At the conclusion of our Friday evening wedding ceremony, we had a bonfire at camp with our families all together. We turned in for the night at the Keweenaw Land Trust’s Lightfoot Bay cabins. The following morning, Dustin and I ate leftover sweet rolls and breakfast casserole before heading into town. There was nothing rushed about our morning; we enjoyed Keweenaw Coffee on the cabin porch in layers of sweaters in the crisp, dewy air. When we returned to our Keweenaw Bay home, we met a few of our family and friends to complete setting up for our reception.

So, why the heck did we choose to have separate ceremony and reception days? At the core, Dustin and I have introverted tendencies. We didn’t want our ceremony to become overwhelmingly large - especially considering the size of both sides of our families! Plus, its nearly an hour drive between Keweenaw Bay and the Mouth of the Huron River. Both locations hold significant meaning to us, and we didn’t want to have a single rushed, stressful, illogical day. We wanted to maximize our time basking in each other - after all, the most important part of the wedding is the marriage! We also wanted to maximize our time spent with our family, whom we’re very close to, and our few, tight-knit friends. I think it’s important to note that while the purpose of a reception is for your friends and loved ones to celebrate in your life milestone, it’s ultimately an event, or a party, where you also have the job of entertaining your guests. On the other hand, despite our tendency to shy from crowds, Dustin and I both grew up in a small community where everyone knows each other. We knew our reception couldn’t be small, and we desired to create an even that would be laidback for all attending. Thus, with enormous help from our families, we transformed our backyard into a makeshift venue and danced the night away eating wood-fired pizza while dancing under the stars against a bonfire in our apple orchard.

If you think your wedding signs are big enough, think again… there might a competing sugar beets for sale sign that puts yours to shame, hahaha.

My mother-in-law up-cycled a sign they made for prom before! The Dustin and Emma board used to say prom.

Bonfire area! We used the same boards and hay bales from our ceremony site to set up seating around our space. Our posts for our lights were made by setting 4x4’s in cement in 5 gallon buckets, then using a post-hole digger to anchor them. A great thank you to our dad’s for help with this!

Mix-matched blankets we had on hand already to keep warm as the sun faded.

Our memorial tree for loved ones who have passed.

Double Trouble provided and set up our HUMUNGOUS tent, as well as tables and chairs. For a less-crowded atmosphere, we only ordered chairs and seating for 200 formally. We didn’t plan to have your typical sit-down dinner since we hired our favorite food truck to cater, so we knew our 300+ guests would be scattered and hanging out all around, not necessarily always under the tent. Turns out, it was a beautiful day and I’d like to say less than 30 people actually used the tent!!! However it’s a catch 22 - had it been a drizzly, cold day, the tent would’ve been absolutely necessary. Decorating was done by my mom, my sister, and beloved bridesmaid, Noelle. On a funnier note, my mom had dried out nigella and other vegetation for our centerpieces by hanging them upside on mix-matched plastic hangers. We forgot to take down the hangers with extra dried botanicals, so most people thought they were part of the display! Hahaha.

Eucalyptus from our other favorite florist - Kerri at The Flower Co. in L’Anse! The Michigan holly, mosses, lichens, and so on were all harvested locally. The nigella was grown in my mom’s gardens.

Our candelabras were a collaboration by my mom, dad, and I! My dad put together the copper fitting, my mom collected mix-matched, thrifted glasses, and together my mom and I siliconed the glasses to the structures.

Accents at our sweet heart table we never sat at, lol!!

Fun fact: I bought this sign from one of my brides I photographed in the same month!

My mom’s jelly from our blackberry patch as favors!

Our dessert table was a family collaboration! We asked relatives to bring a dessert of their choice. No one was mad about zucchini bread, mini cheesecakes and more! Our cake and cupcakes were made by Dustin’s Aunt Gina. Not mad about peanut butter frosting, folks.

We incorporated family wedding photos as accents on our dessert tables.

Our photographers are the REAL MVPs! They picked up our coffee from 5th and Elm for us!

Our bar was constantly crowded - so we don’t have a great picture of the bar itself, but my dad built it and it was BEAUTIFUL! We set it up against our old shed, bought liquor every now and then throughout the year and half of planning time, and bought biodegradable cups and straws. Our photographer’s sister and her husband, Faren and Tom, made the BEST bartenders!!

Looking from the bar area toward the dance floor.

Dustin’s mom and dad made the most epic corn hole boards!

High school friends!

We didn’t see a whole lot of Ayden at our reception to be honest - he was so busy running through the mazes of trees with all of the other kids!

We have to give a MEGA SHOUTOUT to our caterer, Smelted Wood Fired Pizza! They were absolutely on the ball, curating the most beautiful charcuterie spread, whipping out the best pizzas at high speeds, and surprising us with the most delectable calzones! We HIGHLY recommend hiring them for your event!!!

While the crowd was enticed with pizza, we snuck away for a few photos in our pine stand. My hair was done by our dear friend and neighbor, Sam Menghini, this time!

Outfit update + cake cutting!

We joke and call this our Adam and Eve photo, hahaha

The next few frames are some of my favorite non-bride and groom photos. My Grandma Cea is one of my greatest inspirations and role models in life. I made a point to tell my photographers how significant she is to me. Thus, they truly made a point to get this series of us.

Before the sun sunk below the maple and pine trees on the far side of our lawn, had a few toasts, and danced it out.

Double fun fact: the lovely two on the right are not only our friends, but they’ll be the last bride and groom I photograph this year before going on maternity leave! Also, the area in which all four of our friends are seated came about in several steps. There were initially two old, broken pine trees completely choked in invasive vines standing there before. We cleaned up the area and made a bench between the stumps. We found out after cleaning up the brush and mess that this area was historically the dump on the property before there was a garbage pickup system. Therefore, we dug out some of the area with our tractor, filled in some top soil, and covered the area in wood chips as the ground wasn’t quite perfect yet, and they will eventually breakdown into the earth.

My sister, just being all cute doing her maid of honor speech.

Best man speech by Kodi.

First dance on the dance floor built by my dad! We danced to the acoustic version of Still Dreaming by Silverstein.

We left the dead standing apple trees in the back specifically for these photos! I personally LOVE them! They all came down this winter in the first heavy snow, so we’re happy to have documentation of them.

Just like the day before, I wore another Covington & Co. sweater!

Found out my dad can dance, haha!! We danced to Wildflowers by Tom Petty.

Arranging friend photos be like…

Silas was one of my students while teaching at Sacred Heart. He constantly suggested throughout the academic year that we play September by Earth, Wind and Fire at our reception. I absolutely made him dance with me for that song!