Sunday, February 15, 2009

Lindsey + Carl: July 26, 2008

A big thank you to Lindsey Bowman for sharing her gorgeous July 2008 wedding with Wed Michigan!

What was your favorite moment from your wedding day (if you can pick just one)?
I had a couple favorite moments - one serious and one not so serious. My favorite serious moment way saying our vows to each other. I will never forget looking into my husband's eyes (which were squinting because the sun was shining direcly in them) as he said his vows to me. It was an awesome feeling!

My not-so-serious favorite moment was arriving home after getting my hair and make-up done and seeing all the flower bouquets sitting in my parents' kitchen - I was so happy with how big and pink they were, and I couldn't believe how poofy and heavy mine was! I think I carried it around my house for about 15 mintues looking in every mirror in the house (with my tank top still on) before I even thought about getting into my dress!

It is also so fun to see all your girls dressed up and so excited for you - it was a lot of fun just hanging out with all my bridesmaids before the ceremony. Having all of them there for you is a special feeling. It's just all around the happiest day of your life!



What advice would you give Michigan brides when planning their wedding?
I would tell them that nothing is as big of a deal as it seems when you are planning everything. When the day comes, everything falls into place and all the little things just don't matter. I was pretty organized going into it, but I was still constantly stressed out until the day before, and it wasn't worth it!

Unless you have an exact photograph of what you want for your centerpieces, I would recommend paying for your florist to make a sample flower arrangement for you to see before you finalize the centerpieces. I just described to the florist what I wanted, and we talked about it together with her suggestions, but I never had her make up a sample of what they would look like. I was slightly disappointed at the reception because the centerpieces didn't look like how I had pictured them.



If you are planning an outdoor ceremony like us, make sure you are happy with the "plan B." For months before the wedding I prayed and prayed for good weather (and probably developed ulcers in the process!) on our wedding day because I really didn't like the bad-weather option (inside on the dance floor). It caused me a lot of sleepless nights and too much worry! Luckily we had a gorgeous afternoon: sunny, warm, and breezy... but you can imagine my reaction when I woke up that morning and it was sprinkling and cloudy!

If you have a large reception, I would recommend splitting up from your husband for a little while if you are making your rounds to the tables to say hello to everyone. We spent WAY too long doing this together (we really felt like we had to reach everyone at every table), and everything got pushed back about a half hour. It would have been easier and quicker if we split up the duties a little bit (like maybe you go to a table of all your friends, while he goes to a table of all his). In the end, people will come to you if they want to give you a hug or say hello/goodbye... it's your day, you shouldn't worry too much about it.



What vendors did you use that you would like to share with us?

Photographer: Jen Carroll Photography
WE LOVED OUR PHOTOGRAPHER! We are in love with our pictures, they are so beautiful. You can actually view all of them online at her website (go to "View Recent Event" and find Lindsey and Carl.) She was very laid back yet professional, and very reasonably priced compared to the bigger companies. She is out of her home, but she does a fantastic job. She was the best of all our vendors - we highly recommend her! We also got a complementary engagement shoot.


Ceremony and Reception: Twin Lakes Golf Club in Oakland Twp.
They were SO accomodating and friendly, and we got soo many complements on the food and the setting. It was a perfect location. Just be careful if you want to have a rehearsal - they don't normally do them, but we got Rebecca (the coordinator there) to do one for us.


Cake: Sweet Dreams Bakery in Warren
Three weeks before our wedding, I called our bakery (Old Village Bakery in Troy) to check on our wedding cake order and ask when the money was due... and found out that they had closed without any warning! We thought we were completely out of luck, but Sweet Dreams Bakery was able to accomodate us, and designed our cake perfectly from a picture I had drawn on my own. It turned out to be a complete hit, and the cake was one of my favorite things at the wedding! We got tons of complements on it.


Videographer and DJ: Elite Entertainment in Warren
George Munger was our DJ and we absolutley loved him. He had done a bunch of our friends weddings in the past, and we were lucky to get him for ours. Everyone thought he did a great job - we definitley recommend him. We also did our videography through Elite, and were very happy with it. They were pretty reasonably priced, too.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh!! I love Twin Lakes :)

Anonymous said...

Your photos are the best overall views I've seen of Twin Lakes so far! Thanks for sharing (we're considering the site) :)