Michigan Wedding by Kelly Sweet Photography
I was dumbfounded when I discovered that this crafty bride created her Michigan wedding, photographed by Kelly Sweet Photography, almost entirely by herself (with a little help from friends and family). There is a traditional element but, when certain conventional elements didn’t appeal to them, the couple put their own unique spin on things. I love the paper flowers that the bride handcrafted along with the gold painted branches for a touch of organic opulence in lieu of traditional floral arrangements. Instead of a cake, the family of the groom baked dozens of yummy cookies in honor of a family tradition. Check out the full gallery to see even more of this creative and elegant wedding!
Click here to see the entire image gallery!
From the Bride… I made all of the decorations myself, and no, they were not just forms….I was a very busy girl! The paper flowers were completely serendipitous. I originally was thinking about making those tissue paper orbs that hang from the ceiling that you see a lot. I went to Martha Stewart’s website to see how they were made and as I went along, I found that although I wasn’t getting my originally intended result, I thought what I was ending up with would make beautiful flowers if I just tweaked a few things. So I then went about the task of making what felt about a million simple tissue paper flowers of varying sizes and colors of cream/white/blush (As a side note– whatever they use to wrap purchases in at Anthropologie is the most gorgeous cream tissue paper!) and then embellished them with whatever cuteness I could find at the local craft stores or already had in my craft boxes. After I had the blooms put together, I made stems and whatnot out of basic floral arranging items, threw in some pipe cleaners and feathers and I had a bouquet.
For the flower containers, I raided both my grandmothers’ cupboards and searched antique shops for old bottles and filled the vessels with sand/rice to keep the flowers upright. For the candles strewn about, I had my heart set on square candles in shades of cream and ended up finally finding them online. I embellished the bottoms of some of them with gold adhesive borders intended for scrapbooking. The table coverings were just burlap I bought wholesale online topped with a few of my grandmother’s vintage handkerchiefs and some doilies found antiquing. The cookie table did have a bit of faux raw silk fabric I found on sale at Hancock Fabric. The branches were almost as labor intensive as the paper flowers since they were all handpicked by my VERY helpful mom and dad from the woods in their backyard and then spray painted gold. I also included wedding day pictures from both sets of parents, grandparents, and my great grandparents in frames picked up for very little at TJ Maxx and Homegoods. I bought the DIY type of invitations at Target and my dad helped me print them out, piece of cake.
After searching everywhere for a dress, I actually ended up getting the discontinued sample from the floor for $600 from Fantastic Finds in Lansing. Shoes were a little tougher since I love me a sky high heel, but Mike and I are the same height and I needed to find something that was a little funky, but would not make me look ridiculous when standing next to him. I searched high and low at every consignment/antique shop, but couldn’t find anything to fit my boat-sized feet, so I settled for a shoe from Macy’s. Same goes for jewelry. I scoured antique shops for the perfect accessories, but since I wanted over the top AND gold, it was hard to find, so I ended up getting the earrings and one of the rhinestone bracelets at Cherie’s in the Centerpointe Mall in GR. The dress did originally come with a brooch in the center of the bow, but I wasn’t crazy about it, so I went antiquing yet again and a million shops later, I finally found the perfect piece at the antique shop in Eastown. I also ended up stacking a bunch of my grandmother’s vintage bracelets and wore my grandfather’s wedding band, along with the original ring Mike used to propose on my right hand.
Instead of a guest book, we asked guests to write a small message to us on fabric quilt squares I had precut, with the intention of making a wedding quilt, however, the fabric pens ran out before everyone got a chance to use them, so that was a bummer. Since we love to travel, we also asked guests to let us in on their most favorite “must go” place. I set that little section up with the instructions for that in another picture frame and provided unused vintage postcards originating from either Grand Rapids (my hometown), Pittsburgh (Mike’s hometown), The Netherlands (I’m Dutch) or Italy (He’s Italian) for guests to write on. Those were surprisingly easy to locate, and I found those for a steal at the antique shop on Wealthy/Charles in GR. The vintage suitcase I used for displaying the postcards was found at an antique shop in Lake Odessa, MI.
The cookies/pastries were really none of my doing at all! I knew I wanted one since I’m not crazy about wedding cakes and I thought it was a fun replacement for one. Plus, “The Cookie Table” is a tradition in Mike’s family (his mom’s not sure where it started, or if it’s an Italian or Pittsburgh thing). I just found different cake pedestals, interesting vintage dishes, turned to the grandmas yet again, and was able to find enough pieces to create a display. The to-go bags were just handled brown bags I found at Joann Fabric and I stamped them with a cute image and threw some tissue paper in there. Mike’s mom/aunts/friends starting baking away for about a month before the wedding to create the enormous amount of cookies (his parents had to rent a van to haul the enormous amount of goodies and drove with the AC full blast all the way from Pittsburgh!) I am so grateful they went to all the trouble because I think the cookie table was the most beautiful thing at the wedding. Everything was made with love, nothing store bought and Mike’s mom and extended family were the ones that created the whole look without much help from me and they did a WONDERFUL job.
