The View Mt. Adams Best Cincinnati Wedding Venue

Olivia Johnson and bridesmaids at Cincinnati wedding

It’s been nearly a year since Joe and I tied the knot, and time is flying! Our wedding date was June 19, 2021, and it was a perfect, magical day. I thought things would calm down a lot after the wedding, and while my life definitely felt a little less hectic, the rest of the year was way crazier than I anticipated. Once we got all of our wedding pictures we enjoyed them and looked through them many times but I felt completely overwhelmed about sharing them in a blog post and on social media. There are just so many to sort through, which is a good thing! So this is a long-winded way of me saying I’ve been dragging my feet.

I actually had initially written this blog post in the fall of last year. Yes, I’m just a bit behind on things. I just spent ten minutes deleting an entire paragraph talking about fall and how I was then getting around to posting about my summertime wedding. Posting this in the fall would have been commendable at the rate I’m going now. Also being the chronic overthinker I am, I then spent way too long stewing over if I should share one long blog post with a highlight of images or broken down blog posts sharing more in-depth about each part of the day. Please tell me someone else stresses about these insignificant things.

In the end, I opted to share multiple blog posts recapping our wedding day, 1. because I love our pictures and it’s fun to share, and 2. in case these recaps can be helpful to a bride-to-be planning her wedding! I like to think that I was pretty laid back as a bride, but sometimes the planning process can feel like a neverending cycle of decision-making, especially as the big day approaches. Some of the decisions you’re forced to make (even the smallest ones) are things you’d never think about but somebody needs to make them and that person is usually the bride! By the end of it all, I would have been thrilled for even a random stranger to make all the minute decisions for me.

Getting Ready at our Wedding Venue

Something really unique I’m grateful to have experienced on my wedding day is getting ready at our reception venue. Our reception was at The View Mt. Adams in Cincinnati’s Mt. Adams neighborhood. The venue overlooks downtown Cincinnati and is situated on a hillside. It’s beautiful! We got engaged in March of 2019 and when I came across The View online after we got engaged I had a strong feeling this was *the place*. It was still under construction when we toured it but Joe, my parents, and I all mutually loved it. Also, my parents got engaged there in the 80s when it was a steakhouse called The Celestial! Full circle moment.

The View is run by Funky’s Catering Events, who I highly recommend. They are well known around Cincinnati for their amazing food, service, and overall event execution. Our wedding coordinator said a lot of people get ready at the venue and they have a beautiful bridal suite and setup that makes getting ready there perfect. Because Funky’s is a catering company and has a massive, beautiful kitchen on-site at The View they also feed you while you and your bridal party are getting ready! You can pick from a large menu and there’s even an option for a bubbly bar!

Unsurprisingly, we did the bubbly bar and it was great. We also had a nice little brunch setup to fuel up for the day ahead. This was another aspect I was so grateful to have. It was one less thing myself or anyone else needed to worry about the day of since all the food and drinks were already on site.

Olivia Johnson and her bridal party toasting before the wedding

Great for Vendors

It was really special getting to get wedding-ready at our venue that day. It’s very open and airy and the overall aesthetic of the venue is my style to a T. One side of the building is floor to ceiling windows overlooking the city, which is a perfect area to get your makeup done. The makeup artists (BRIDEface) set everything up by the windows and this was also nice because we got to watch the storms clear out throughout the morning. Yes, there were tornado warnings and torrential downpours the night before and the morning of our wedding. Yes, I was stressed. And yes, the universe was looking out for us that day because the skies miraculously began to clear as we were getting ready!

My hairstylist (Maria from A Salon Named Desire) had a great setup in the bridal suite for doing hair, so everyone was very spread out and not on top of each other. We were able to eat and drink while getting ready and The View put out a beautiful spread of food. It’s little details like that that are really so appreciated, especially on your wedding day when things are crazy! Not having to stress about people and myself being fed was a gift.

Memorable Moments

Probably the best part of getting ready at our reception venue was getting to see the space take shape for the celebration. If you have the capability of getting ready at your venue, I highly recommend it! I had friends say that they wished they could have seen their venue ahead of time before the madness of the day started. They said they didn’t really get to appreciate how everything looked and take it all in. I feel really fortunate that I was able to see all the tables getting set up with our menus, matchboxes, and other details like the monogrammed cocktail napkins being set out.

Our florist (Janet from Floral Verde) also arrived to set up and deliver the florals for the wedding. It was so nice getting to chat with her and seeing the flowers I picked out for the first time in real life was so special it’s hard to put into words. The flowers were one of the biggest highlights of the wedding and the arrangements turned out even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. I got goosebumps when I saw them and watching them be placed on all the tables was just the cherry on top!

Take It All In (if you can!)

I know this is an extremely wordy recap of how the morning went, but this was actually the part of the wedding day I remember most clearly! Most people will tell you the day will be a blur, and it’s true. I was completely sober so that wasn’t the issue (there actually wasn’t really a moment to enjoy a drink), but there’s so much excitement and things you have to pack into a short day that you look back and are thinking “how is it already over?”

Blogger Olivia Johnson gets ready for her Cincinnati wedding

Getting ready with my mom, mother-in-law and bridesmaids was calm and relaxing and it was the perfect way to start the day. If you can, try to take some moments of pause throughout the day and take it all in. You spend months (and sometimes years in the Covid era) planning this one day and it goes by in the blink of an eye. Taking a moment to take it all in and just breathe is helpful to remember the little joys of the day and to relieve some stress is totally worth it. Luckily, there are always pictures and videos to fall back on and remember your special day if it ends up being a complete blur!

I’ll be sharing more posts surrounding the big day, but you can see my first wedding blog post here!