Heritage Museum and Cultural Center - Kirstin and Jake

Congratulations to Kirstin and Jake!! What a fun celebration for such a fun couple!

These two met at Hope College, in the back seat of a mutual friend’s van while catching a ride home in a rainstorm. They were friends for a while and finally got serious in their junior year of college. They started dating in October of 2017 and have been together ever since! Jake proposed on October 29th , 2020. It was important to him that she was surprised and she was! He decorated the basement of their AirBnB on a visit home to west Michigan and lured her there the morning they checked out under false pretenses. He popped the question and Kirstin’s bridesmaids, Grace and Alex, jumped out of the closet with champagne!

Jake and Kirstin describe themselves as “the cool kind of nerdy”. They love to socialize and meet new people (especially when it involves dancing). They share a love of fantasy books and movies and love having conversations about things like politics, stocks, and fanfiction. They always know that whatever weird interest one of them is picking up at a given moment, the other is always there to listen and engage. Their relationship is one of intense comfort and joy in knowing that they love and accept each other just as they are.

Best of wishes to you both! Thank you so much for choosing me to document your story. Enjoy the preview of your day….

Old Stonegate Farms - Sarah and Nathaniel

Old Stonegate Farms
Nunica, MI

Congratulations to Sarah and Nathaniel! What a beautiful, relaxing and fun celebration. These two are so perfect for each other! You can feel the laughter and love all over the place. Many happy tears flowed throughout the day, broken up by yard games and dancing!

There was not a dry eye in the house when Sarah’s dad surprised her and sang “Blackbird”, accompanied by her brother on guitar. He used to sing that to her to get her to sleep as a little girl.

Sarah and Nathaniel met ten years ago on the pool deck at GVSU as freshmen. They were both there with their roommates to practice and decided to go get dinner afterwards. WThey ended up back at the boys’ apartment to watch a movie but ended up talking until about 3am. The couple officially got together after a Labor Day party, which will make the wedding day their 10 year anniversary! They stayed together through college, long distance, back to school, and a house flip. They ended up moving in together on the north end of Grand Rapids and getting a dog, Ragnar. On June 7, 2020, they took Ragnar for a walk at sunset at Riverside Park. They stopped and sat to look at the river. It was beautiful, and the end of a really great day. Right when Nathaniel started to take the ring out of his pocket, Ragnar squatted and took a big poop right in front of them! Both of them were laughing so hard but Nathaniel asked if Sarah would marry him and it was, honestly, perfect.

Both of them enjoy staying active. They work on flipping their home together. They also like to go canoeing, hiking, and camping. Both of them are “big science nerds”, like dorky movies and tv shows, and they can still talk for hours.

Sarah and Nathaniel, thank you for trusting me with your story and for choosing me to document the beautiful day. Please enjoy the preview of their big day!