Story by Adrienne Rilenge - Photos by Andrejka Photography
Our wedding on August 6, 2022, on Mackinac Island was, without question, the best, most magical and love-filled day of our lives. The entire experience of becoming husband and wife was the biggest blessing, and both of us are humbled by how much love and support we have received from those we hold most dear to our hearts.
Nathan and I met in 2010 and were just friends until we started dating in 2016. I was still in college when we made our relationship official, and Nathan would travel the 12 hours to North Carolina to visit me. Although at times difficult, we made our long-distance relationship work for the remainder of my time in school.
Nathan proposed on February 7, 2021 on Mackinac in one of our favorite spots. It was absolutely freezing outside, it was snowing, and it was perfect.
Growing up on Mackinac Island, I always knew that I wanted to be married at Ste Anne’s Catholic Church and to have the reception in my family’s garden. It was so special to me to have the beautiful place that I grew up be the backdrop of the most important day of our lives.
Planning a wedding at our home was no easy feat. I knew immediately that we needed as much help as we could, so we hired our amazing wedding planner, Carole Erbel, of For the Love of Mackinac ! who was quite literally our wedding fairy-godmother. None of our day would have been possible without Carole.
The decor style of the wedding was to feel overgrown and lush with greenery while also extremely timeless. Loly with the Little Postage House, set the tone for our wedding with the most exquisite hand-pressed custom invitations. She even used vintage postage stamps to tell our love story.
Kate Dupre, of Watercolor Café created an itinerary program, bringing together all of our wedding guest activities into one amazing and beautiful fold out guide. It even had a word search in it! We tucked it into our guest bags along with weekend snack and recovery essentials and had the bags delivered in advance to each of our guest’s hotel rooms.
Since Mackinac is a destination for people to travel to, we knew we wanted our wedding to be a weekend experience. For Nathan and me, our day was as much about the guests as it was for us. We wanted people to leave our wedding weekend better understanding who Nathan and I are as a couple and for them to have lasting memories of a lifetime.
The festivities started on Thursday with a morning Pilates class taught by me and continued with a guided hike on some of Nathan and my favorite trails. We ended Thursday with a welcome barbecue. Most people arrived Thursday, so this was a great way for all the families and wedding party to meet and relax before the big festivities began!
On Friday morning, we hosted a golf tournament at Wawashkamo Golf Club as golf is our favorite summer thing to do. I surprised everyone by sporting a US Masters style caddy uniform!
Our wedding rehearsal went off without a hitch thanks to For the Love of Mackinac and our priest from Sault Ste Marie, Father Mark McQuesten. My rehearsal dress was created by Alexia Maria and my shoes were Dolce & Gabbana. Our rehearsal dinner was hosted by Nathan’s parents at the Mackinac Island Yacht Club. We had beautiful floral arrangements created from our wedding floral designer, St Ignace in Bloom. Afterwards, we departed to meet more of our guests on the Sip’ N ’Sail for a sunset cruise under the Mackinac Bridge. The music, weather and the views of the bridge were perfect.
The morning of the wedding was extremely relaxing and so much fun. It was amazing to have all my best friends come over to my parents to get ready since, as kids, we would all get ready for big events in my parent’s beautiful sun-filled master bedroom turret. My mom and best friend helped me into my beautiful Monique Lhuillier gown which I purchased in Biminghan at Roma Sposa. My accessories were my Romona Keveza bolero, Manolo Blahnik heels, and handmade Lena Rom headpiece. Being one for drama, I had a custom veil made that was 24-feet long!
One of my favorite parts of the day was the first look I did with my father. Andrejka Hirsch, of Andrejka Photography, captured my tears perfectly of when I first saw my dad and it’s one of my favorite photos from the day.
My parents and I headed to the church in Grand Hotel’s Vis a Vis wicker carriage, and it took a crew of three to help me get out of the carriage with my long train and veil. The flowers at the church were incredible. Samantha and her crew of St Ignace in Bloom, had created 34 arrangements using all white roses, snap dragons, babies breath, daisies, and carnationsto line the church aisle to make the aisle look like I was walking through a garden. We also had made two 8 foot pieces of the same flowers placed outside of the church doors.
The wedding began with incredible piano played by Mackinac Island’s John Kissaine. I walked down the flower filled aisle to Andrea Bocelli’s The Prayer, and I cried when I saw the faces of all those I love most, and most importantly, when I saw my very soon-to-be husband waiting for me at the end of the aisle.
After we were announced husband and wife, we departed on a carriage ride and took photos at all our favorite spots with our amazing photographer, Andrejka and wonderful videographer who captured our day perfectly, Gabi.
The reception scene at my family home was breathtaking! Our guests enjoyed a cocktail hour in our garden before the announcement of the bridal party and Nate and I. We loved our champagne tower as the festivities and love flowed big and everyone joined in the fun. Toasts were made and thank-you’s given to our wonderful parents.
Our reception tent was magical. Samantha Belogna and St. Ignace in Bloom created the most insane, beautiful, and jaw dropping floral displays I have ever seen. When I say we didn’t skimp on flowers, we absolutely did not and Samantha made my vision come to life better than I could imagined.
Following dinner and toasts, we danced the night away to The Crasherz, an eleven- piece band that everyone loved. Nathan and I reveled in every moment of love and mustered every minute of fun we could imagine. I even did an impromptu song with the band, performing “Proud Mary”.
Slipping out for a change to my reception party dress by Viero Bridal, purchased at Abendmode Bridal store in Royal Oak, we met up with our “Best Dog”—our Nova Scotia Mule, Bradley, for some play time and photos on the beautiful Woods golf course. The photos and video are wonderful, and we will treasure them forever.
In all, the childhood Mackinac Island wedding I had always dreamed of was far better than I had imagined. It truly was a wedding of love, and we made the weekend as detailed and as “us” as we could.
I am so grateful I booked my vendors early and was thorough in my preperation. I also knew to trust my expert vendors who knew the Island inside and out. I can’t imagine planning a wedding without the help of the fantastic Island vendors and our wonderful family and friends.
It truly was the happiest day of our lives.
