PHOTO BY SARAH P THOMAS PHOTOGRAPHY

Former wedding planner Meghan Stromberg has a total of 126 weddings under her belt. She saved the best for last — her own. 

When she prepared to marry Michael Sapp on Oct. 7, 2023, at his mother’s bed and breakfast in New Wilmington, Lawrence County, she knew she wasn’t going to hire a wedding planner. 

Meghan started her work in weddings at MB Bride in Greensburg while she was attending the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg. Growing up, Meghan along with her sister and mom would watch “Say Yes to the Dress” and “Four Weddings,” which Meghan says sparked her interest in the wedding business.

Following graduation, Meghan moved back home to Pittsburgh to get into the event side of weddings. She worked at Salvatore’s Events and Catering for three years before moving to Airport Marriott. 

“I’ve seen a lot of things work and I’ve seen a lot of things where I had to learn how to duct tape or safety pins to try and salvage the day,” says Meghan. 

One of her goals for the wedding was to design everything to go together, not match. 

“The look I had envisioned was this gypsy, fairytale, Midsummer Night’s Dream mashup,” she says. 

PHOTO BY SARAH P THOMAS PHOTOGRAPHY

Meghan used the help of online resources like Facebook Marketplace to find pieces for the wedding that felt personal.

“A lot of people have open-concept houses now or they might be moving their elderly parents out of their homes and no one has a formal dining room anymore,” says Meghan. “So people are just giving away all these beautiful dining room tables and chairs on Facebook Marketplace, and all this beautiful crystal and beautiful china.”

Her husband helped with planning for the cigar bar and furniture they placed outdoors on the grass.

“My husband is super laid back, he’s also very handy,” says Meghan. “So if I didn’t think something was going to work, he was usually able to help me figure out a way to finagle the idea from my head into making it a reality.”

PHOTO BY SARAH P THOMAS PHOTOGRAPHY

Handling everything herself meant she and her bridesmaids spent the morning of her wedding making the centerpieces — she sent her sister and bridesman to go outside and pick wildflowers to accompany the hand-painted wooden flowers she had done that same morning.

But her experience also taught her the importance of having a timeline. 

“I built in a cushioned 10 to 15 minutes in between everything,” says Meghan. “I wasn’t expecting things to happen on time. That’s also why I didn’t choose to have the wedding at a hotel or at a beautiful banquet hall somewhere because they are more rigid in timing of things.” 

Meghan couldn’t have been more pleased with the end results. 

“It was the wedding of my dreams,” she says.

PHOTO BY SARAH P THOMAS PHOTOGRAPHY

Meghan’s newest feat is Welcome Homewares, a booth in the Painted Tree in Homestead. There, she sells the furniture, wooden flower arrangements, china, crystal and more that she bought and collected for the wedding. 

In her 126 weddings, Meghan saw brides reluctant to dive into various aesthetics that attracted them. 

“I think that people are scared to play around with different fabrics and different colors, and I think they shouldn’t be,” Meghan says. “A lot of times, if you are drawn to something, and it’s speaking to you and it’s your style, then you kind of know that it’s supposed to belong, in a sense.”