This Outdoor Detroit Ceremony Has Us Wishing for Spring: The Real Wedding of Tori and Derek Donovan

After her dad suggested joining Central Michigan University's Baja SAE team to gain hands-on experience in mechanical engineering, Tori met Derek. Despite Tori not wanting to get involved with the team captain, she eventually began talking to and texting with him and the rest is history! Derek proposed to Tori at their family friends' cabin on a romantic walk down to the lake.
 

Tori knew she wanted a decent amount of time between the engagement and their wedding to plan, save and make one last trip, so they set their sights on fall 2021. "I knew what flowers I wanted in my wedding, but I knew what I did not want in our wedding more. I was tired of seeing some of the same ideas and themes used in friends' weddings over and over (i.e wooden cookie centerpieces, burlap, etc.)," Tori explains. With a mix of vendor suggestions, family and friend recommendations and online searches, Tori and Derek pulled together a team of vendors to help make their vision come to life. One of those was their fantastic photographer, Smitten Mitten Photography!
 

Let's talk about Tori's stunning dress! She first saw it on Instagram in the spring. "I instantly took a screenshot of the dress and sent it to my youngest sister, because I knew it was my dress. I saved it on my phone and every time I saw a picture, I would save it," Tori gushed. "Once I
put the dress on, I just knew it was mine. Even my mom, grandma and one of my sisters on Facetime knew. The dress was better than I even envisioned." We think her dress is the perfect find!
 

The couple was even able to incorporate a few D.I.Y. projects into their wedding. "I wrote the seating chart on old windows, and I sandblasted 80 Oui yogurt jars to use for votives on the tables," Tori says. "My now-husband made the welcome sign to our wedding." To make sure the windowpanes turned out well, Tori first printed off the names and table numbers then traced over them with a chalk pen. 
 

 

What We Love

At the wedding, Tori and Derek took a group photo with their Baja SAE team. Tori raves, "The picture of the Baja Team is one of the pictures that I had wanted the most because some of them we only see at other weddings and instead of a picture taken on a phone I wanted a professional one taken so that we could have it for years to come."
 

 

Advice from the Couple

"I asked for the max number that we could have or if they could not I did some math so that when saving we would have more than enough
to pay and possibly tip. My biggest fear was not saving enough, as I heard horror stories of couples not having enough. In the end, we were so glad that we over-saved as we had more than enough to pay final payments and tip," Tori advises. "When it comes to a wedding, I feel that everyone has an opinion on who should be invited, where the wedding should be, and how it should be. Just learn to say no or if they are helping pay, have a reason as to why you cannot invite or do what they are asking."
 

 

 

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