Northern Michigan Elopement on Lake Leelanau

When Mike and Lauren first got in touch, I knew more than anything I wanted to tell their wedding story. They had been trying for a while to plan a traditional wedding, but none of it was feeling like them. Then, they made a decision. They were going to elope in a place they held close to their hearts, Northwest Michigan. They had fallen in love with that part of the state at the same time they were falling in love with each other, when they met at grad school at the University of Michigan. They informed their closest family, booked a beautiful cottage on Lake Leelanau, and started to plan a sunrise ceremony on the lake for early October with a brunch, prepared by the parents of the Bride and Groom, to follow. As is typical of fall in Michigan, the rain decided an outdoor ceremony wasn’t in the cards, so they moved the ceremony indoors and lit the entire thing by candlelight. Not bad for a Plan B. After brunch, Lauren, Mike, my husband, and myself piled into a car to venture around for some photographs showcasing how beautiful this state is, including locations near Sleeping Bear Dunes, on the shores of Lake Michigan, and in an apple orchard during this bumper crop year.

Here’s to Lauren & Mike, and here’s to never forgetting the beauty this state has to offer, even on a chilly rainy fall morning.