The Pavilions in Walnut Grove Wedding Crane Orchards | Amanda + Casey

Amanda and Casey met one summer in beautiful West Michigan. Amanda was celebrating her 24th birthday and Casey had just gotten off work. “If you’re going to live in this town, you’re going to need friends,” Amanda told Casey. Little did either of them know, they had each just met their lifelong best friend. That night was spent dancing, talking, and touring Amanda’s hometown. From that day forward they were connected by an indescribable draw to one another, what they called “love magnets.”

Casey, who had planned to return to California, stayed in Michigan that year and their relationship grew. They spent that winter bundled up laughing, choking down Amanda’s first attempts at cooking, and observing their “pet” squirrel Munchers. The next fall they decided to move to paradise as the islands were calling. The following four years were filled with many adventures, from a two-week road trip across the states to new foods, many waterfall hikes, and plenty of surfing. They grew up and grew together.

Thanksgiving weekend 2019, they took their first trip to the neighboring island of Kauai. They had a blast touring the island via helicopter, hiking to waterfalls, and surfing beautiful point break waves. On a hike to one of the most stunning coastlines in all of the world, the Napali coast, Casey finally popped the question! Amanda cried and Casey had a smile on his face that nearly stretched a mile. Here began yet another adventure, one that will last a lifetime.

We wanted a venue that really spoke to us; somewhere outdoors with trees and lots of space. We both had grown up apple picking over at Crane’s Orchards but hadn’t really thought of it as a wedding venue until I saw it in some bridal magazine. We loved all the tall rows of walnut trees and how the venue felt secluded without being too far in the middle of nowhere. Crane’s also only does one wedding a weekend so we had full access days before the wedding, which was very helpful with how DIY our wedding was!

We wanted to add a bit of fun for the cocktail hour/reception! The bar area was our ode to Hawai’i with a surfboard “chandelier” and we hand-made 4-foot tall “LOVE” marquee letters for the dance floor.

The dining tent was also meant to have more of a soft romantic vibe. We went with loose greenery and tons of pillar candles for the table decorations. We also found awesome gold flatware, which really popped with the dusty blue napkins! On our sweetheart table, we used candlesticks that were used at Amanda’s grandparents’ wedding, which was very special.

Our paper was very special. We worked with Amaryllis Paperie for the invitations, programs, and signs! Hayley custom-designed all the floral elements and illustrated the venue for our programs as well as a wedding day map sent with our invites!

We wanted our ceremony to really reflect the two of us and so we put a ton of thought into every aspect. Casey is a musician, so music was very important to him, he actually wrote and recorded the song I walked down the aisle to!

On our wedding day, it rained like crazy, but just as we said “I do” the rain stopped! In Amanda’s vows, she wrote that Casey helps her see the rainbow when all she sees in the rain, and later that evening they got a double rainbow!

At the least, hire a day-of coordinator. Our friend Cara volunteered to be our day-of coordinator, and with the crazy weather, tornado warnings, and flooding if we didn’t have her we would have been screwed! She was so decisive in decision-making and coming up with backup plans A – Z! She really saved the day and allowed me to enjoy getting ready! Brides you do not want to have to worry about the morning of, so make sure you have someone you trust in charge!

Take time with your partner on your wedding day! It goes by fast so enjoy it together and don’t get too caught up with event hosting!