The Team:

Debbie at the Island Resort & Casino

Michele Freeman from Freeman’s Photography

Wedding Entertainment Director:  Mitch Taylor

Guests arrived at the Island Resort & Casino a little early and admired the beautiful room complete with wedding cake styled like a birch tree.  Sarah, Brad and their wedding party arrived fashionably late, UP style and were immediately introduced into the room.  Brad welcomes guests before turning attention to the cake cutting ceremony.  Guests then enjoyed a freudian slip by Best Man Joe during his toast as the audience roared and Sarah’s Sister Dana as Maid Of Honor gave a heartfelt toast and dinner was served.

I absolutely LOVED the color choices that Sarah and Brad went with.  Just before their first dance guests were treated to views of the wedding up on our big screens courtesy of Freeman’s Photography and Taylored Weddings.  Throughout the night as guests were dancing they enjoyed the photographic memories provided by this service.  Sarah and her Father Randy had a very heartfelt Father Daughter Dance, sharing their feelings with all of their guests in a unique way.  Brad and his Mother Son dance was next followed by our Wedding Party Dance.  The dance floor kicked off with guests dancing to Kei$ha, Bob Segar, Black Eyed Peas and Bryan Adams.  It truly isn’t a party until the chaps come out!  The ending of the night came at midnight with a special mix sing-a-long to Brad Paisley’s “Alcohol” followed by an encore of “Footloose”.  Thanks Sarah and Brad for an amazing reception!

The Team:

Photographer:  Freeman’s Photography

Decorator:  Ever After Decorating

Food & Beverage:  Sherri Skradski of Island Resort And Casino

Wedding Entertainment Director:  Mitch Taylor of Taylored Weddings

It’s always a thrill for me to get to see the new and creative ideas that each couple comes up with.  The other wonderful part about my career that I love so much is seeing past couples at current brides and grooms wedding receptions.  Annie and Brian’s reception guests included a future bride’s Mom, Taylored Weddings clients Sandra and Cory and past clients Lindsey and Clay Stearns, Dan and Jeana LaCarte whose daughter served as Flowergirl for Annie and Brian as well as Erik Samuelson serving the drinks.  Annie and Brian performed their cake cutting ceremony after dinner with Annie surprising Brian with a Grooms cake in honor of his recent Corvette purchase.  After cake was served we moved on with Annie and Brian’s First Dance as husband and wife to “Me And You” by Kenny Chesney.  Annie and her Father Russ danced next to a song that makes him well up with emotion thinking of their dance together “Edelweiss” from Sound of Music.  Brian and his mother then shared their Mother/Son dance with their guests “There You’ll Be” by Faith Hill. The Wedding Party then joined the floor to “That’s What Friends Are For” by Dionne Warwick and the dance floor filled immediately after that and didn’t stop until the very end of the night.  Often I have brides and grooms express to me a concern about choosing the Island Resort for their reception due to the casino being a draw to take their guests away from the celebration.  Annie and Brian were surprised at the end of the night to see SO MANY of their friends and families still there celebrating with them.  This wasn’t your typical musical journey of a wedding reception.  NO YMCA, NO Chicken Dance, NO Celebration yet people still partied until way late to the sounds of Kei$ha, Isley Brothers, Madonna, Bachman Turner Overdrive, Spice Girls, Bob Segar and yes, Black Eyed Peas.  Michele from Freeman’s Photography told me that no one cried at the ceremony yet tears were visible welling up in Annie’s eyes with our unique presentation of their last song of the night “Come Away With Me” by Norah Jones.  Congratulations Annie and Brian!

orever.

Joy and Jason’s guests showed a lot of talent as well, complete with Mandy and Rob LeMay singing the light-hearted “Grow Old With You” by Adam Sandler for a ceremonial musical interlude and also performing Joy and Jason’s first dance as husband and wife with “When You Say Nothing At All”.  Joy’s family is ALL about having fun and when it came time for their Father Daughter dance, that trait was displayed for all to see.  Part-way into their song choice, Joy’s father Jim picked up “The Bones” (a musical instrument that he plays) and performed Johnny Cash’s version of “Wabash Cannonball” as a fun way to kick off the dancing.  The night continued with music from Kenny Loggins to Jay-z and EVERYONE danced, celebrated and enjoyed Joy and Jason’s reception…coming to a conclusion with Joy and Jason’s friend Tim performing his unique rendition of “Sweet Caroline” with a big circle on the dance floor of family and friends.  Thank you Joy and Jason for a phenomenal celebration and for your service to our country.

Photo courtesy of Freeman's Photography

Guests arrived to the sounds of “Anyone Else But You” by Moldy Peaches, “Sea Of Love” by Cat Power, and Adam Sandler’s “Grow Old With You”…along with a mix of country artists. The room was beautifully decorated by Amanda from Ever After Decorating Kim, Tim and their bridal party arrived a short time after and entered to fun personalized introductions followed by their cake cutting ceremony. Toasts followed, blessing and dinner with tables being invited a fun way as well. Keith from Freeman’s Photography always does an outstanding job and really goes above and beyond to ensure that everything is just right for his clients at every wedding. The images that you have seen so far in this post have been all his and I believe he can truly capture the essence of your wedding day beautifully.

Photo by Freeman's Photography

Kim and Tim also hired me to produce a photo montage for them to show at the reception. It came out beautifully and everyone enjoyed the walk down memory lane of Kim and Tim’s lives and their new life together.

Kim and Tim opted for me to share their Love Story with their guests which then led to their first dance as husband and wife to “Johnny and June” by Heidi Newfield, a song which I feel describes this couple to a “T”. Ron and Kim then shared an emotional moment for the Father Daughter dance to “I Loved Her First” by Heartland, with a few special edits as well. Tim and Patti then shared their Mother Son dance to “It’s Your Song” by Garth Brooks. The bridal party kicked off the dancing with “Footloose” next complete with a soul train line and the party was on!

Garter Bouquet Ceremony happened and we had an interesting twist. Kim and Tim employed a Nerf football and wrapped the garter around it along with some drink coins from some of Escanaba and Gladstone’s finest bars glued to the garter for the toss/hike! It made for a fun moment and ended up that the garter with the drink coins was separated from the football so two people went home happy that night from that moment!

Football Garter Toss (photo by Mitch Taylor)

The night ended on an upbeat note and everyone had a blast! What a beautiful wedding day! Thank you Kim and Tim! I’ll leave you with other images from a beautiful night.

Reactions from intros captured beautifully by Freeman's

Kim and Ron's Father Daughter Dance (photo by Freeman's Photography)