A Playful And Intimate Wedding Day At The Alaska Haus

If you’re a fan of your cat and launching T-shirts, boy do I have a wedding at Alaska haus for you. Although, to properly explain how Maddy and Calen ended up throwing shirts with their cat Lucy’s face on them from the second floor of their wedding venue, we need to go back a few hours.

To approximately the hottest May day known to mankind. Okay, that might be a bit dramatic, but it was hot enough for me to earn my first sunburn of the year, so I’m counting it.

And somehow, even with the heat, Maddy and Calen’s entire wedding day felt incredibly easy. Even with a wedding timeline filled with a first look, family photos, the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and reception. 

They decided to do most of the things that would normally pull them away from their wedding before the wedding really got going. If you’re new here looking for inspo, please know that this is one of the greatest hacks to create a wedding day where you can actually be present. More on this in this post. 

Psst. Grab my Wedding Preparation Checklist Here.

A Few Tears Before the Ceremony

Maddy and Calen chose to get all of their first looks and portraits done earlier in the day, including one of my favorite moments from the entire wedding: Maddy’s first look with her brothers and dad.

Still deciding if a first look is perfect for your special day? Head to this post.

There’s always a little bit of anticipation with first looks because you truly never know what somebody’s reaction is going to be. And then her brother started tearing up. There was immediate devastation and joy in the sweetest way.

It was one of those moments where you can feel how much history exists between people without anybody having to explain it. Maddy walked out, her family turned around, and suddenly her brother was getting emotional seeing his sister as a bride. 

Years from now, they’ll remember exactly what that moment felt like and that is filed under why I love documentary style wedding photography so much. 

Getting Married at Alaska Haus in Caledonia, Michigan

Their entire day took place at Alaska Haus in Caledonia, Michigan, which ended up being a ridiculously good fit for the kind of wedding they planned.

The venue was originally built as a church around 1880 and still has the massive original beams and stained glass, but the rest of the space has been renovated into a much more modern wedding venue. There’s the main reception space downstairs, an upper-level lounge overlooking it, and outdoor space for guests to spill into throughout the day.

That two-story layout will become important later, trust me.

For now, though, Maddy and Calen had another very important item on the agenda: Actually getting married.

The Wedding Timeline That Let Them Attend Their Own Wedding

Because we had already finished their first looks, family photos, wedding party portraits, and most of Maddy and Calen’s portraits before the ceremony, there wasn’t a giant photography block waiting for them afterward.

Which meant that when cocktail hour started… They went to cocktail hour.

Instead of immediately disappearing for an hour while everybody they loved hung out without them, they grabbed drinks, talked to their guests, and got to be part of the thing they had spent all this time planning.

And selfishly, I LOVE photographing weddings this way.

Because if you want photographs of yourself laughing with your college friends, hugging your grandparents, grabbing a drink with your partner, and actually experiencing your wedding, you need time in your timeline where those things can happen. Maddy and Calen gave themselves that and I love that so much for them. 

No Grand Entrance Necessary

Eventually cocktail hour started turning into the reception. And instead of disappearing, lining everybody up, waiting for an announcement, and then making a grand entrance…

Maddy and Calen just went inside with everyone else. Nobody needed to stop the party so they could enter the party because they were already there.

I think that little decision says a lot about their whole day. They weren’t trying to check every traditional wedding box simply because somebody somewhere decided weddings need those boxes.

They kept what mattered, skipped what didn’t, and they spent the extra time actually hanging out with their people.

Which brings us, finally, to Lucy.

Obviously Their Cat Needed Merch

At some point during the wedding planning process, Maddy and Calen had custom T-shirts made featuring their cat, Lucy. Which is already excellent wedding behavior if I do say so myself.

But simply handing out Lucy shirts would apparently have been far too normal. Remember that upstairs lounge I mentioned? Yeah. They went upstairs and started launching the shirts down to their guests from the second floor of Alaska Haus. It was iconic.

And I cannot stress enough how much I support this particular use of wedding venue architecture. Suddenly everybody downstairs is looking up, reaching for flying cat shirts, and and trying to snag Lucy merch while Maddy and Calen are having the time of their lives above them.

That sums up their wedding better than almost anything else could. Maddy and Calen didn’t need to make every part of their wedding wildly unconventional for it to feel like them.

A wedding can hold all of those things at once, the sweet stuff, ridiculous stuff, traditions you genuinely care about, and the stuff you make up because it would be funny. Need some unique reception ideas that don’t include dancing? Head to this post next.

That’s what made this day so much fun to photograph. Well, that and Lucy. Obviously.

Want to Say “I Do” at Alaska Haus Too? 

If you are a fan of the non-traditional, documentary style wedding photography, and a Western Michigan wedding photographer that will easily get mistaken as a guest at your wedding, hi, I’m Gabbie and I’d love to hear more about the special day that you’re planning. Get in touch here.