Taylore & Spencer wanted their wedding to reflect their individuality, creating a celebration that felt both unique and personal. They drew inspiration from a natural, organic, and romantic theme. With their wedding taking place in early September, they aimed to capture the balance of seasons shifting—introducing subtle autumnal elements without making it overly fall-focused.
Captured by JAILA RENEE PHOTOGRAPHY, the venue was the bride’s childhood home, nestled in her parents’ backyard, a place filled with special memories and nostalgia. Not only was the space beautiful and sentimental, but it also came with the bonus of being free. It had become something of a family tradition, as both of the bride’s older sisters had also been married on the property in recent years.
Adding to the family legacy, the bride’s father, a builder by trade, crafted a unique structure for each daughter’s wedding day. A stone bridge for the first sister, a pull-barn for the second, and for the youngest, a charming chapel in the woods. The family jokes that one day, the bride’s older brother, the only sibling who didn’t marry at the family home, will have to hold a vow renewal there to complete the tradition!
HOW DID YOU MEET? We met in 2016 on a blind date orchestrated by my sister and Spencer’s close friend (both who worked with Spencer). It wasn’t immediate love at first sight, but we kept the door open until I returned to Michigan a few months later after I finished my last semester at grad school in Illinois. We started going on more dates and realized we had a lot of similar interests, made each other happy, and realized this could be something real.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: Spencer somehow managed a surprise engagement; amidst Taylore’s doubts he could pull it off. Our friends (aka Spencer) planned a day trip to the Indiana State Dunes. Our friends made up an excuse last minute of why they couldn’t join and Spencer revealed they were never coming in the first place. Spencer proposed on a 70-degree sunny day in October on top of a Dune overlooking Lake Michigan and the beautiful fall foliage.
TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS/ATTIRE: If you ask me, finding my dress was a breeze! If you ask my moms and sisters, they will tell you differently. Not only did I end up trying on more dresses than I intended, I also did not have a clear vision going into the process. Basically, I knew what i didn’t want and then from there I was able to narrow down what I did. I wanted something that felt authentic to me and my personality, comfortable, simple, and timeless. The consultants at Memories Bridal were very helpful in my journey!
DID YOU HAVE ANY DIY ELEMENTS? In some senses, our whole wedding day and venue was sort of DIY given it was in my parent’s backyard. While the backyard has hosted a handful of weddings, there were certainly things that we had to create from the ground up and fly by the seed of our pants. The chapel build by my dad, the tablescape decor thrifted by my mom and mother-in-law, the wedding bell procured by my father-in-law, flower stems assembled by family friends, etc. We had so much help from family, life-long family friends, and our day-of-coordinators! It truly takes a circus.
DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: Similar to my dress, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted for my flowers, but I knew what I didn’t. I wanted something simple, neutral, and locally sourced and nothing over the top. I leaned on my amazing florist, Vivai Flower Farm, to take it from there! She put together the most beautiful organic arrangements of neutrals, whites, touches of peaches and amber, and green sourced from her local flower farm.
FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: For me, my favorite detail of the day was the local fruit on our tablescapes. On the Friday before our wedding, my mother-in-law and I went to the Kalamazoo Farmers market to pick up a bunch of peaches, pears, plums, and grapes for the scape. As mentioned earlier, my mother-in-law also worked hard to thrift a bunch of the crystal bowls we put some of the fruit in, and we scattered the whole fruit throughout the table. For Spencer, his favorite detail was the ambiance of the ceremony spot. Our families did such an amazing job of bringing our vision of a nature-centered and intimate ceremony to life. It was so fun to come up with the idea together (after several other options we ruled out) and watch it all unfold. Huge shout out to Mr. Peterson for building the chapel in a matter of days.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? Enjoy it all – it will all be over before you know it. Show appreciation to others helping with the process and soak up the extra time it allows you to spend with them. Don’t sweat the small stuff and know it will all work out in end and those little details will not matter. Check-in with each other throughout the process – be intentional and always ask what each needs. Don’t be afraid to delegate and ask for help. As much as possible, don’t let others thoughts and opinions impact you too much – your wedding should be a reflection of the two of you!
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? Both of our most memorable moments were our private first look and private vow reading before the ceremony. After going back and forth on whether we wanted to read our personal vows at the ceremony in front of others, Spencer and I decided to share our personal vows privately with one another instead (mainly thanks to my public speaking stage fright). In the end, we are so glad we did it just with the two of us (even our photographer wasn’t present!). This was such an emotional, pure, beautiful moment that we will cherish forever. We both felt like after that time we were able to fully relax and it was almost like we had already gotten married.
WHAT ASPECT OF THE WEDDING WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU BOTH? One of the most important aspects of our wedding was to reflect us as a couple and to not be afraid to do things a bit differently than other weddings we’ve attended. Whether that was choosing to serve local BBQ (instead of a more traditional fancier wedding meal) or hosting a bride vs. grooms side soccer game for our rehearsal dinner the night before, we wanted to mix it up a bit and capture the things we loved the most. Also, how involved both of our families were also important to us – we wanted it to be a family affair and something that brought us all together and memories to cherish forever.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HONEYMOON: For our honeymoon, we took a 15-day trip to Europe! We spent the first few days in Barcelona, Spain then continued the rest of our time in Portugal, hitting Lisbon, Douro Valley, and Porto. It was a good balance of sight-seeing/touristy activities (tapas tours, beautiful cathedrals, sailing tours, etc.) and relaxation (hiking, wine tasting, reading, etc.). Spencer even got to cross-off a bucket item list of playing pick-up soccer in Barcelona, which was so much fun to watch. Our travel agents, Wander & Pour, were a life savor in helping us plan!
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE OR DO DIFFERENTLY? Looking back, there isn’t too much we would change from our wedding. We truly felt like we had the best day, and our wedding day came to life as we envisioned. If we had to choose, we would try to shorten our guest list a bit to try to keep it to a smaller, more intimate group. Everyone there was so special to us, and we loved making rounds to everyone at the reception, but we felt like we didn’t get too much quality time with folks because of the number of tables/people we had to make it to. Or, would book our amazing photographer (Jaila Rixie Photography) for a few more hours because she was so amazing!
