Amway Grand Plaza
Grand Rapids Public Museum
Grand Rapids, MI
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Silver!! #BerningtobeaSilver ! How cute is that?
Sarah and Aaron are the sweetest, most genuine, and caring people. They are so wonderful, kind, considerate, and happy. It is definitely something to be celebrated that they found each other. The big day was elegant through and through, from the details to the dress…Even their first dance was like it was out of a fairy tale, poised and beautiful.
Aaron and Sarah met online through Bumble in August of 2019, and if it wasn’t for their shared love of dogs, they never would have met! Aaron happened to be dog sitting a little east of Grand Rapids, and while Sarah was at work in downtown Lansing, they were just barely within the 50 mile acceptable radius of matches on the dating app. Lucky for them, Sarah hadn’t heard of Middleville and Aaron hadn’t heard of Okemos. Surely, they were one of those little towns close by, not halfway across the state of Michigan! Their first date was at Zoobies, in Lansing. It was the fastest 3.5 hours ever. It went so quickly, they forgot to eat dinner! Sarah broke all the cool rules and told him about things like the Scandinavian cookbook she picked up at the library before they met. But that was OK, because Aaron too told her all about his love of nerdy things like space and Star Trek. They set up the second date before they even left. She texted her best friend from the car, “Now THAT was a first date!” They had three dates that first week. They finally ate dinner together (sushi - one of their favorite meals) on Tuesday, and escaped from an escape room on Friday.
From there they embarked on quite an adventure. Over the next 6 months, they saw the musicals Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera in Chicago, and Hamilton. They saw a Harry Potter film in Concert, the Trans Siberian Orchestra, took several cooking classes at Sur la Table, made trips to Chicago, DC, and northern Michigan (including Mackinac Island, Traverse City, and Petoskey), went skiing, shopping, mini golfing, went on trips to cider mills, a Michigan football game in Ann Arbor, and celebrated Christmas outrageously, including three trips to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland. When not traveling all over, they love cooking together at home, spending nights in on the couch with a movie, spending time with family, and going on walks together.
It only took a few weeks of dating for them to know this was something very different than anything either of them had previously experienced. In early February 2020, Aaron asked Sarah’s stepfather for his permission to marry Sarah before he passed away in March. With the Covid-19 pandemic shutting everything down, Aaron then had a really hard time getting a ring - many jewelers closed their doors initially during the pandemic. On top of that, keeping Sarah from finding out that he was looking for a ring was equally challenging, as they were both working from home at that point. However, he recruited his sister, Kelsey, Sarah’s sister. Mary, and her longest friend, Lauren, to help him find the perfect vintage inspired ring. He then asked and received permission from Sarah’s mother and father. He got the ring on a Wednesday afternoon and had to ask as soon as possible! They went to Tunnel Park, in Holland, for a picnic dinner after work. Sarah may have known it was coming, but it didn’t make it any less perfect. They ate on the beach and watched the sunset over the water. When no one was around (he knew she would hate an audience), Aaron got down on one knee and asked Sarah if she would marry him. She said “Yes! Yes! Yes!” and then “Yes!” once more to make extra sure! Then came a wonderful night of calling family and friends and a champagne toast when they got home. The date was July 30, 2020 - one year to the day of their wedding.
In case you missed their fun engagement session at Millenium Park, in Grand Rapids, you can check it out here:
https://lookatthebiggerpicture.com/blog/millenium-park-grand-rapids-engagement
A big thank you to my second photographer, Emily Betcher, who helped document this wonderful day. So fun.
Aaron and Sarah, thank you so much for trusting me with your love story. I am honored and had such a great time with you through the year of planning, the engagement session, and the big day! I wish you all the happiness you can’t even fathom.
Enjoy the preview of the day…
