nadine + Varun
nortport, michigan
meet nadine + varun
Planning and Design: All Buttoned Up Events
Photography: Nathan English
Venues: Nature, A Michigan Retreat
Hair and Makeup: K. Noelle
Rentals: 307 Events, Special Occasions, Eleve Events
Floral: Bloom
Food: Island Thyme
Dessert: She Bakes A Lot, Nothing Bundt Cakes
DJ: Proform DJs
Working with this couple was one of the highlights of our careers. Nadine and Varun planned their wedding from San Francisco so we were brought on back in 2018 for a 2020 wedding. Planning a destination wedding in Traverse City, we did a lot of the planning early as guests would be coming in from all over the country (and world!) for their big day. Something that will always resonate with me is the absolute trust Nadine placed in our hands for logistics and design. She allowed us the freedom to do our thing and boy did we do our thing.
Walking into 2020 we had a rock star list of vendors and planning was all in place; then COVID happened. We had to pivot everything, including the venue, wedding year and 1,000 other details. Everything does seem to happen for a reason and our Plan B (C, D, E if we are being honest) ended up to be the best one we had.
Guests arrived earlier in the week and were invited up to the venue for a Welcome Party. Arriving by the bus load they were excited to get to the festivities and honestly, be together after a long year and half. The venue, Nature, is nestled in the trees of Northern Michigan and their indoor venue "The Nest" was a wonderful spot to kick start to the weekend. We went bold and colorful for this event and the main "theme" was Pure Michigan. With a sweets table chalked full of cherry republic items, saltwater taffy, and Michigan cherries, it really was the Welcome to Michigan we were after. The couple had been celebrating all week in Michigan with a Hindu ceremony earlier that week but they wanted to share Varun's heritage with the rest of their guests so this evening was filled with speeches, a special dance from all the aunties and lots of Bollywood dancing.
The next day we invited guests to enjoy more of the property and placed a tent on the property. Again, we did have to pivot and move the ceremony under the tent due to weather but it allowed their amazing floral backdrop from Bloom to be enjoyed all night. This wedding was filled with countless surprises for the guest. It began with the Flowerbro (Brother that is the flower girl) handing out beers for the ceremony, to $100 bouquet tosses, lightsticks and the groom ending up in the pond, it is a night we will never forget. One of our favorites was their first look which Nadine had us surprise Varun with a nerf gun fight (how sweet are the hand-painted bride and groom guns?).
The design centered around a neutral palette to really let the natural setting shine through and Bloom Floral helped bring this together and the design to life. We had a lot of custom elements with the paper products and the "flagging" element is carried throughout. Countless hours were spent planning out special moments for an amazing couple and will forever remain in our hearts as not only a beautiful wedding but one that was filled to the brim with laughter and joy.
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