Featured Couple: Marissa and Michael
To say that Marissa and Michael’s families played a large part in their September wedding is an understatement. It all started in April of 2015, when Michael was fishing with Marissa’s father and asked for her hand in marriage. Marissa’s family all knew the proposal was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. “We had to keep this big secret for a whole month!” says Marissa’s mother, Laurie.
In May of 2015, Michael ventured out for another fishing trip, and this time he brought his future bride. After getting her line caught up a few times, Marissa decided to try a new location. Michael told her he was going to switch out the fishing lure he was using. After fixing his line, Michael asked Marissa if she liked the new lure he had put on. Marissa took a quick glance at the lure and saw a sparkling diamond ring on Michael’s line. Marissa excitedly replied, “Yes!” Michael replied, “Good, because I was hoping to catch a wife today.”
Soon after, plans for a fall wedding began. Marissa knew she wanted a rustic feel to their wedding. The venue, Vintage, was just what she was looking for, with old barn wood, lots of trees, and the perfect vintage feel.
Before Marissa went dress shopping, she asked her husband-to-be what dress he thought he would like to see her in. Michael said he liked almost anything, but was not crazy about a mermaid-style dress. As Marissa walked into her first appointment at The French Door, she was met by a beautiful trumpet-style dress. “I loved it but didn’t even want to try it on,” says Marissa. Eventually her mom, mother-in-law, sister, best friend, and aunt convinced her to try it on. “It was absolutely beautiful,” says the bride’s mother. Marissa cancelled all of her other appointments because “that was the one.”
Later added to the dress was Marissa’s mother’s veil that she wore when she married Marissa’s father. “She spent hours on it, adding the rhinestones to the edges,” says Marissa. The ensemble came together with Marissa’s grandmother’s pearl earrings and a ‘something blue’ brooch that was attached to her lace-wrapped bouquet of flowers.
The family spent hours decorating the venue with hundreds of pearls and over 75 flower arrangements, created by the bride’s mom. Laurie also created barn wood flower boxes, which complemented the rustic décor perfectly. More flower arrangements were placed in Mason jars, and two elegant homemade Mason jar chandeliers provided soft ambiance in the venue. Laurie didn’t stop there – she hand painted hundreds of white pumpkins and adorned them with glitter and pearl designs. The work her mother put in did not go unnoticed, says Marissa. “She did so much work for one-and-a-half years to make our day absolutely perfect!”
Late into the reception, guests got to enjoy more of Laurie’s work. A homemade cart made by Laurie, complete with a tin roof and wheels, kept the guests snacking on homemade s’mores late into the night. A gift to the couple from Marissa’s parents, the cart “was a complete surprise and fit the theme of the wedding perfectly.”
From the proposal, to the ten-step process invitations, and the celebratory ‘selfie’ that the bride and her father took before walking down the aisle, family truly played a large part in Marissa and Michael’s wedding day. Their special day holds memories that the entire family will cherish forever.
