Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Grand Wedding

Thank you to Aletha VanderMaas for sending in pictures of her gorgeous June 2007 wedding in Grand Rapids! She shared some great vendors and ideas for a Michigan summer wedding. After reading her description, I truly adore this Michigan bride and how she concentrated on the details she really felt were important, and had the day of her dreams. Aletha is also a wedding consultant in Grand Rapids so check out her blog for some great inspiration!



My wedding planning process was quite short--5.5 months to be exact. I always wanted a Friday evening wedding, and it was quite easy to find the vendors we wanted to use.

We booked our church (Grand Rapids First United Methodist) + photographer before anything else (even before the official engagement!) The reception venue (St. Cecilia's) came shortly after that. We went with brown + raspberry because Greg wanted the guys to wear brown suits and I wanted pink, but not light pink, something more vibrant. There was this amazing rose color, American Beauty, that I feel in love with, so we mixed that in. I have a florist friend who did the flowers as a gift, and she got all the flowers from Andicott's European Flower Market. We also went with an inexpensive caterer, so we could splurge on the photgrapher and deejay (Music Host Productions), as those were pretty important to us.

My sister is a graphic designer and did all the paper products--invitation suite, table numbers, and thank you hang tags for our Jones Soda favors. Our yummy cake was plain + simple, but delicious and adorable.

My mom made part of my wedding gown, which was awesome. I bought lace from Baltazor's, and had a friend make me a pattern. My mom sewed the lace jacket that went over my inexpensive gown. All the boys bought a brown suit they could/did wear again, and I found awesome silk, striped ties from an eBay seller in China. Although Greg looks handsome in a tuxedo, we knew a suit would be more practical for basically the same price.

The day came and went SO quickly. We are thankful for the amazing photos we have to remember + cherish our day with!

-Aletha VanderMaas






(Photos by Jen Kroll Photography)

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