Jeana and Nolan's Taco and Doughnut Loving DIY Michigan Wedding by Emma Quinn

Today I am taking you to Michigan for the delightful wedding of Jeana and Nolan. With an epic engagement story, this gorgeous couple have been together since they were 16 years old and Jeana had been dreaming of getting married at Greencrest Manor for many of those years. The day was filled with the most touching first look, a lot of DIY decoration, which was coordinated by the bride herself, as well as the most delicious tacos and of course a doughnut wall. With flowers by Bloominous and photography by Emma Quinn this day is just perfect for this loved up couple.

Best Day Ever!

Jeana and Nolan were married on 8th September 2018 at Greencrest Manor Estate Bed & Breakfast in Michigan. ‘The beautiful manor, the house looked to be from France/Europe and it the grounds/greenery were everything I could dream of! I didn’t even look anywhere else as soon as we got engaged I knew exactly where I wanted the wedding to be! We had 200 guests, We had a short engagement 6 months!’

How they met
Nolan and I met in our home town of Paw Paw, Michigan. We met when we were 15 years old, we started dating at age 16 and we have been together for 10 years!

The proposal
The proposal happened on March 9^th, 2018 and it was the MOST perfect day. Nolan planned the entire day, had my parents fly down to Houston a couple days prior with an excuse that my dad needed to help around our new house we just moved into! It was a Friday and Nolan left a note on my sink that read “I have a special day planned for you, my sister will be picking you and your mom up at 10:30 be dressed and ready but don’t do your hair.” At that instance I knew that it was THE day! I told my boss I wouldn’t be working and at 10:30am the day started! Nolan’s sister picked us up and we drove down where all of a sudden Nolan’s other sister and his mom were walking on the side walk! I had no idea they were in Houston. Nolan’s sister, Grace was filming us as we drove up. Nolan’s mom had a basket full of cards, the day kept getting better! They got in the car and his mom handed me a little gift with a card and it read, “Time to clean up those nails” as we headed toward the nail salon! After we got our nails done there was another clue to where we were headed next, it was a card that read “You Blow me Away” we drove up to Drybar my FAVORITE spot to get a good blowout! Following Drybar Nolan’s mom handed me another gift which was a clue that we were headed to my favourite spot for lunch, True Food Kitchen. As we sat and ate I began to get anxious all these fun activities but I never knew when the main event was actually going to happen! After lunch the next clue said “Shop till you drop” and we pulled up to my favorite store Anthropologie! I was able to pick out an entire outfit on Nolan’s dime, best DAY EVER! Next I got a card that said “You are my Sunshine” and I had to take a picture next to that mural in Houston and send it to Nolan…thinking “No fair how does he get to see me in a picture before I actually see him!” FINALLY it was time to go to the main event, I started to really get nervous, I stopped talking and I could feet my heart beating outside my chest. We pulled up to a park in Houston, and I walked down the flight of stairs to Nolan, my prince charming standing there holding a golden retriever puppy! Nolan got down on one knee and the rest is history.

How did you allocate your budget?
I allocated based on the help our parents were giving us and how much we could put forward.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
I splurged on the venue, it was truly my fairytale wedding and I NEEDED that spot! Knowing that I would have to sacrifice elsewhere, I saved on flowers, decorations, wedding planner (I was the planner), etc. I ordered my flowers wholesale from Bloominous and I couldn’t have been happier I think total I saved around $3,000 doing it that way. I bought greenery from Sams Club on their website and it was beautiful and lasted SO long. I bought my decorations from Home Goods, and we decorated everything ourselves. Definitely splurged on the videographer we paid extra for them to be there the entire day so that they could capture sparkler send off and it was worth it!

How did you choose your photographer?
Emma went to college with me and was in my sorority she recently started picking up photography a couple years prior and I LOVED her style. Honestly in college she was the coolest and still is, her second shooter was actually her Fiancé who went to college with us also and was in Nolan’s fraternity! It was so fun to have them there capturing our day and they made us feel so comfortable and that was big for me. The photos were amazing and I couldn’t have picked a better photographer.

The dress
Everything was BHLDN!

The suit and bridesmaids
Grooms suit was by Ted Baker via Nordstrom and groomsmen suits were by Generation Tux an online website where they guys go on and give measurements it was easy and the suits were great quality. Bridesmaids dresses were also BHLDN I love their selection of different styles in same color scheme we had three different styles and I loved how they looked together.

Theme or colour scheme
Our theme was just greenery I didn’t have too many flowers other than the bouquets because the venue had so much greenery and gardens and flowers I did not want to take away from the natural beauty. Our wedding was a little bit of everything, elegant but yet we had a taco truck for dinner and a donut wall no cake. It was all of our favourite things!

Flowers
We had flowers for Bouquets and Boutonnieres it was the Juliet Collection on Bloominous. For guest tables I actually ordered the greenery from Samsclub.com! The beautiful head table garland and the small round table I got an assortment featuring eucalyptus, Israeli Ruscus, Variegated Pittosporum, etc. The greenery lasted months after our wedding, id highly recommend!

Decoration
I bought tons of signs and sayings, I bought a sign from Smallwood website and most of our decorations I bought from Homegoods. I had small candles on the tables and lanterns. Gold decorations.

Food
We had a Taco truck! By Donkey Catering in Grand Rapids, MI. There were 5 tacos on the menu to choose from each guest got two and then there was salad, rice and beans, guacamole and salsa!

Wedding cake
No traditional wedding cake we had a donut wall! From our favourite local donut place; Sweetwater Donuts in Kalamazoo, MI

Entertainment
We had a DJ, the venue provided games such as bags and spike ball.

Who supplied the stationery?
I bought templates off of Etsy and we printed them ourselves.

Personal touches
Or things that you did yourself? We decorated everything ourselves, we did all the programs, menus, name tags, etc. It was pretty DIY wedding when it came to decorations. HUGE shout out to my family for helping.

Special moments
First look with my dad and Nolan were very special. My dad is a sensitive guy so it was so special for us to have that special look, I walked down the stairs and he was standing at the bottom it was beautiful! Our first look before the ceremony was also very special. Reading each other’s letters that we wrote was one of our favourite parts of the day.

Advice for other couples
Don’t stress too much about the little things, it is almost impossible not to but no one will remember the centre pieces at your wedding or if the name tags blew away. Focus on you and your partner, and always remember that it is YOUR day not your moms not your mother-in-laws, not your friends YOURS! Keep that in mind when you’re selecting everything from music to food to dessert! Also, take time to soak it all in, step back and just observe and take a deep breath the day goes by faster than you can even imagine.

Biggest surprise
The letter and gift Nolan wrote me, it was such a beautiful letter.