Ceremony Location: St. Joan of Arc, St. Clair Shores
Reception Location: Grosse Pointe War Memorial, Alger House, Grosse Pointe
Wedding Colors: Purple, Silver, Black
# Guests: 100
Package: 8 hours reception
Emergency Kit Items Used: Scissors, ribbon, glue dots
The historic Grosse Pointe War Memorial's Alger House banquet area is actually a large house, separated in to several smaller rooms. The guests are served an intimate dinner in the main room area, music and entertainment in the library area, cocktail hour in another room off to the side, and the bar on a patio area surrounded by large windows overlooking the Detroit River. This location offers a truly unique setting and beautiful, picturesque grounds.
We arrived to the facility a little early to begin setting up the chair covers and candy buffet containers, both of which were rented by the couple from us. Centerpieces, table letters, escort cards, table runners, votives, menu cards, of course all of their purple-colored candy, and a few other items were soon to follow. The rooms came together beautifully.
Katie and Jeremy and photographers Lynn & Andy Bernardi of West Park Photography arrived with their immediate families, best man and maid of honor about an hour prior to the reception for photographs on the Memorial grounds. After photos, they made their way inside to greet guests and enjoy cocktails and appetizers with everyone.
The War Memorial's procedure is to ring a bell to alert guests and get their attention - the cake cutting was done just before the dinner hour, and as mentioned above, guests were served an intimate dinner together in the main room followed by the cake with ice cream for dessert.
Guests were then summoned to the library where the couple shared their first dance followed by the father/daughter dance. Tunes were spun by DJ Sean McDonnell of All Night DJ's. Later, a special song was dedicated to Katie's parents to celebrate their 34th anniversary, a tune many of us are familiar with: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. While this may seem an odd song choice, the song has special meaning to Katie's parents and I just love things that celebrate being unique and different!
We opened the candy buffet which was full of candies in assorted bright purples and even some silver items; it was a big hit! Guests later enjoyed a late-night fruit spread and of course, more dancing.
Meeting this couple last August, I knew that Katie & Jeremy's wedding was going to be all about simplicity and intimate elegance. This couple is one who truly focused on what the wedding day was about, their marriage, and their families coming together.
Congratulations, Katie & Jeremy, and thank you for letting us share your day!
Table setup with runners, table letters and centerpieces:
The cake by Josef's Pastry Shop in Grosse Pointe:
The purple candy buffet, containers rented from us, and candy provided by the couple:
The main banquet room before our chair covers:
The main banquet room after our chair covers, huge difference!