City Flats Ballroom Wedding | Shannon & Mike

Wedding

June 28, 2022

City Flats Ballroom Wedding

I’ve photographed weddings at beaches, in churches, hotels, courthouses, backyards, and barns, and there’s always something about heading right into the heart of downtown Grand Rapids that makes me giddy! To be perfectly honest with you all, I have been looking for to Shannon & Mike’s City Flats Ballroom Wedding as soon as I had met these two virtually while I learned all about Mike having to try to hide the ring that was delivered while Shannon was working from home and then Shannon’s best friend accidentally sent Shannon a photo of the ring and pretended that she was looking to get a new one. Her best friend literally did not wear her ring around Shannon for TWO MONTHS to keep up the charades. This all culminated in a pretend virtual baby shower so Shannon would be dressed up but really she was tired from having gone out for mimosas and didn’t realize that Mike had set up their backyard for his proposal.

Yeah, it’s a story that obviously ended perfectly because Shannon said yes but as I was listening, it became more and more clear to me that these two were going to be special in a really good way! They’d figure out the details and come hell or high water, these two were getting married and were going to celebrate. And I wanted every possible part of it!

Fast forward to their engagement session which I’ve already blogged about, all my excitement was solidified and I was anxiously awaiting their big day.

On that day, I walked into a packed bridal suite that was jamming out with the hairspray flying like normal and the buzz and chatter of excitement. I grabbed Shannon and Mike’s smaller details and headed to the ballroom that was being prepped by Lori Marie Events and Bailey & James as they were getting it all set up for their ceremony!

As I finished there, it was time to have each of them get dressed, and the laughter and excitement for these two to see one another was contagious, it was one of many times I teared up while capturing as many of the moments as I could.

We continued the fun through their wedding party portraits and the gorgeousness of their ‘nearly’ newlywed portraits with myself and SJK Productions capturing the beauty and playfulness from these two before heading back to CityFlats Ballroom for their ceremony. There, Shannon’s brother Patrick spoke about how these two balance one another with perfectly-timed comedic remarks like Mike getting upgraded to ‘Shannon’s Husband’ in his phone contacts!

From the ceremony, it was on to the party! Cocktail hour was buzzing with chatter and laughter and then it was the main event – their reception!!!!!

From the grand entrance where these two were welcomed with thunderous applause to the entire ballroom filled with emotions as Shannon surprised Mike by changing their First Dance song to Carried away by George Strait and each shared a heartfelt dance together and with their parents.

After the emotions, it was time to get everyone out on the dance floor including Shannon & Mike’s puppies!!!! If you want to know how they made that happen, you’ll just have to keep scrolling to the end to see because It. Was. Awesome!!!!!! But the dance floor itself was fueled by 90s hits, country music, and glow sticks! Truthfully, it was one of the best dance floors I’ve seen this year!!!!

I won’t chat away more because I know you’re ready to see their City Flats Ballroom Wedding photos but before I let you go, please check out their vendor team at the end!

Congrats again you two!

Stephanie