Akron Life January 2023

BRIDAL GUIDE

Allyssa + Bret Mucha photographer: Jamilyn Phillips at

Bombshell Boudoir Studio bombshellboudoirstudio.com

Allyssa Ball met Bret Mucha in 2012 through their shared interest in makeup — he does special effects makeup, and she does bridal and boudoir makeup. They met at Hot Heads salon, where Allyssa worked at the time. Bret knew it was meant to be. “She had bright blue hair at the time. As soon as I saw her, there was an energy that I just felt,” he says. For Allyssa, it was another artistic moment. “I knew when I saw him sing and play the guitar for the first time,” she says, adding that he played “Collide” by Howie Day. Bret popped the question in January 2021 at Otherworld 2022, the two tied the knot in an intimate ceremony that included their then-9 year-old son, Zaiden, and took place at the arch on Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls, across the street from Allyssa’s makeup studio, Ally J Artistry, where she got ready. They briefly cel ebrated at the Workz with a small group of loved ones and then at a reception with more close friends and fam ily in the backyard of their Cuyahoga Falls house. interactive art museum in Columbus. On Oct. 1,

From the Bride Color Match: Over the years, we randomly will start matching hair. But then for the wedding, we specifically did matching hair. Yellow is kind of my color and our color at this point. … My best friend … grabbed pieces of decorations from my studio and put it in my hair. … [Bret] has lots of snakes. I did know that I wanted a piece of his character in there, so that’s part of the snake pendant that was in my hair. Art Display: We got our back yard like a little fairy tale setup. … We bought a bunch of different candleholders and glass pieces. And [artist Athena Abood Brown] did her art, with moss and crys tals. We had different flower arrangements. It was super witchy and cool.

Perfect Trio: [Our son] only wears like one type of cloth ing. And he really worked hard to build up the courage to wear an actual suit. So it was cool that he wanted to do that for us. … It was very emotional for him, which made it very emotional for us, because he was very happy. We knew that we wanted him to be a part of the hand wrap ping to tie the knot. … It’s been the three of us together for the past almost 10 years. From the Groom Serenade Me: My buddy, Zak, he’s really into music. … I was like, You gotta play [“Collide”] because it’s important to our story. … He pulled it off. Ironically,

him and another friend had planned to sing that song to us at the reception after the ceremony. … So we got to experience that after as well. Quick Breather: I really enjoyed the little time we had to chill in the speakeasy at the Workz. That was really nice. Everything seems so hectic and so fast. little suit and Allyssa coming around the corner for the first reveal was really cool. I got super emotional. I get a little emotional now just talking about it. It was cool seeing him so jazzed about it. AS Dapper Dude: Seeing the reveal of [our son] in his

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