Incredible Wedding in Grand Rapids, MI | VanWerlund Wedding

Okay, this wedding in Grand Rapids, MI combined two of my favorite things; stunning dresses and museums! Seriously, a reception with exhibits, carousels and a beautiful atmosphere? Sign me up! This couple was able to capture all their amazing day’s most special moments through the perspective of their loved ones with the help of WeddingMix app and cameras. Watch their highlight video to truly relive their magical day!

It was nice that we could collect videos that our guests took on their personal phones, along with videos that our assigned “videographer” (aka Trevor, my sister’s boyfriend) took on the HD cams that we rented from WeddingMix.

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Real advice from the Bride & Groom!

1. What part of your wedding planning are you most proud of?

I’m most proud of how quickly we pulled it all together! We got engaged on September 26, 2015 on a vacation to Ireland, and our wedding was just 5 months later on February 20, 2016. I wanted a winter wedding, but didn’t want to be engaged for a long time so we crammed all of the planning into 5 months.

It was busy and sometimes stressful and crazy, but doing just a little bit of “wedding stuff” everyday helped! It was nice to give our guests something to look forward to in the middle of a Michigan winter…although we had a pretty mild winter this year, and my hopes for a snowy winter wedding didn’t quite happen. It was 46 degrees and sunny on our big day (which actually made the day even better)!

I’m also proud that we were able to hire a variety of people we know as vendors/talent for our big day! Our florist was a friend who owns her own floral company. I met our photographer when I worked as her son’s speech-language pathologist years ago. A co-worker’s daughter plays French Horn for the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony, and she recommended we use the Youth Symphony’s string trio for our ceremony. My dear friend/college roommate’s husband performed “God Gave me You” during our ceremony. Our DJ is a long-time family friend of my husband’s family. My husband’s grandma made her famous cookies for our dessert table at the reception. It was special for us to include all of these amazingly talented people in our big day!

2. Where did you get married?

We got married in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Our ceremony was at our church, Cornerstone Church Heritage Hill Campus, in downtown Grand Rapids.Our reception was held at the Grand Rapids Public Museum which is located in downtown Grand Rapids along the Grand River.

We chose the museum because it’s different from traditional wedding venues. We wanted our reception to be laid back and fun, and the museum lends well to that type of atmosphere…guests were able to explore various museum exhibits, ride the carousel, visit our food stations and dessert table, enjoy a cocktail and dance all in the same place!

3. Why was using WeddingMix appealing for your big day?

I love wedding videos, but researching a wedding videographer wasn’t at the top of my wedding planning list! We also didn’t want to pay a lot for a wedding video that may only be watched a few time in our lives. WeddingMix was a budget-friendly and personal way to capture our day.

4. What special moments from your wedding do you want to remember forever?

I especially wanted to capture our wedding ceremony. It’s such a challenge truly stay “present” during the ceremony and take in those special moments due to nerves and the pressure of being at the center of attention, but I’m so happy we have it on video to watch again in the future.

Our pastor, Alex, spent time during our pre-marital counseling to really get to know Paul and I, which helped make our ceremony so personal (and at times very funny)!

5. How did WeddingMix help capture those moments?

WeddingMix gave us the flexibility to capture our wedding from a personal perspective, and to really focus on the moments that were most important to us. It was nice that we could collect videos that our guests took on their personal phones, along with videos that our assigned “videographer” (aka Trevor, my sister’s boyfriend) took on the HD cams that we rented from WeddingMix.