Wedding Day

Wedding

Reception

Our Wedding

Megan and I met in 2013 when I was the Friday Night DJ at Darb's Patio. She was a&nbsp;waitress and had never even so much as looked at me until the&nbsp;day&nbsp;I shaved my beard. She&nbsp;came up to me as if I was a brand&nbsp;new DJ and asked me my name and if I could play a Calvin Harris song for her. That was it... I knew I was in trouble. Every week I would play Calvin Harris and get a little smile from across the room.

Six months of flirtation&nbsp;later, Megan invited&nbsp;me to&nbsp;go out with her and some friends after work. We went out once and were inseparable immediately.&nbsp;&nbsp;I fell head over heals and asked her to move in, she accepted, it was a whirlwind romance to say the least.&nbsp;



Megan quickly fell in love with my sweet Zoe' Momma and developed&nbsp;a new found love for Pitties, so after only six months we added to our family and got Jazzy Blue.&nbsp;The following&nbsp;spring (2014),&nbsp;Megan finished college and started working as an Insurance Agent.&nbsp;A year&nbsp;later&nbsp;(2015) we got a new apartment,&nbsp;did some traveling, and had to say goodbye to our&nbsp;Zoe' Momma. We had already&nbsp;started working on making a life in Lansing.&nbsp;



In 2016,&nbsp; after some time of grieving over the loss of our Zoe', Jazzy needed a companion, and Kaija came into our lives.&nbsp;



The next few years were hard. It was our bond alone that allowed us to overcome the tragedy and pain of my brothers accident. I don't know how we did it or&nbsp;how he did it... but he is still here and we are still sane. I think.



Early on in our relationship Megan's father once&nbsp;&nbsp;mentioned in passing "It really takes about five years of living with someone before you know them." Fast forward to 2018.&nbsp;As&nbsp; Megan and I&nbsp;approached&nbsp;five years together, I knew it was time to take the next step. I had been ready and I then&nbsp;felt she would be as well.



Megan had&nbsp;once told me her dream proposal would be to ride an elephant though a lavender field and take a hot air balloon ride to where she could&nbsp;pet a wolf. I thought, that's not too much to ask... So,&nbsp;I planned an entire weekend. I took her to a french restaurant for lunch, then we went to a Lavender Labyrinth and I even brought a stuffed&nbsp;elephant. That night we had dinner at our favorite restaurant, The Soup Spoon and stayed at our favorite BnB, The Wild Goose Inn. The next day we were supposed to take a sunset hot air balloon ride but it was cancelled due to heat restrictions. I rescheduled for the following morning and made due for the rest of the day by taking her to a Food Truck Festival and staying in a hotel near the launch site.



The following morning I was devastated to hear the flight had once again been cancelled and they weren't having any more flights that weekend. At 5am I was freaking out on the phone with my photographer and long time friend,&nbsp;Amanda who I had planned with months in advance to be at the landing site and take engagement pics. I had already had to reschedule on her the night prior so things were getting stressful.&nbsp;We looked for&nbsp;back up plans and finally found this great location near where Megan and I&nbsp;were staying, called Cranbrook House and Gardens. However, Amanda&nbsp;had plans that day and couldn't make it until 2pm, so I had to kill some time.



I took Megan to a park at sunrise and we waded in the water and took in the peaceful morning. Then we went to&nbsp;breakfast and poked around at a few flower shops. While at one of the shops I found a nice sun hat and suggested she get it. This wasn't planned but it was&nbsp;a great touch for the pictures she didn't yet&nbsp;know we would be taking.



After the flower shops we had some time and Megan knew we had until 2pm so she started looking up things to do. In about 2 mins she said&nbsp;"Hey, look at this place.&nbsp;It has museums and gardens and stuff. Let's go here until we have to do whatever you have planned." It was Cranbrook House and&nbsp;Gardens. I couldn't make this up. I kept a straight face as the plan fell together perfectly and said "That sounds great."&nbsp;



We toured the museums, walked the gardens and even scheduled a tour of the house for 1:15pm, perfect timing. Just as we left the house tour,&nbsp; Amanda was texting me as she had arrived. She hid in the bushes and I took Megan out for another stroll. We came upon this gorgeous pergola and I knew it was the spot. Amanda was able to capture the actual moment I&nbsp;asked her and I'm glad because it's all a blur in my memory.&nbsp;



After seven&nbsp;years&nbsp;we became&nbsp;home owners and we love it.&nbsp;Now, after eight years of being together,&nbsp;we're happily&nbsp;married and I have never been happier in my life. Unfortunately, we weren't&nbsp;able to celebrate together and for that we're heartbroken. We appreciate everyone's understanding, love and support.



