Stephanie & Jeff were married at Zingerman’s Cornman Farms over 4th of July weekend in front of their closest family and friends from all over the country.  In fact, if I’m not mistaken, most of the guests were from out of town!  The best way to describe their day was perfectly personal.  Not only did they make sure to heavily incorporate their families – their siblings were in the wedding and they had a special dance with each set of their parents to “their song”, but their wedding theme was very personal as well.  Having both gone to extensive schooling for different science based degrees, they share a love of all things science.  With that, their wedding theme was Robots & Dinosaurs, which was pretty epic!

Zingerman’s Cornman Farms did not disappoint with their gorgeous backdrop, super yummy food and stunning floral arrangements.  It was a hot one that day, but it was just so beautiful, you hardly noticed.  My favorite moments from the day were the super awesome Lego boutonnieres, Stephanie’s wardrobe change for the Chinese Tea Ceremony, Stephanie walking down the aisle to the Jurassic Park Theme song and the personal moments and love they shared with their families that day.  I may or may not have shed a few tears.  Or full on sobbed at one point, but whatever ;) Scroll down to see more from their gorgeous day!

Stephanie, science teacher
Jeff, engineer

7.5.2015

Describe your wedding in three words:  playful, whimsical, personal
Wedding planning advice for newly engaged couples:  All those wedding rules are just suggestions; you don’t need to follow all of them. Throughout the planning process, remind yourselves of what the two of you value. Also, have your wedding at Zingerman’s Cornman Farms! They are truly amazing at what they do, and everyone we worked with was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, responsive, and incredibly kind.
Honeymoon location:  Kaua’i

-The Jams-

Ceremony (because the ceremony was the most important for us!) – Groom’s Entrance: The Hymn of Acxiom, Vienna Teng; Bridal Party’s Entrance: Begin Again, The Piano Guys (an instrumental cover of the Taylor Swift song); Bride’s Entrance: Jurassic Park Theme, The Piano Guys’ version
First Dance:  The Story, Brandi Carlile
Father/Daughter:  The Moon Represents My Heart, Leslie Cheung
Mother/Son:  Upward Over The Mountain, Iron & Wine
Songs for the parents’ dances — Bride’s Parents’ Dance: (They Long To Be) Close To You, The Carpenters [their first dance song]. Groom’s Parents’ Dance: Fields of Gold, Sting.

As told by Stephanie:

In the vision of creating a truly personal day, there was quite a bit of DIY: the invitations, the place cards, the table numbers, the table runners, the flower arrangements, the gold vases, the bouquets and boutonnieres, the robot and dinosaur table decor, the ribbon wands for the ceremony, and all the graphic design. With the huge help of my aunt, the three of us created a ceremony that we genuinely believed in and cared about. Jeff and I wrote our vows together the night before our wedding and recited the same vows; it was important for us to create those together.

As much as we could, we involved our family. My aunt and Jeff’s cousin married us. Our moms, my sister, my brother-in-law, my bridesmaids, and I created all the flower arrangements, bouquets, and boutonnieres. My mom and I made all of the ribbon wands for the ceremony. Jeff’s mom and his sister helped assemble the dinosaur place cards. Jeff’s dad measured and cut all of the table runners. My dad wrote one of our ceremony readings. My cousins navigated the musical pieces for the ceremony and brunch (in other words, were our fantastic DJs). Jeff, Jeff’s dad, my uncle, my brother-in-law, and the groomsmen set up all the decor in the reception areas with one hand-drawn diagram, only a couple phone calls, and most importantly, their creative and logical intuitions.

We planned the wedding in about a month. Even with that timeline, we were still able to have an entire weekend of activities (including a great pre-wedding BBQ the day before hosted by our very close family friends), two receptions the day of the wedding (one with lots of karaoke), and 132 of our family and friends attending. We have wonderful loved ones who made all of this possible, and we are so grateful for all of them!

Ceremony & Reception Venue: Zingerman’s Cornman Farms – Dexter, Michigan

Wedding dress: Theia, through BHLDN
Veil: Debra Moreland, through BHLDN
Reception dress: Custom
Hair: Hannah Price
Brunch Catering (and donut sundae bar!): Zingerman’s Roadhouse
Donut “Cake”: Zingerman’s Bakehouse
Dinner Catering: Zingerman’s Deli
Music: Spotify Premium and our cousins, Tony + Chris