Wedding | Rachel & Evan

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We currently live in West Michigan. I am an interior designer and build custom homes spanning across West Michigan and Evan works in finance. I moved to Michigan back in 2001 from Canada and have been here since, while Evan has lived his whole life on the East side of Michigan.

We officially met in eighth grade when our schools merged and our separate friend groups also merged. We went through high school as friends (although I had the biggest crush on Evan all through these years) and ended up going to prom together. After graduation, Evan finally gave me a chance, and we officially started dating in September of 2015. We got to celebrate our 10 year anniversary just before our wedding.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

Detroit is our favourite city. Growing up only about 30 minutes outside of downtown, we’ve watched it grow to the city it is today — vibrant and beautiful. It became our go to meeting spot with all of our friends and has been a staple in our relationship.

For our ceremony, we knew we wanted to do it at a church. The Basilica of St Anne is one of the oldest churches in Detroit, and has the most incredible gothic architecture. This turned out to be one of the most special parts of the day.

When picking out our venue we wanted something that was beautiful by itself, so being in the heart of Detroit gave us some incredible architecturally beautiful spaces to look through. The State Savings Bank ultimately felt the most special and really just needed to be highlighted by lighting. This let us keep the simplicity that we wanted all along but also having impact.

How many guests did you have?

130 guests.

What was your budget?

We didn’t have a fully set budget but of course it was not unlimited. We focused mostly on things that mattered the most to us and kept with our minimal design which helped us balance costs.

Tell us about your outfits.

My getting ready outfit was a vintage satin jacquard peignoir robe with the most beautiful lace collar, cuffs and puffed sleeves.

For my wedding dress, I knew from day one what I wanted. I fell in love a few years prior to even being engaged when I saw Macye, the creator of Cinq, create her own wedding dress. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. After a weekend in Chicago for wedding dress shopping I surprisingly ended up between two dresses — my wedding dress, and a Vivienne Westwood.

Ultimately, the Cinq gown felt more special. I paired the dress with matching sleeves and veil, later taking those off and adding a matching Cinq neck scarf. I loved the idea of wearing the dress all night with no dress change, until I came across a Vivienne Westwood gown in red. Our wedding colour was a deep red so this felt like the perfect fun and unusual change. I paired both looks with jewellery given to me from my mom and my nana.

Evan went with the classic tailored black tux by Todd’s Menswear. We were inspired by high end fashion and decided to do brooches on the lapels instead of florals. This felt much more us and encased the romantic and editorial feel of the entire day.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

We wanted this to be a fun process and make the day truly feel like and reflect us. Being surrounded by all of our favourite people for a day was everything we could ever ask for and we wanted everyone to know how much we love and appreciate them. It not only felt like a celebration of Evan and I, but also the relationships we hold so close to us.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

There were quite a few fun details that we wanted to incorporate into the day. We really wanted to embrace the venue and keep the bank as a recurring theme. Our save the dates were printed directly onto vintage checks we sourced from eBay and Etsy and our seat name tags were vintage check stubs.

Our nickname for each other has always been dove, which led us to wanting to incorporate that somehow, so I drew us a logo of two doves carrying a banner with our initials inside. This motif ended up on our invites and our silver mylar film welcome sign.

When it came to the layout and design of the reception space, we knew we wanted to do long rectangular dinner tables instead of the traditional circular tables. We wanted to keep it moody with mostly candles with small florals and keeping the larger arrangements at the ends of each table. We worked super closely with Hyssop Floral and they truly brought our dream together, tying in organic florals with our deep red coloration and even diving into the silver theme by spray painting some flowers silver.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Be present and enjoy the time together. Don’t let outside noise influence you and do what truly feels right for the both of you.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Every single one of our vendors was incredible. It was a true collaboration and we would not have been able to do it without them. Food was a very important part for us and to this day we still get compliments on the dinner. Two Unique truly exceeded any of our expectations.

Laura, our coordinator at Beautiful Day Planning, helped make the day the most seamless and perfect day. She took care of everything and truly helped bring our vision to life.

Spencer Penfield (photographer), Hayley and Zachary at Hyssop Floral (florists), andHaley Bateman (videographer) were the most perfect grouping for us. The most beautiful people and minds who we now get to call friends.

Photographer: Spencer Penfield @spencerpenfield | Wedding Coordinator: Beautiful Day Planning @beautifuldayplanning_ | Flora: Hyssop Floral @hyssop.floral | Videographer: Haley Bateman @haley_

bateman | Ceremony Location: Basilica of Sainte Anne de Detroit @detroitsteanne | Reception Location: State Savings Bank @rockeventsdetroit | Hire: Modern Social Detroit @modernsocialdetroit; Modernly Events @modernlyevents | MUA: Ashlyn Marie Beauty @ashlynmariebeauty | Hair Stylist: Jayme Eipperle @jayme.eipperle | Catering & Beverages: Two Unique @2uniquecaterin | Cake: Kitch by Kenz @kitchbykenz | Entertainment: The Block Party @blockpartyweddings | Ceremony Dress & Veil: Cinq @shop_cinq | Red Party Dress: Vivienne Westwood @viviennewestwood | Suit: Todd’s Menswear @toddsmenswear1 | Engagement & Wedding Rings: Kramar Jewelry @kramarjewelry | Shoes: Badgley Mischka @badgleymischka