We are officially in vacation mode! We kicked it all off last Thursday by driving from St. Louis to Whitehall, Michigan for a wedding this past weekend. You may recognize the girls from this picture because they've previously been on the blog in this post here. We all worked at the same architecture firm and have stayed in touch even though we are in different area codes. It was awesome to see them again to celebrate Mindy's wedding.
It was kind of nice that we drove because we could pack at our leisure that morning, and we didn't have any hard plans for that afternoon or evening so there was no rush or pressure getting there by a certain time. We didn't arrive until about 10:30pm local time and went straight to check into our hotel - The Weathervane Inn in Montague.
View from our balcony at The Weathervane Inn
The hotel was adorable and we had the best view. The husband had to work for a couple of hours Friday morning. He chose to sit on the balcony while he took his call, and I chose to just sit and drink coffee next to him. The weather was a little chillier than I would have liked when it was overcast, but once the sun came out, it was perfect. We grabbed a late lunch, sitting on the deck at The Lake's Edge.
My bag: Stella and Dot "Taj" | My dress: JCrew Factory (other floral maxi dress options here) | My earrings: Nickel and Suede large nude cut-out | My smartwatch: Michael Kors "Sofie"
Friday night, there was a welcome party at a local bar called Pub One Eleven. Food, open bar, and catching up with old friends! Afterwards, a group of us went to the wedding site to help decorate. We couldn't resist the photo op in front of the water at sunset.
Friday ended up turning into a pretty late night.... so we slept in Saturday morning and grabbed a super late breakfast at The Dive Restaurant and Bakery. After a quick power nap, we got ready for the wedding which started at 4pm. I bought this dress around the holidays and was happy to finally take the tags off for this occasion. I went for wedges since I knew both the wedding and reception would be outside. The only thing I didn't plan better for was the weather. I could have definitely used a cover up for when the sun went down. Luckily, the sun sets close to 10pm this time of year in Michigan, so it wasn't horribly cold. Plus, I had bourbon to keep me warm....
Wedding and reception at White Lake Eagles, Whitehall, MI
This was definitely the most laid back, unstructured wedding I have ever been to, and it was a pleasant surprise! The ceremony started at 4pm, and we were given a program that basically told us once the ceremony was done, we could eat if we wanted to eat, drink if we wanted to drink, sit outside, sit inside - all of it was up to what we were feeling! We arranged some chairs in the sun, had a few cocktails before making our dinner plates, and then enjoyed the music and the company for the rest of the night.
We made sure to grab a photo of the four of us before things started getting super crazy. The weather was seriously perfect, though just a tad bit windy. I'm glad I decided to pin my hair half up because it would have been everywhere otherwise!
What a beautiful backdrop for a wedding! So great! The morning after, we were up super early because we caught a ride on the ferry from Ludington, MI to Milwaukee, WI. It was a car ferry, so they drove our car on and we rented a stateroom, which was the best money we have ever spent! We ended up sleeping for 3 of the 4 hours on the ferry. By the time we woke up, we grabbed a snack, explored the ferry a bit, and then voila! We were docking! So now starts part 2 of our vacation! I'm sure I will be sharing more about the week as we go! So far, we are off to a good start!
have the best time on vacation you deserve it, a laid back wedding sounds awesome.
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Pinksole
The wedding sure looks like a lot of fun on Instagram stories! Glad you are having a great time on vacation - like Rachelle said, you deserve it! And the price on that dress right now is amazing!
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