Grand Haven Courthouse Micro Wedding
Grace and Carter met at the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival in 2022. Now, Carter is in the Coast Guard serving. So they thought, what better place to get married than Grand Haven, MI during Coast Guard festival?!
Grand Haven, Michigan, is Coast Guard City USA. Each year in August there is a festival with tons of fun events like a street dance, concerts each night at the waterfront stadium, a big fireworks show, a carnival that goes on the whole week, food trucks/vendors, a craft show, and more. Overall the vibes are just super fun the whole week. Many of us who are from the Grand Haven area come home to visit that week, just like Grace and Carter did!
The two decided to do a first look at the fountain in Central Park, which is right across the street from the Ottawa County 58th District Court. They read notes from each other in private before the ceremony.
There were two details I LOVED about Grace’s outfit. 1- her mom made a locket with a picture of her dad in it for her bouquet. This way, her dad could still be a part of her special day. He would have been there if heaven weren’t so far away. 2- Grace had blue on the bottom of her shoes for her “something blue",” how fun!
Grace’s mom set the two up with a golf cart that was borrowed from the Grand Haven Coast Guard Festival office. This was certainly one of my favorite parts of their wedding, and the coolest getaway car ever. It was so nice to have the cart to get from location to location because it was extremely humid that day, and much easier to park the golf cart than a car during the festival.
Grace’s Aunt surprised the two with a message on the marquee at the Grand Theater downtown Grand Haven. The marquee is commonly used for things like prom proposals, true proposals (Marry Me?), etc. It was so fun to see Aunt Rebecca’s reaction to Grace and Carter’s reaction, you could tell it meant a lot to her to put this surprise together.
Edit: after posting these photos I received a lot of questions on how to get a message on the marquee. I did the digging so you don’t have to! The sign is on the front of New Holland Distilling. Start by sending an email to marquee@newhollandbrew.com and let them know your date and what you want the sign to say. If they have availability they will send a contract over to you. The sign has two sides, so the chances are pretty high that you’ll be able to secure it as long as you don’t wait until the last minute.
Candid moments are my favorite photos to capture. Here’s a few fun one's that give you a behind-the-scenes feel of their day.
Although it was super sticky and humid out, we were blessed with overcast skies, making the most beautiful soft, even lighting for our portraits on the Grand Haven Pier and at the waterfront stadium.
This is a reminder that your wedding day should be all about you. Make it authentic to you and your partner! If you’re thinking about eloping or having a micro wedding; go for it. This is such a low-stress and cost effective way to have a wedding, you really can’t go wrong. Plus, you can still have a reception ceremony with all of your friends and family either that day, that week, or even a few months from your wedding day!
