Mandy & Roland's Grosse Pointe Yacht Club Wedding
As we come up on our six-year anniversary, I thought it would be fun to look back at our wedding and talk through why we chose to do certain things. After we got engaged, we looked at the guest list and with the majority of guests were back home and a few close to us that were either teachers or still in school, we knew that having the wedding in Michigan during a major school break would be the best for everyone. At the time, I was Catering Manager for the Washington Athletic Club and had clients booked through the summer, so we opted for Christmas break when everyone would already be home.
When it came to selecting a venue, it actually came pretty easy to me with my job. I knew that during the holidays private clubs tend to decorate pretty heavily which would be a benefit to us as it reduced our floral and rental budgets significantly. I grew up across from the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club and had spent a good portion of my childhood there; my mom used to tell us that the tooth fairy lived in the tower of the club and we’d try to climb up it to find her. It is a beautiful Club to begin with that was only accentuated by the holiday décor (we lucked out because that year the Club was celebrating its 100-year anniversary, so the decorations were extra special). There is plenty of parking, rooms to get ready in and large enough spaces that our guest count of 117 felt spacious yet intimate. In addition to all of this, there was only a rental fee for the spaces we used, no food and beverage minimum (what?!), and the food was not only incredible but the portion sizes were bigger than your average banquet event (which did mean our guests were too full for the cupcakes and late night coney station). Family friends of my dad were members and they offered to sponsor us, which made the decision even easier.
One of the things I tell couples now is how important it is to find your rockstar vendor team. They can seriously make or break a wedding day for both the couple and for the other vendors. I count myself lucky because I did my internship in Michigan, I got to experience a lot of vendors from the venue side of weddings and therefore knew exactly who I wanted to work with for our wedding. Kristen Taylor & Co. Photography, 3rd Street Films, MA Productions, and Colonial Party Rentals (now Event Theory) were all super professional whenever I worked with them. Mind you I was an unpaid intern at a very busy wedding venue that saw multiple weddings in a day/weekend, so I was probably annoying to them at the time, but they never acted like it lol. Pink Elephant Cupcakes owners are family friends of ours, and they came up with two new flavors for our wedding that are still on the menu today (salted caramel and maple bacon). For my husband who is a large car guy, transportation was important to him and he didn’t want a regular limo or shuttle to take us around for photos. We found Detroit Bus Company and knew they were the one. Not only is their mission of helping Detroit school kids amazing, their graffiti-ed school buses are the fun touch we wanted. And Gina’s Bridal… I have to say was one of the best experiences for me. This small shop in Michigan is so caring and to this day still remembers our family. My stepsister went there to find her dress this year and the shop owner remembered my stepmom immediately.
We wanted to make sure it didn’t feel Christmasy as it was two days afterwards, so we stuck to a winter feel with white, silver, light blue and eggplant color palate. Because the venue already provided a lot of ambiance, and had white linens and white chairs, we kept the rentals minimal with eggplant linens for the cocktail tables and napkins, silver chargers and silver sequin linens for both the head table and cupcake table from Luxe Event Linens (who are rockstars and even pocket folded our napkins for us). Chic Ink provided all of our day-of stationary with lots of glittery pieces in the escort champagne tags, favor place card tags and menus. The flowers from Thrifty Florist were all white with hints of purple in the calla lilies for both my bouquet and his boutonnière. I had found ornaments at Target in different shades of silver that we incorporated into the low centerpieces and reused the tall arrangements from the ceremony for our head table. Add some hanging candles for both the ceremony and reception, and that’s it!
We loved our wedding. It was such a fun day, and to this day we still have guests telling us both how fun it was and thinking we put much more into the day than we really did. And that is the biggest take away from any wedding… by hiring the right vendors and picking a venue that was already beautiful, it raised the level of the wedding without having to put in extra money to do so. It really makes the day extra special for everyone.
Mandy
Vendors:
Venue/Caterer - Grosse Pointe Yacht Club
Photographer - Kristen Taylor & Co
Videographer - 3rd Street Films
Rentals - Luxe Event Linen
Lighting - Colonial Event Rental (has since been bought by Event Theory)
Cupcakes - Pink Elephant Cupcakes
Dress - Gina's Bridal
Suits - Jos. A Bank
Invitation - Vista Print
Paper Goods - Chic Ink
Florist - Thrifty Florist
Transportation - Detroit Bus Co.
DJ - Mary Ann Productions
Favors - Mallow Artisan Marshmallows (out of business)