A Whimsical, Beer-Inspired Wedding at Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Brewery in St. Louis, Missouri

Adamant about surprising Melissa VonderHaar (31 and an editor) with his proposal, Jesse Peretz (32 and an accounts manager) waited Melissa to arrive home from a trip. When Melissa arrived at home, Jesse waited on one knee in their bedroom, but there was one flaw in his plan: He forgot the likelihood that their 80-pound dog, Colby, would knock him over as soon as Melissa opened their bedroom door! Instead of delivering his whole planned-out speech, he proposed quickly and still tries to tell Melissa the rest of the speech every day. The couple got married at the Anheuser-Busch Budweiser Brewery in St. Louis, Missouri. “Beer is not only an important part of our relationship—we homebrew together and plan vacations around brewery touring—but a huge part of Melissa’s family,” says the couple. Melissa and her sisters grew up at the brewery where all of the men in her family worked throughout the years, and the couple couldn’t think of a more special place to seal their union. They chose the Architecture Room at the City Museum for their reception, where guests got to explore the interactive playground as well as a giant antique wooden bar and dance floor. The wedding included lots of beer-centric details from the couple’s beer pouring ceremony, breaking a beer chalice at the end of their ceremony and beer-themed centerpieces at their reception. Even the color palette was beer-inspired: “Because the hops and grains were green, we knew that would be a main color,” says Melissa. The couple chose a deep purple to complement and added burlap to play into the rustic concept.