Emily and Joe worked alongside Graham Stanton Co. to plan an incredible and unique day that highlighted their families, their love, and their future together. The goal was to throw a wedding that was the perfect marriage of West Coast meets Midwest, and highlight the best parts of both. Joe’s family owns and operates Live Edge Detroit, a wood salvaging warehouse in Michigan, and that quickly became the shared dream venue…giant open space lined with hundreds of gorgeous wood slabs that are native to Michigan and a unique part of the area.
Giving their planners, event designers, and florists total freedom to design within this space, they took a lot of care in figuring out how to walk the balance between creating warmth and some amount of formality, while not trying to cover up the fact that they were in a working warehouse. The creatives chose a color palette that was earthy, with punches of warm tones to nod to the couple’s California home. They focused their hard goods on textural vessels, and took a layered approach to place settings and guest experience. This wedding was expertly captured by Kathy Davies and we’re so excited for you to take a look at it!
The Happiest of Couples
The bride choose gorgeous gold heels…and we are in love!
The groom looks dapper in his Indochino suit!
We asked the couple to share their love story with us and they gladly gave us all the details!
“We met in California (where we both lived for almost a decade), so we wanted to bring as much of a west coast vibe to our Midwest wedding as we could. I think we called it “west coast meets fresh coast”, haha! We love color (and wood!) so we wanted to make sure that we incorporated both into all aspects of the design. We also wanted huge visual moments at every turn, and our design team absolutely knocked it out of the park.
Our entire vision centered around throwing the best party possible: good drinks, good food, good music, good company. We wanted dinner to feel intimate, so we seated everyone at long, family-style tables. The music aspect of our wedding was extremely important; we were so incredibly lucky to work with both Bob Mervak & his band and Block Party (dj’s) to tailor the soundtrack to our day. We even created a custom Spotify playlist that could be accessed from a QR code on the place cards! A few other highlights include our vintage telephone “guest book” from After the Tone, a custom banner by Oxford Pennant, and a rose quartz & sage bundle at every place setting.”
Overall, the couple wanted to celebrate not only their love but the love they have for their people. They wanted their guests to leave saying, “damn, that was so FUN.” And that is the BEST way to look at your day!
These bridesmaids look lovely in their BHLDN bridesmaid dresses! We just love this color palette!
The bride found her Martina Liana gown in October of 2019 at White Dresses boutique in Nashville, TN. It was one of the first dresses she tried on and she fell in love with it! It was a custom dress with sleeves made to match the lace on the dress.
This couple arrived in style to their wedding in a big colorful school bus!!
The Warehouse Ceremony
The floral footprint of E + J’s big day was mixed and eclectic – dressing all surfaces with some consideration so each space felt cohesive and considered, but not overly designed. Perhaps the largest undertaking of the event was the massive hanging installation over their ceremony and dance floor – dozens of balloons, streamers, and disco balls graced the ceiling to both create a wow-moment, and also shrink the room a bit for added intimacy.
Processional: Love You For A Long Time by Maggie Rogers (slowed-down version performed on piano by Bob Mervak)
Recessional: This Will Be Our Year by The Zombies (performed live on piano by Bob Mervak)
First Dance: If We Were Vampires by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Emily and Joe are finally married!!
One Warehouse = One Venue!
One of the challenges of the venue was the size of their warehouse – much larger than the size of guests invited – so custom panels were made to create division walls between ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing so that guests had a logical flow within the space as they were guided from experience to experience.
It was important to E + J that their guests were constantly surprised as they progressed throughout the day, so the ceremony, cocktail hour, and dinner were hosted in three distinct spaces, and the ceremony space was flipped into a swanky dance lounge for their reception. Each turn of the evening brought something new, but still cohesive within the design scope.
A modular arced panel system was created that was used to open and close off areas throughout the evening to keep things feeling intimate. Modernly brought in gorgeous Mid-Century mod furnishings and textiles to give the warehouse a warmth it was lacking, and lit up the whole evening with low-string bistro lighting.
The inspiration for the design was focused on creating an experience that felt like the guests were invited to a big house party – hosted by the bride and groom. Everyone loved the aesthetic of a modern palm springs meets high school gymnasium, and this creative dream team certainly hit that on the nose pretty well. All the print work, graphic design, furniture rentals, and custom paneling was done by Modernly Events.
Sitting at dinner and looking out at all of our favorite people drinking, eating, laughing, and loving on each other.
The wedding did have a few DIY elements during the day – mainly the favors that the bride and groom personally created. Music is incredibly important to them as a couple, so they created a customized Spotify playlist for the evening, and shared it with all of the guests so they could listen anytime they wanted after the wedding.
Emily and Joe have impeccable taste in music – and with Bob Mervak at the helm of the live band, it definitely set the tone. There wasn’t a dry eye in the building when the two shared their first dance to “We Were Vampires” by Jason Isabell and the 400 Unit.
Stay organized, don’t get too hung up on the small details, and don’t get too down when people rsvp that they can’t attend. Oh! And set aside at least 15 minutes after the ceremony to soak it all in with your partner. Those 15 minutes to regroup and just be with each other really helped keep us in the moment.
The ceremony space was completely transformed into a moody, sexy dance floor, and the team at Graham Stanton Co. surprised the couple with a neon-lit lounge for those moments of rest needed from the party. They also took a lot of inspiration from the incredible Oxford Pennant, which was one of the bride’s favorite aesthetics – and the team surprised E + J with a customized banner for their home during the cake presentation!
The couple shares: “Our wedding was everything we dreamed of and more thanks to our amazing vendor team. We truly couldn’t have done it without Chelsea and Robin of Graham Stanton holding our hands through every step of the process. Our day was as it was because we surrounded ourselves with people who shared our vision, and who we ultimately just vibed with. It was an incredible day because we worked with incredible people to make it happen! “
Congrats again to Emily and Joe from the entire team at GWS!
photography: Kathy Davies // venue name: Live Edge Detroit, Troy, Michigan, United States // event design: Graham Stanton Co // planning: Graham Stanton Co // florals: Graham Stanton Co // wedding dress: Martina Liana // wedding dress boutique: White Dresses Boutique Nashville // bride's shoes: Loeffler Randall // bridesmaid dresses: Bhldn // hair stylist: Leah Marie Hair // makeup artist: Glam by Andreea // groom attire: Indochino and Gucci // videography: Refracted Films // paper goods: zola // catering: Cutting Edge Cuisine // cake: Cutting Edge Cuisine // furniture rentals: Modernly Events // linen rentals: Luxe Event Linen
