Backyard Summer Wedding in Clarkston, Michigan

GETTING READY & DETAIL PHOTOS

When I first arrived, Hailey and her bridesmaids were just finishing up getting ready at the salon. My time spent with them was short since I headed over to The Mill Pond Inn in Clarkston, Michigan to take a few detail photos before Hailey, Jacob and the rest of the wedding party arrived. Hailey's mom had actually booked a day at The Mill Pond Inn for Hailey & Jacob's wedding to follow the tradition that Hailey's parents followed after they got married. I thought this was such a cute touch and loved this sweet thought put into the love and care of Hailey & Jacob's story. Taking these detail photos was so special. For Hailey, almost all of these detail photos were heirlooms from the garter that was sewn by her grandma and passed down by her mom to even the purse that she used. It's moments like this that make your wedding day that much more unique and special.

The rest of that morning was spent taking some photos of Hailey and her bridesmaids in their matching PJ sets and taking the morning slow as we await the anticipation of the day ahead of us.

FIRST LOOK & PORTRAITS

It wasn't long until it was time for the first look, but where was Jacob? Well, Jacob actually drove the bus to the Millpond Inn in order to meet us for his and Hailey's first look. The dedication, I'm telling you! Hailey and Jacob's first look was the sweetest and it even got the bridesmaids sneaking some peeks.

Depending on our timeline, this will usually determine when we take your wedding portraits. Usually we try to get portraits done as early in the day as possible, that way you can enjoy some time with your friends and family. Luckily for us we had plenty of time to fit in some portraits of Hailey and Jacob. We were able to drive their bus back to this local private beach that Hailey and Jacob have access too. You may recognize this spot from their engagement session! Their dreams were finally coming true and we were able to take some photos inside the school bus which made their portraits all the more special. By the way, Hailey and Jacob officially named the bus the "Burd Bus". All of their hard work and dedication came to this one moment and I was just so happy being there to document it.

Later on, after the ceremony, we also were able to stop at Depot Park also in Clarkston to finish off their portraits.

CEREMONY

For their ceremony, Hailey and Jacob held it at Hailey's house that she grew up in. By her house is a gazebo where the ceremony actually took place which was decorated to the max and really reflected Hailey and Jacob's personalities. There were beautiful flowers hanging all throughout the top of the gazebo that really made this day super whimsical even for it being at Hailey's childhood home. Speaking of florals, you may notice the bridesmaids and their uniquely curated bouquets. While the florist made all of their bouquets the same, she did a twist on the traditional bridesmaids bouquets. Incorporated into each bouquet was a corresponding flower to a bridesmaids dress. I thought this was such an intimate and sweet touch added to overall how special the day was.

The ceremony as you could imagine, was just beautiful. One unique twist though, was during the ceremony Hailey and Jacob did hand fasting. It's a symbolic ritual where the couple is tied together which symbolizes the binding of their two lives. Typically after hand fasting the couple is almost immediately untied. However, in Hailey and Jacob's case they stayed hand fasted for about an hour which I had never seen before! I think this truly just shows how head over heels in love these two are for each other.

DINNER AT THE FED

Once ceremony and portraits were finally done, we made our way downtown to The Fed for a nice intimate dinner with Hailey, Jacob and their close family and friends. While The Fed is a great place to stop and grab a bite to eat, you also go there just for the atmosphere and let me just say they always deliver. At this dinner, Hailey and Jacob had their home-made syrup and jam that they were giving out to their guests. Honestly 10/10 party favor if you ask me. We spent the remainder of the night eating some DELICIOUS food before I headed out for the night.

RECEPTION

A few days later, Hailey and Jacob had their reception. Since their wedding was on a Thursday, they had a much more intimate group of people there. For their reception, however, there were about 130 people in attendance which was a lot larger than a few days earlier. Back at Hailey's childhood home, they had a tent set up for all of the guests.

Most of the food at their reception was homemade, including the desserts! You may notice that there were a ton of pies at this wedding. That's because when Hailey was growing up, nobody liked cakes so for celebrations they would always make pies! So many small intimate touches throughout their wedding day which made it all the more special.

Speaking of intimate touches, Hailey and Jacob also had a guest book that was a bit different than tradition. Since they renovated their school bus, they are planning on doing cross-country trips in it! For their guest book, they asked each guest to write down a location and pin it to this large map they had sitting on an easel. This was in hopes to visit these locations at some point in the future which I just about died when I saw.