I thought I would take it back to my first passion project, my wedding day! July 8th, 2017. As we all know every little girl dreams of her perfect wedding day. And while I was so excited to be starting my forever with my favorite person. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I was just as excited to be designing and planning a wedding. I felt like all my experiences thus far in events had prepared me for this moment! But also having the knowledge of true costs to make a dream wedding happen was in the back of my mind when the wheels started turning. How were we going to pull this off? Only 23 at the time, living with my parents in-between career moves, and planning an out of state wedding!! We couldn’t do it alone, so I entrusted my guru in all aspects of life, my mom to be my partner in design.
We first started with the basics.. Location (we were living in Arizona at the time, but wanted a Michigan wedding), theme, season, guest count, etc. Then we thought, best to start with the Venue. It is the biggest expense and it will set the tone for the rest of the planning details. When it comes to venue searching, there is a wide range of options and items to consider.. Catering? Tables and chairs? Indoor? Outdoor? Ceremony and reception at the same site? Or different? If different, what does transportation look like? After researching and inquiring with our top venues choices in the Metro Detroit area. We came up short. Venues either provided everything but, the ascetic wasn’t the look we were hoping for. Or the blank spaces were not the location or availability we needed. But with this research, we were able to narrow down more of what was important to us. After going back to the drawing board, using what we learned in our initial research, and playing with budget, we decided on an outdoor farmhouse style wedding would be the best fit for us. With this choice, we knew it would mean a modpodge of different vendors needing to come together to make this day happen. As well as quite a bit of DIY-ing on our end. My favorite! So, let the barn hunt begin! Now, if you’re from Michigan you are very well aware of the abundant amount of barns in the Metro Detroit area. But for me, I didn’t just want the same cookie cutter venue I’d been seeing. I needed to find that one special element that spoke to me. Keep in mind, because we were living in Arizona I was doing all my researching over the internet and phone. So I was booking my venue, site unseen. And we were unsure of when we would be able to get up to Michigan to see it for ourselves. And then, the perfect venue came up on the scene. Vale Royal Barn was the one! Vale Royal offered everything we were looking for and more. The perfect package equipped with a barn for the reception, a separate cocktail hour location, a gorgeous ceremony spot, a house for the bridal party to get ready in, a full weekend rental, and last but certainly not least a peaceful lake view with a bridge connecting the ceremony and the reception locations. The only concern, they were new and hadn’t experience their first wedding season yet. But I was a Bride on a mission for the perfect venue and was willing to take the risk! And they surpassed my expectations and more!
Now that the venue was FINALLY secured, it was time to start putting the puzzle pieces of our vendors together. When planning your wedding, you should have a list of your priorities that will help allocate your budget easier. For us, our top priorities were a venue, food & beverage, flowers and photographer. As for the decor, my mom and I took that upon ourselves which would allow us to save the budget for our more important elements.
Our vision for our wedding was simple. An elevated backyard wedding. With my husband and I being high school sweethearts in a small town. Our families had all known each other for years, and we have an amazing circle of friends that have grown up with us as a couple. So our goal was to get everyone we loved together for a huge bash celebrating our journey thus far and our future to come. When thinking through the elements of decor, I wanted to make sure our relationship together was well represented. I really wanted to honor all that we’d been through together as a couple. Since it is rare to have been with someone since you were 17 years old. A few ways I incorporated this was in our table displays. Instead of using standard table numbers, I used places, people and moments, that were special to us.
Another thing I wanted to be sure we did was have consistency in everything we created for each space. Hexagons were used in everything we designed or created. From the invitations, to the chicken wire displays, to the programs and table decor, and even the atriums as centerpieces. You will see hexagons repeated everywhere! We also continued the blush, navy and gold colors throughout the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception. Along with smaller details like lace and wood elements to add different repeating textures.
Lastly, our reception space was straight out of a fairytale. The farm tables were a must to create a unique layout and accommodate our guest list size in such an unusual space. We wanted to be sure our current chapter of Arizona living was well represented by including elements of succulents and cactus but wanted to keep it soft and romantic with blushes and creams mixed in.
With any event there will always be lessons learned. My biggest one.. Not hiring a Day of Coordinator! It’s not fun or relaxing to see the Mother of the Bride and family members running around stressing to get everything perfect before the festivities begin. (which they rocked at! Everything was gorgeous!) I remember my cousin needing to take another shower in our Bridal suite before the ceremony because she was sweating so much from helping us out. God bless her!! So, with that being said, a piece of advice from me. Budget for the Day of Coordinators. They will be a line item you won’t regret! And added bonus, Vale Royal Barn now offers day of services and coordinating. Yay!
But all in all, to this day my husband and I are beyond happy and obsessed with how our wedding day turned out. It was truly created from the heart, with every detail well thought out. I tell everyone that I would do it all over again in a heartbeat and wouldn’t change a thing! (besides getting the day of coordinator, of course!) To see more of our special day, check out my Pinterest page by clicking here. Or you can access the link on the bottom of my home page.
Our Amazing Vendors linked below:
–Venue
–Photographer
–Catering & Bartenders
-Flowers (Floral Sense LLC. She has since closed her business)
–Rentals
–Invitations
–Officiant
–DJ & Video
–Cake and Cookies
Hometown Hostess 