An Elegant and Earthy Kalamazoo Celebration: The Real Wedding of Megan and John Dansfield

After meeting at a New Year's Eve party in 2019 and realizing they were in the same orchestra band 10 years ago, Megan and John decided to stay in touch after John had to return to South Carolina for work. When COVID hit and John was unable to travel, he asked Megan to come visit him. She did and the rest is history! On a trip back to Michigan to see Megan's family, John decided to propose. John took Megan to a lovely dinner with her family and proposed at a fountain on the bluff overlooking St. Joseph Michigan's Silver Beach.
 

The first step in the planning process was for Megan to find her dream wedding dress since she worked as operations and alterations manager at a bridal salon in South Carolina. "I’ve 'modeled' wedding dresses for store content so I’m no stranger to a beautiful gown. When it was actually my turn, however, I didn’t know what silhouette I wanted," Megan shares. "I’m a sucker for gorgeous lace, and a champagne lining allows the detail of ivory lace to be visible in pictures." Megan found a dress brand whose colors looked good with her skin tone then scoured their website until she found the look she wanted to loan in to the bridal shop she works at. We think it is the perfect gown for her big day!
 

With the dress already selected, Megan and John threw themselves into the planning process. Megan explains, "My vision was timeless elegance. I was obsessed with a very specific shade of olive green and found it for the bridesmaids' dresses. My secondary color was actually café au late dahlias and so the color scheme became olive green and flowers!" John then talked Megan into him wearing his favorite shade of blue, and she loved how he stuck out in their photos. The biggest challenge they faced was planning a wedding while not being local to Michigan.
 

To help them navigate the planning process and finding vendors for the big day, Megan and John sat down early to determine which parts of their big day were the most important to them. One of these important parts helped the happy couple find their venue for their day. John remembered a great place where he had some amazing food before. "One of our top priorities for the wedding was good quality food," Megan says. "When we toured the venue, it became clear that they had a great facility, table/linen/cutlery rentals included (one less vendor to navigate through states away!), and personable/knowledgeable staff heading their wedding department."
 

 

What We Love

One of the biggest special touches was that Megan's former harp teacher and mentor, Meg Rodgers, Harpist, not only played the ceremony music at their wedding, but also performed a piece that Megan composed! "It took months, but listening to the music I created for our day will always take me back to that moment of walking down the aisle," Megan gushes. Megan was also very hand's on in their planning process and helped make her veil and the flower girl's dress for her big day. Speaking of flowers, Megan's mom grew all the dahlias they used for their wedding, which provided them with plenty to decorate the venue and send some home as favors for their guests!
 

 

Advice from the Couple

Megan and John advise, "Sit down early in the planning process as a couple and decide what is most important to you and then focus in on that! Take the time to enjoy the wedding projects because in doing so you’re extending the wedding beyond a single day. If you ask trusted family and friends to help with anything, only give them one very specific task to do. Most of the time they are thrilled to use their excited nervous energy for something useful, however it’s not fair to overwhelm any one person. Seriously, only one task. The afternoon before the wedding I scheduled nail appointments for myself, bridesmaids and mothers. While it was a huge pain scheduling one more thing in an already busy day, I would 100 percent do it again because it forced us to sit down and relax. There’s a reason everyone says on the day of to just breathe and enjoy everything you’ve worked so hard for while surrounded by the people who love you the most!"
 

 

 

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