This Battle Creek, Michigan Celebration is Uniquely Designed: The Real Wedding of Ashley and Brant Meyer

Traveling is something close to Ashley and Brant's hearts. Since they met on a hiking trip in Canada and hit off, Brant decided the best place to propose to Ashley would be Cuenca, Spain on their trip to Europe. COVID interrupted their plans, so Brant settled for proposing on a picnic during a hiking trip in Austin, Texas, where they were living at the time. "It wasn’t what we had planned but ended up being super intimate and beautiful," Ashley gushes.
 

Planning most of their wedding from Texas was the hardest part for Ashley and Brant. "I hadn’t done much planning before we got engaged," Ashley admits. "There were certain things I knew I wanted, like getting married outside, but I had not thought too much about the specifics until after we got engaged." Pinterest and real wedding stories helped Ashley narrow her vision, and Sandy, Ashley's planner, brought it to life. Despite not being able to see the venue, they started planning by booking one then moved along to a caterer, photographer and other vendors since everyone was booking quickly due to the wedding backlog COVID caused!
 

Since the happy couple wasn't sure where their wedding would take place, a lot of their decisions came from visiting the businesses' websites or reading reviews. That's actually how they landed on their venue. "We loved the look of the greenhouse and the option to have our ceremony outside. The venue was already so beautiful without any décor, so we knew it would be the perfect place to bring our wedding vision to life," Ashley raves. They kept the décor and color palette neutral to blend beautifully with the natural greenery around them. To support small businesses in such a turbulent time, Ashley and Brant bought many of their décor elements from Etsy artists.
 

Luckily, Ashley was able to find her wedding dress in a boutique in Texas. Her dress was very unique because she bought it from a store that had it specially designed by several designers. Ashley explains, "I thought I knew what I was looking for going into shopping, but that changed completely when I started trying on dresses. I visited a few stores before finding my dress and liked lots of dresses, but I definitely knew my dress was 'the one' as soon as I tried it on." We think she looks absolutely stunning! And we love her shoes from Badgley Mischka!
 

 

What we love

The happy couple chose to do what they wanted. Ashley and Brant allowed themselves a private first look where they shared personal vows. They also chose to incorporate other activities at their reception. "I also don’t like to dance, so we wanted to have lots of options for things to do at our wedding and had a s'mores bar, cigar bar and bonfire," Ashley says. "Our guests have told us they appreciate how much we had to do at our wedding during the reception."
 

 

Advice from the Couple

Ashley advises, "Prioritize the things you and your fiancé really want to see at your wedding and make sure you include those things. Lots of people will give you opinions on the 'right' way to plan your wedding, but make sure you’re staying true to what you and your fiancé want!"
 

 

 

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