Our Real Wedding: May 15, 2021
“I would recommend Mike Staff to every bride! Working with Mike Staff was so easy and simple! They were so kind during the Pandemic as my wedding plans changed multiple times and both my DJ and photographer were excellent! I cannot imagine having gone anywhere else!” – Happy bride, Abby
Our Love Story
Garret and I met in college through a mutual friend. He was going to Wayne State University and I was going to Grand Valley State University so our first three years of our relationship were long distance before I finally moved back to the East side.
Garret was super sneaky in his proposal plans! He asked one of our really good friends–who also is an amazing photographer– to get in on the secret. He had her pretend that she needed couples pictures for her portfolio and ask me if we were willing to be her “models”. I agree, thinking nothing of it. We went to a park right by our house and a few pictures in Garret turned to me and explained that these were actually our engagement pictures! He then got down on one knee and proposed. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking our engagement photos! I was in complete shock!
Our Wedding Photography
Honestly, at first, I was not overly concerned with our photos. After talking to Greg, our professional wedding photographer, I realized just how important they were. Greg was so amazing to work with! He was fun, helpful, and super kind! He was flexible which was so important to me. He made the photo taking fun! We enjoyed working with him so much!
I have a lot of older family and out of town family that could not come to our reception, so they love to live through the pictures and see how the day went!
Our Wedding Vision & How the Pandemic Changed It
When I began planning my wedding, I would say I wanted a very “typical” wedding. I was looking forward to getting ready with all my bridesmaids and then getting married in our church. I then wanted to spend the evening dancing and celebrating with all my family and friends at a beautiful golf course at an outdoor venue.
We booked our reception at Fox Hills and started booking other vendors to make our day perfect. About 3 months before the big day, we had to cancel due to Covid. Overall, our plans changed A LOT! Due to Covid, we still got married on our original date, but it was just our family and bridal party at our church, followed by a small dinner in our backyard (which was lovely)!
We then pushed our reception and all of our venders back to a new date a year later. A month before our reception was supposed to happen, we ended up canceling with our venue due to Covid restrictions at the time, and re-planning everything at our church’s activity center.
We decorated it for days to get it the way we wanted. We went from our “traditional” wedding plans, to have our ceremony and reception almost a full year apart and having our reception at a totally different location.
Honestly, I cannot imagine having done it the original way though! It was perfect.
Abby and Garret’s Wedding Vendors
- Ceremony: Saint Genevieve-St. Maurice
- Florist: French’s Flowers
- Bakery: Sorellas Cakes
- Wedding Dress: B Ella Bridal
- Photo Booth: ShutterBooth
- Mike Staff Productions: Wedding DJ, Photography