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helen

We are super excited to be back with another beautiful wedding featured as our Bride of the Month!  Why are we so excited you may wonder?  Because this wedding is so full of life and love and fun…we wish we could have  been invited!  Helen married her love, Mark, last summer, and the photography here captures all of the excitement of their gorgeous wedding day.  Helen (and all of her wonderful bridesmaids) were so much fun to be around – all of us at TWD enjoyed working with Helen and her girls in the months leading up to the big day.  So without further ado, let’s start!

Oh, and all photo credits go to Christine Dias Photography (formerly Harper Grace Photography).

 Well, let’s start at the very beginning.  How did you meet Mark?

Mark and I met in college – at Central Michigan University.  We like to think we were a little scandalous because I was his RA in the residence halls.  We were friends most of the year, but by the spring time, we knew there was something special between us.

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{Helen gets ready for her big day.}

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{Mark gets snazzy too.}

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{Getting dressed in the dress!}

So Helen, what was your favorite part of wedding planning?

My most favorite part was getting to use my organizational skills!  Call me crazy, but checklists (thanks to The Knot), to-do lists, and binders make me happy!  I also feel that wedding planning brought me closer to my best family and friends.  They helped us throughout the process so it is only fair to give them a shout-out here – thanks to all of you venue-visiting, envelope-stuffing, shower-planning, listening-ear people who helped us make our wedding memories the best!

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{Helen’s coveted binder that aided with wedding day organization!}

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{The bride with her maids…}

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{…and the adorable flower girls!}

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{Pretty bouquet – flowers were done by a family friend.}

We know it is so hard to choose, but what was the most memorable moment of your wedding day?

So many are flooding to my mind right now…but if I could relive one moment it would be exchanging our vows.  I forgot anyone else was there and was really in the moment with Mark.  A very close second would have to be dancing the night away with our family and friends!

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{The groom.}

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{The boys strike a pose.}

What advice would you give to future brides?

Find a way to make the ceremony special or unique to you and your fiance!  Traditional is nice, but Mark and I both felt strongly that our ceremony should reflect us as a couple and should be different than any one else’s wedding ceremony.  For example, Mark and I were married by my brother and his wife.  It was a religious ceremony in a non-church setting.  We thought that it was so much more memorable by having our loved ones perform the ceremony.

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{A simple bouquet.}

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{During the ceremony.}

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{Soon to be Mr. and Mrs.!}

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{The vows are exchanged.}

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{Sealing the deal.}

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{Getting even more official!}

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{Yay… Mr. and Mrs. at last!}

So what did you find to be the most difficult part about wedding planning?

Making decisions – that part was so difficult!  As much as I love lists, I just really don’t like to make decisions.  I had a hard time making choices about things that really mattered to me like the ceremony and vows and food.  The little things – for example, napkin and tablecloth colors, what beer we had on tap – were a little bit easier since I knew that no one would really remember those things at the end of the day.

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{And speaking of beer on tap…}

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{The boys toast.}

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

I would allot more time for having photos taken in between the ceremony and reception.  I felt a little rushed and didn’t feel like I was able to enjoy pretending I was a model!

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{The girls.}

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{The boys.}

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{The bride and groom get a moment together.}

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{Love.}

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{The bridal party.}

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{A super fun shot of the group!}

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{This group looks like they had so much fun!}

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{Shoe shot!}

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{Fun, fun, fun!  How did the boys jump that high?}

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{Love this!}

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{Another silly photo!}

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{Taking the town.}

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{Love, sweet, love!}

Now onto our favorite part about weddings – the dress!  How did you know your white dress was the one?

That is a tough question because it was more of a feeling that I got as opposed to the different characteristics of the dress.  But other than the feeling that overcame me, I could see the looks on the faces of my group – my mom, aunt, and sister-in-law – and I knew they felt it too!  Plus, I also knew that it would surprise Mark and knock his socks off!  (And of course, it did!)

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{“The one”!}

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{The simple and gorgeous cake.}

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{Being nice to one another – no cake smashing here!}

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{Father and bride dance together.}

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{More dancing!}

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{Dance-action shot.}

Thanks for sharing all of your day with us, Helen!  One final question for you – why did you want to be a TWD Bride of the Month?

Well…15 minutes of fame!  (Ok, just kidding…sort of.)  I loved working with TWD more than any of my other vendors (and I loved my other vendors!)  I can’t put my finger on it or explain how they made my experience so special – but they did.  Plus, I loved wedding planning and had a perfect day, so I thought I’d share whatever advice and tidbits I could with other brides.

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{Just married…done the classic way!}

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{Walking around downtown Howell.}

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{Congratulations to Helen and Mark!}

Closing Credits