Are you ready?  Ready to be blown away by some beautiful wedding photos?  We are!  And it is no surprise that we are secretly in love with this gorgeous wedding belonging to TWD bride, Clare, and her new husband, Erik, in the latest edition of TWD’s Bride of the Month!  We enjoyed every moment Clare was in our shop – with her super fun personality, we always had a great time!  And as it happens with our brides, it was sad to say goodbye to Clare when she was ready to get married!  {What can we say, we get attached to our brides!}  So when Clare decided to apply for our Bride of the Month, we were only too excited to peruse her gorgeous photos and get her feature written!  So, without further ado, let’s get this started!  Oh, and we must give photo credits to Dusty Brown Photography.

{Meet Clare.}

Ok, now let’s backtrack!  How did you meet your husband?  

Erik and I were both student athletes at the University of Michigan.  He ran track and I played soccer.  The first week of our freshman year, the department took all the freshmen student athletes to a bowling alley to sort of “bond together”… he introduced himself to me there and the rest is history!

{Getting ready for the big day!}

{The dress!}

{Beautiful veil photo.  We always love a good veil photo.}

{Highlighting the gorgeous florals!}

{Beautiful bride with her beautiful maids.}

{Another fun photo with her girls!}

So, tell us, what was your favorite part of wedding planning?

Now that is an interesting question, because my mom planned almost all of the wedding!  (Thanks Mom!)  One of the only things I really cared about was… making sure that the venue would allow us to bring in donuts from Ann Arbor!  We both LOVE donuts so we wanted to do a  nontraditional wedding cake.  However, if I had to choose one thing, it would be finding my dress!  It was totally not what I was expecting to purchase, but that made it even more exciting!

    

{The donut “cake”.}

{And enjoying it…yum-o!}

{Lovely little wedding details.}

{Beautiful table.}

Moving on… what was the most difficult part of wedding planning?

The most difficult part was definitely the guest list.  Erik and I just really wanted to celebrate with everyone that we could think of, so it was hard for us to narrow down the list… until you see how much it costs per person, then that makes pairing it down a bit easier.

{Clare and her maid.}

{Lovely girls.}

{Don’t they just look like they are having so much fun?!}

{Another great view of the bridal party…and those gorgeous flowers!}

{The bridal bouquet.}

Now, let’s talk about our favorite topic – the wedding dress!  So, how did you know your “white dress” was the one?

Well, I knew that my “champagne dress” was the one as soon as I put it on!  I actually squealed and when I stepped out into the room where my mom and aunt were sitting, I could not stop smiling .  It was DEFINITELY not what I thought I was going to purchase, but I think that is why it was so much fun!  I was surprised by the dress!

And as a TWD side note – how much fun is this dress?!  You could twirl the night away in this sassy and fun and stunning gown!

{A close up of the gorgeous details of Clare’s gown.}

{Beautiful entrance table.  LOVE all the details here.}

{More gorgeous details and fun for the guests.}

What was your favorite DIY project?

My favorite DIY project I did for the wedding was personalized place-mats. I bought disposable, golden place-mats from Paper Source and wrote personalized notes to my parents and bridal party on the mats…then they were placed at each persons spot so that when they sat down for dinner, they were surprised by the note.

{A lovely surprise note from the bride to her MOH.}

{Sneaking up on the groom.}

{The lovely couple.}

{We love when photos capture love.  This is it!}

{Love.}

What was the most memorable moment of your wedding day?

I can’t pick just one! There were so many memorable moments… being woken up by my mom that morning, in my bed that I grew up in, knowing that it was a day I had looked forward to since I was a little girl… and during the ceremony, praying quietly for Erik, so only he could hear, as he was now my husband… getting on the party bus right after the ceremony and sitting down, looking at Erik and realizing that he was actually my husband… shoving a donut in Erik’s face… and dancing with my dad because he taught me how to waltz before the wedding!

{Walking down the aisle.}

{Giving the bride away.} 

{Lovely little moments during the wedding ceremony.}

{The ring exchange.}

{Love this – Clare and Erik are surrounded by their friends and family!}

{You may kiss the bride!}

{Bubble fun!}

{Clare dancing with her Dad.}

{And now, the groom’s turn!}

If you could relive your day again, what would you do differently?

There is absolutely nothing I would do differently…  I married my best friend… What more could I want?

{I think that Clare is ready to go!}

{Group love!}

{I think it is plain to see that Clare didn’t miss a moment of enjoyment on her big day!!}

{Working the selfie.}

What advice would you give to future brides?

DO NOT STRESS OUT!!! The more you worry, the less you will enjoy and remember the day… Realize that this is probably the one day in the world where all of your family and best friends are in ONE place to celebrate you and that is so rare, so just enjoy it!

{Feeling the love of family and friends at the reception!}

{Wedding photos are not complete without a few dance photos.}

{The bouquet toss.}

{The garter toss.}

 Why do you want to be a TWD Bride of the Month?

I love TWD and what it is all about!  How they treat people is wonderful, so anything I can do to help promote TWD, I will!  Also, our wedding was the perfect mix of a party and a marriage, two very important things!

{Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs.!!}

Closing Credits

• Wedding Venue: Thornapple Evangelical Church – Grand Rapids, MI
• Reception Venue: Cascade Country Club – Grand Rapids, MI
• Photography: Dusty Brown Photography – Rockford, MI
• Wedding Gown: {Brielle} by Allure Bridals from The White Dress – Brighton, MI
• Bridesmaid Dresses: Allure Bridesmaids from The White Dress – Brighton, MI
• Floral Design: My Aunt, Melissa Welsch
• Hair: Sin Republic – Grand Rapids, MI
• “Cake”: A huge pile of donuts made by Washtenaw Dairy – Ann Arbor, MI