bryan + abby

Once Bryan and Abby started talking during a night out with mutual friends in Royal Oak, Michigan, they didn’t want their conversation to end. But while Bryan lived in Royal Oak, Abby called Grand Rapids home. So, with the support of their friends, the couple decided to begin a long-distance relationship.

Bryan and Abby grew closer, found out they had more and more in common, and eventually both made the move to Chicago—where they became engaged six months later! In August, their friends were by their side once again, this time to witness the once long-distance relationship become a lifelong commitment at a beautiful beachfront wedding in Holland.

The perfect place to share their day with family and friends had to be casual, comfortable, classy, and sophisticated, according to Abby. Though it may seem like a tall order to get all this out of one wedding day, the couple managed to pull it off in style!

For a bride and groom who love to spend time boating and relaxing on the beach, the lawn—right on Lake Macatawa in Holland—was the ideal location to exchange vows and party afterwards. It was important to Bryan and Abby to choose a location that could accommodate both their ceremony and reception so that the transition between these two sections of the day was a smooth one.

Bryan and Abby’s short but meaningful outdoor ceremony was followed by a cocktail hour, dinner and dancing in a perfect white wedding tent from Taylor Rental in Holland. Gray and yellow lanterns hanging from the reception tent provided perfect lighting for matching linens and the vibrant flowers from Modern Day Floral.

The pair decided to forgo the tradition of serving a wedding cake, and instead offered guests chocolate chip cookies with shot glasses of milk! After dessert. Donovan from A Different Spin DJ kept the couple’s nearly 150 friends and family members dancing into the night.

But as easy as it can be for a bride and groom to get lost in the excitement of their day, Bryan and Abby were sure to give back to others. In lieu of favors, the newlyweds donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® to fight breast cancer.

Stella Event Design helped Bryan and Abby coordinate all the “little details” of what proved to be a very big celebration of their love, and Kara Purtell Photography captured those details vividly in photography that the couple will treasure through the years.