REAL-WEDDINGS

Real Columbus Wedding: Cassie and Blake Collins

Familial touches and exquisite décor make for a day that’s ‘overwhelming in the best possible way.’

Virginia Brown

Cassie and Blake Collins married on May 14, 2022, at Magnolia Hill Farm.

May 14, 2022 | Cassie (Lamprinakos) and Blake Collins knew of each other for years through friends, but it wasn’t until 2018, at a bar during an Ohio State University football game, that their relationship sparked.

After two years of dating, the couple decided to build a house together. Members of both of their families joined them the day after Thanksgiving to visit their future-home lot—or so Cassie thought.

“We were pretending to go look at the lot with the family, and we surprised her and I proposed,” Blake says.

The big event came on May 14, 2022, with 200 family members and friends—some from as far as Texas, California, Florida and Georgia—celebrating at Magnolia Hill Farm. Hints of sage, gold and dusty purple filled the venue, which Cassie and her mother decorated. “I’m a creative person, and Magnolia Hill was just such a clean slate,” Cassie says. “There’s so much you can do with it; you can make it whatever you want.”

Cassie’s younger brother, Nicholas, officiated. “He and Blake had gotten close, and we wanted someone we’d be comfortable with,” Cassie says.

Since comfort was key on their big day, the couple exchanged private vows via letter before the ceremony. “I knew if we had to stand up there and do vows, we would get emotional,” Cassie says. “We read them separately, but a videographer recorded us reading them in the same spot.”

When he thinks back to the most memorable part of the day, Blake reflects on Cassie walking down the aisle. “I felt like time was flying,” he says. “We had 22 people in our wedding [party], so you’d think it would have taken forever, but it went by in a snap.”

For the reception, the couple brought in touches from Cassie’s family’s native Greece—where the newlyweds decided to honeymoon, as well—for the menu: gyros, spanakopita, hummus and feta dip. A funny moment came when multiple people told Cassie and Blake they had to cut the wedding cake or, due to the heat that day, it might melt. “There’s a picture of us cutting it, and I'm looking at the cake, because I think it looks like it’s going to fall,” Cassie says. “The cake still tasted great, but we got it done as fast as we could.”

All in all, the couple agrees that their wedding day was flawless. “It was surreal to have all of our people in one room,” Cassie says. “It was overwhelming in the best possible way.”