This D.I.Y. Gary, Indiana Backyard Ceremony is Sure to Inspire You: The Real Wedding of Michele and Vince

Though their paths never crossed while both living in Indianapolis, when Michele and Vince moved back to northern Indiana a mutual friend introduced them knowing they were similar souls. Despite having opposite work schedules, Vince found a way to propose. He drove home and waited upstairs on one knee while Michele was on a sixteen-minute work call. 
 

Since Vince asked Michele to start looking at rings two weeks before they were able to go shopping due to conflicting schedules, Michele started her planning before they even designed her ring! She landed on the date of July 11th to honor both of Vince's parents (who were born on August and September 11th). "Due to COVID and health conditions with family members, we knew we were going to have a small ceremony in 2021 with a big reception planned for 2022. Although it might not have been what I thought when I was little, it was truly perfect," Michele gushes.
 

Part of the advance planning led Michele to her perfect wedding dress! "Right around the time we went to look at rings, I happened to be
browsing dresses on Amazon and found one that seemed interesting," Michele explains. "Well, I tried it on, and it fit like a glove and I fell in love." The only difficult aspect was finding a way to break it to her mom that she had already bought a dress.
 

Pinterest was one of the main tools Michele used in her planning. "I had a wedding board with different sections that were everything from hairstyles to backyard ceremony ideas!" Michele admits. However, her vendors came from all sorts of resources. She went to high school with their photographer, videographer and hairstylist and found their officiant, musician and makeup artist on a Northwest Indiana wedding Facebook group! Other vendors were local businesses both Vince and Michele had known from their childhood.
 

 

What We Love

Michele was able to D.I.Y. so many details of their wedding! "From staining wood crates from a local farmer to finding rugs on Facebook marketplace to the table decorations to rolling pages out of an old book to make holders for lavender to toss to our flower girl basket to the ladder shelf that was made out of items in our backyard and everything in between, I did myself," Michele says.
 

Advice from the Couple

Michele and Vince advise, "Book your vendors ASAP! I was amazed to find out how far out some vendors are booked."
 

 

 

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