Wedding Photography: Kelly Sweet Photography / Wedding Ceremony Location: The Brayton House / Wedding Reception Location: The Photography Room / Wedding Planning & Design: The Bride / Wedding Dress: Alfred Angelo via Fantastic Finds / Bride’s Shoes: Capparos via Macy’s / Bride’s Jewelry: Cheri’s Bridal & Accessories + Vintage / Wedding Dress Broach: Vintage / Wedding Invitations: Target / Frames: TJ Maxx + HomeGoods / Cookies & Pastries: Family of the Groom
28 Comments about “Michigan Wedding by Kelly Sweet Photography”
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Where is the grooms suit from?
Everything about this wedding is absolutely lovely!
I am in LOVE with this dress!! It is exactly what I am looking for for my own wedding. I see that it is an Alfred Angelo sample.... but what is the style number???
This wedding is so sweet and romantic! I would love it if you could you give us your tissue flower tutorial?
The cookie table is definitely a Puttsburg tradition (my family is also from there and I'm planning to incorporate the tradition into my wedding as well, check out this NYT article on the topic: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/dining/16cookies.html?ref=recipes
Lovely! such a classic feel to this wedding!
What a beautiful wedding! Does anyone know where those cute lovebird goodie bags are from? They are perfect for my wedding!!!
this is just beautiful! I love the delicate colors
Congratulations on getting this published Kelly, it was a gorgeous wedding. I love these images!
wow that is some kind of train! what did she do with it all night?? i imagine that would have bustled up very bulky... but it's a rockin gown and she looks fantastic!
Seeing this brightened me up a li'l bit! Love those Mi. brides... maybe I'm partial but hey, I'm a native to the state, too!
Loving all the vintage/antique details! Gorgeous wedding!
So many great DIY ideas and inspiration for my upcoming Michigan wedding!
I was lucky enough to have Lyns as my roomate in college. She has spent many years building her craftyness into a wonderful talent! I was lucky to attend this wedding and it was absolutely gorgous! She has an eye for beautiful things and great prices... And I hope to see her as the new Martha someday. To me she already is! Look for her website soon:)
Really lovely pictures. What a beautiful venue. I love the birds in the tree, too cute! Well done to the bride for all the DIY- it worked out wonderfully.
the venue is great! was the reception inside or outside?
The time and care invested in the day has really paid off. It looked beautiful and emotional and the whole thing has been captured beautifully by Kelly Sweet (great name for a wedding phootgrapher!). I hope everyone is overjoyed.
what a perfect day! Elegant, classy, and sweet. Thanks for sharing
Such lovely pops of color here!
xo
Hi all! I'm the bride featured in the peice above and thought I would take a minute to answer everyone's questions. Mike's entire outfit was off the rack from Express. My gown's Style# is 5814. I made the paper bags featuring the lovebirds, and I would be more than happy to make some for you, lola. The tissue flowers are soooo simple! Just take about 5 peices of regular tissue paper, stack them on top of one another, fold them tightly accordian style, tie it together with a pipe cleaner, cut the ends into a point, and carefully unfold each layer. After two or three you will be a pro and can experiment with different sizes. Jamie, my train was obnoxiously long (which i loved) but honestly, I think I almost loved it as much when bustled and it was totally wearable during the reception. Our ceremony was outside obviously, but the reception was inside a small art gallery. Thank you all for your thoughtful comments, and a big thank you to Kelly for capturing the day so beautifully! To those of you who like my style, look out for me on Etsy as I will be offering up some lovely little treasures very soon!
Wow... absolutely beautiful venue (and couple!). Love the light and color!
AMAZING!! This is truly an INSPIRATION! You did it GIRL! =) And I am thrilled to have seen you answer my question that I planned on asking about a quick tutorial on the flowers or how to get started with a design!
THANK YOU!l And Congrats on a BEAUTIFUL start to a BEAUTIFUL life together!
I love TJMAXX and HomeGoods too!
I am in LOVE with the details of this wedding- her paper flowers are to die for~ Very impressed
Lynsey-
Your tissue paper flowers are unbelievable . I watched the video on Martha Stewart's website, but still don't quite understand how you created the flowers using tissue paper (she used stock paper).
My reception is in September and I would love to make your flowers for it.
Thanks!
I love your wedding dress! That's the style I want and have been searching for. My favorite part is the long train. I tried searching for your dress on the internet but nothing comes up. I saw that it is Alfred Angelo style # 5814 but my local Alfred Angelo boutique claims it's not one of their style numbers.
Gorgeous work Kelly!
Question for the bride? Who is the artist that didyour make up for your wedding day. I live in GR, too.