Here we have a lovely green and gold event in Northern Michigan! Nestled deep into the woods near Ellis Lake is the Blue Bridge Event Center, a sprawling lanscape of woods and greenery. Chelsea began her morning with hair and makeup at the nearby Salon Moxie in downtown Traverse City.
The wedding details were stunning! I’m head-over-heels in love with these Badgley Mischka shoes!
And then, a quiet first look in the courtyard. 
The ceremony was everything we could’ve hoped… except… well, five o’clock mid-summer in Northern Michigan is just still so very sunny! The soft, slanted light that looks so romantic under a pergola like this did not appear until nearly 8 pm! And, of course, sunset didn’t happen until nearly 10! Let it be known, for planning brides dreaming of dusk or golden hour, the further North you are, the longer the summer days will stretch. The light won’t soften until about 20 or 30 minutes before “golden hour”. Golden hour is a window of time one hour before sunset, and sunset happens about an hour before twilight/dark. Please, use this website to calculate: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa . Especially if you are planning a destination wedding! Some locations nearer the equator have just minutes of sunset. It happens so fast! We are fortunate enough to have a more leisurely window of sunset colors, twilight, and dusk, but it does mean that in mid-summer, the evening can feel like high noon. Such was the case here.
But the best part of a wedding is that you get to marry your very favorite person in the whole world, so nothing could stop Blane’s smile as his most radiant bride came to join him! Chelsea’s Atelier Pronovias illusion gown looked painted on, the fit was so very flawless. And they had a sweet, loving, handfasting ceremony that was old world perfection. 
Speaking of perfection… look at this cake!!! 
A french bustle tucked up the graceful, crepe train, and the formal dances opened the night up for a fabulous summer party!