-David

David's Perspective

I met David while working as a&nbsp;waitress&nbsp;&nbsp;at Darb's Patio. He was the Friday night DJ. I never noticed him until he shaved his beard :)&nbsp;I asked another waitress who the new DJ was and she said "That's David. He's always been our DJ." I walked up and requested Calvin Harris just so I could get a better look and talk to him. He stole my heart right then and there.&nbsp;Every Friday since he played Calvin Harris to get me to look over at him and smile.&nbsp;

One day I came into work with my hair up. He gave me my first compliment and said "you should wear your hair up more often. It shows off your pretty face." My heart melted and all I could do was blush and say "thank you."&nbsp;

Fast forward into 6 months of being together, David got me a puppy (our little Jazzy Blue)&nbsp;and we were living together. Most would say it was&nbsp;too soon, however, we knew in our hearts that it felt right and everything was going to be ok.&nbsp;

After 2 years of being together, we tested our relationship by living out of his band van for 2 weeks while we traveled out west. You would think being stuck in a van together for 2 solid weeks would make a couple pull their hair out, however, it was the best time of our lives. We had a lot of scary and adventurous&nbsp;moments that we got through together on that trip, and I will never forget it.&nbsp;

After 5 years of being together, David got down on one knee and asked me to be his forever. I couldn't imagine being with anyone else. I said yes, of course! That is another day I will never forget. He planned an entire weekend of romantic events leading up to the proposal. I once told him my dream proposal would be to ride an elephant through a lavender field to a picnic where there was a wolf, and then after the picnic, take a hot air balloon ride where he would ask me to marry him.&nbsp;

The first day of our weekend,&nbsp;he took me to a lavender field and gave me a stuffed animal elephant and wolf. I knew something was up after that, but he didn't propose to me. We drove home and went to "our" restaurant, The Soup Spoon, for a nice dinner and then stayed at "our" bed and breakfast, The Wild Goose Inn. The next morning he had something planned, but the plans fell through so we killed some time by going to a food truck festival (because I love food trucks). He said the day was free to do what we wanted, but later we drove an hour and stayed in a hotel.&nbsp;

The&nbsp;next morning I woke up to him freaking out talking to someone on the phone at 5am. He was really upset, like REALLY, REALLY upset. I couldn't help because I didn't know what was going on. We went to breakfast and he told me his plans didn't work out and we now had until 2pm to do whatever I wanted. I started Googling and found a BEAUTIFUL&nbsp;garden that you could walk around called The Cranbrook House and Gardens. We went there and toured the gardens and the house and then 2pm approached. My heart was pounding because I thought something big was about to happen. Sure enough he spun me around under the most perfectly beautiful pergola and got down on one knee. I couldn't even hear the words coming out of his mouth because of all the emotions running through me. I said "yes" and all of a sudden Amanda, our photographer, jumped out of the bushes! I started crying even harder when I&nbsp;saw her.&nbsp;She had been creeping around the house and in the garden, trying not to be seen, while trying to get in the perfect position to capture the big moment. A security guard even approached her and asked her what she was doing. They don't normally allow photographers in the garden (unless you book it through them), but that security guard had made an exception.&nbsp;

I found out after that David's plan was to propose to me in a hot air balloon ride, however, due to weather (it was too hot), the flight was cancelled three times. It was Amanda that he was talking to at 5am, trying to work out a Plan C. Despite all the change in plans, it couldn't have been more perfect. The gardens were magical and it was so special that he had put in so much effort into making&nbsp;his proposal absolutely perfect.&nbsp;

Fast forward to&nbsp;6 years of being together, and&nbsp;we became homeowners!&nbsp;

It's now been over 8&nbsp;years David and I have been&nbsp;together, coming up on 1 year of being married (on 9.25.21). We're so heartbroken we weren't able to celebrate with everyone. This definitely wasn't how we envisioned our wedding. Although our wedding in the woods was dreamy, it wasn't the same without all of you. We really appreciate everyone's understanding, love and support. The most important thing is we have each other and our health. We deeply miss everyone and look forward to seeing you all at future celebrations now that it's safe to do so. Cheers!&nbsp;

-Megan

Megan & David

Megan & David

Photos