the help of Natalie Merrill, president and CEO of Event Solutions, created three days’ worth of events in October to provide a special retreat for their guests.

The best of Columbia

Erica and Brent were expecting a large number of guests. They had given their parents carte blanche to invite whomever they wanted, resulting in a guest list of 400 people, most of whom would be coming from out of town.

To showcase the city’s best qualities, Erica, a doctoral candidate at the University of Missouri and Brent, owner of Event Solutions and Pure Marketing and Media, planned several events around town, starting with a barbecue at the Tiger Lounge in Memorial Stadium, catered by the University Club.

The next day, they challenged their guests to a golf tournament at the Club at Old Hawthorne.

After the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, guests were invited to a cocktail party on Broadway.

Several of the stores on Broadway are interconnected by doors on the inside walls. Inspired by cocktail parties Columbia Home & Lifestyle held at the Manhattan Closet boutique, Erica and Brent got permission from Manhattan Closet, Merle Norman Cosmetics, Kayotea Tea Room & Bistro and Elly’s Couture to host the party in their stores.

To help their guests enjoy the city further, Erica and Brent provided guests with a list of their top 10 favorite places to visit.

"It was kind of like Brent and Erica’s tour of the city," Merrill said.

"All my parents’ friends joked that they were going to a destination wedding in Columbia, Mo.," Erica said.

The ceremony

One of the challenges of such a large group of people was getting enough seating for the actual wedding ceremony.

"We knew we were going to invite a lot of people, and we just couldn’t find a church big enough," Erica says. "One evening, we were at a cocktail party, and a woman who works for the Missouri Theatre was talking about how they were hoping to have weddings there once they reopened."

The idea was too alluring to pass up.

"It’s probably the most beautiful venue," Erica said. "It was perfect."

And the ornate architecture of the theater made extensive decorating on their part unnecessary. The reds and golds complemented the autumn color scheme perfectly. All they needed was a screen, illuminated by a warm, burnt-orange light and a trellis of fall flowers and crystals, which they suspended over the spot where Erica and Brent would exchange their vows.

Despite the simplistic approach to decorating, the effect was far from plain. "Everything we did was a wow," Merrill said.

The reception

"World’s Fair" was the theme of the wedding reception, held at the Tiger Hotel.

"Brent and I like to travel and experience different food and drinks, so we used that idea," Erica said.

Guests were provided a passport-style itinerary so they could participate in traditions like the cake cutting and first dance, but guests were free to mill about the five mini-receptions designed around trips Erica and Brent have taken or wish to take.

One of Brent’s favorite places to visit, for instance, is Africa, so a safari-themed room served as a gentlemen’s lounge and cognac station.

In the Moroccan Lounge, a fantasy ladies’ retreat, the shoe valet traded guests’ high heels for comfortable satin slippers while Kandice Grossman of Moon Belly Studios offered dancing tips.

The top of the hotel featured a setup reminiscent of Las Vegas, where guests were served raw foods including sashimi, oysters and caviar.

To wind it all down, guests could go to Le Bistro Français, set up to look like an outdoor Parisian cafe, where they could enjoy specialty coffees and cordials and sample made-to-order crepes.

"I think what made this wedding the most fun was it was really unique," Merrill said. "It was anything goes. Erica and Brent were so open-minded to make this a great experience for their guests."

To remember the experience, a gallery was set up with a vintage photo booth where guests could print pictures of themselves emblazoned with the Beshores’ wedding logo.

"Some people were saying, ‘This is the best night of my entire life,’ " Erica said.

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