A glass-enclosed, botanical garden—there’s no better way to ensure an lush, exotic reception without an ounce of worry about the potential Michigan weather woes. We love the all of the gorgeous floral and rich pink hues of the Jean and Jeremy’s big day at Planterra Conservatory styled to perfection by VLD Events and captured beautifully by First Comes Love.
Jeremy and I started planning our wedding almost three years prior, soon after the engagement. We originally thought we’d have a destination wedding somewhere exotic and decided on Guam. Unfortunately, the only option was to get a package deal, where all the decisions would be made for us without really choosing the vendors based on merit. We decided that a destination ceremony wouldn’t let us express ourselves and truly make the day “our own.”
Our search led us to Planterra, a glass enclosed botanical garden that was the perfect spot to tie the knot! A venue that has all the natural beauty of an exotic locale but is close to home and also indoors, keeping us from continually worrying about Michigan’s weather. The next puzzle piece was finding a planner who would help make this inspiration a reality. Upon meeting Alison and Bryan from VLD, I knew we had a great fit. They were our best friend and therapist throughout the process, kept our sanity by keeping us on a schedule and made the day of look like the most perfectly planned event while appearing effortless. I tried to describe my vision with key words, some of which were outdoor feeling, organic, whimsical, texture, watercolor, and nontraditional. While sometimes Jeremy would look at me strangely as I made up words to try and express myself, Alison understood me perfectly!
We couldn’t be happier with our photographer, Alison Bank. We connected with her immediately, which kept us relaxed and looking natural while being filmed. Another amazing decision was having Two Penny as part of the team. Watching the movie for the first time and seeing all the memories come alive was a really heart-melting moment for both of us. We loved and received so many compliments on our DJ, Nicholas Hardy, who’s actually a super musician/DJ/dancer all in one person and provided everyone with an awesome dance party! What worked well for us was to meet each vendor in person because it was obvious who we connected with after one sit down. We really had an amazing crew of exceptionally talented vendors who helped us pull the whole day off!
So many of our friends and family traveled very far to be at our wedding in Michigan. We had so much involvement from everyone – having Jeremy’s aunt/our dear friend marry us, the DIY favor boxes (Michigan cherry cookies and Taiwanese tea) that my sister and Jeremy slaved over, hashtag writing from Jeremy’s sister, and our family and friends’ love and support throughout the whole experience – everyone left their own imprint on our day. Oh, and one of the best decisions was to have our dog be in the ceremony as the ring bearer as Max was a crowd pleaser and meant so much to both of us! Overall, the memories we have of creating things we worked on together, like writing poems for our pretty print materials and researching for lyrics with numbers as table numbers, made our wedding truly our own creation and one of a kind!
Planner: VLD Events // Photography: First Comes Love // Videography: Two Penny Productions // DJ and Musicians: The Elysium Experience // Hair and Makeup: Imagine Three // Invitations, Arts and Other Print Materials: Pigment and Parchment // Save the Dates: Mospens Studio // Cakes and Sweets: Sweet Heather Anne // Lighting: The Lighting Guy // Car: Classic Auto Rentals // Rentals: Event Source // Gown: Custom made // Bridesmaids Dresses: Amsale // Bridal Shoes: Jimmy Choo // Tuxedo: Martin Greenfield // Bow Tie and Cummerbund: Drake’s // Shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo // Venue: Planterra Conservatory