Due to gathering restrictions, our previous venue was not able to host our wedding All events will be held at our new location: Trillium Catering And Event Center 17246 Van Wagoner Road Spring Lake, MI 49456 The Trillium is located 2 miles from the Holiday Inn Grand Haven-Spring Lake Please see the updated Schedule page for timeline details and view the FAQs page for COVID-19 related precautions and restrictions.

To say my recollection of how Lindsey and I met is a little hazy would be an understatement. A few friends and I were celebrating welcome week at Grand Valley at a pool party just adjacent to Lindsey’s apartment. After a long day in the sun, one of our friends wanted to take a break so she led me, my brother, and buddy to Lindsey’s apartment, just across the courtyard. After recklessly barging in and exploring the apartment I met Lindsey and her roommates. Evidently the day of drinking in the sun got the best of me because I decided to take a quite lengthy nap in Lindsey’s hammock even after the rest of my party had left. When I woke I knew I had to get Lindsey’s phone number from my friend. I had to see her again. Lindsey however was not as pleased with the initial impression I had left because it took three different times asking her out in the following weeks before she finally said yes.

Welcome Week of my Junior Year at Grand Valley State University had just begun. My apartment complex hosted their annual pool party and I had invited a couple of friends over. I was expecting to see my friends when I heard a knock on the door. Instead, I find three guys walking into my apartment. Enter TJ, Ethan, and... Weston. Weston was a HUGE flirt at the pool party and I was NOT interested. He even passed out on my neighbor’s hammock. However, after Welcome Week, Weston kept asking me on dates. I wasn’t even sure how he got my number. Although I kept turning him down, he was persistent, and I finally gave in to going to the movies. You don't have to talk much at a movie, right? I decided to keep it casual and throw on a sweatshirt and go to this movie. Little did I know, Weston changed his outfit multiple times because he was so nervous (Thanks TJ for this information later on. Also shout out to TJ for letting Weston borrow your car). We hit it off right away on the drive to the movie theater when Weston started blasting Luke Bryan through the radio. Thank goodness for Country Music and Weston’s determination to ask me out on a date.

Where do I even begin? 14 months prior to our engagement, Lindsey and I started looking at rings. We found the perfect one, but were only “browsing” at the time. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but above all, I wanted the proposal to be a surprise! I had no intentions of making the poor girl wait over a year for me to pop the question! It had to be done to ensure she had no clue it was coming. I let months pass before she started asking questions, nervous the ring would be gone! Little did she know I already put a down payment on it. Fast forward 6 months, I had the ring but continued to let her anticipation build. I had numerous picture perfect opportunities to pop the question, but I knew she would be expecting it. Anticipation turned into frustration after a few thousand: “When are you gunna get the ring?!” – I knew I had her right where I wanted. The week leading up to 4th of July my final act of torment was under way. We had 6 days off together and went on several dates with perfect opportunities, but still no ring! I had to work 4th of July but had a little time off after and she thought I needed to sleep! However, my parents were driving from the east side to her parents house to see the proposal. I plotted with her mom to have her wear something nice and take family photos by the water. It was going as planned until the pictures were done and my parents hadn’t arrived yet! Lindsey was eager to change into a bathing suit but I needed to keep her down by the water until they arrived! I stalled as best I could until my parent's arrived. I’m sure at this point she knew something was fishy, but I dragged her back down to the water anyway. I got down on one knee and finally showed her the ring she picked out over a year prior. She said yes! Mission complete, her wait finally over. She turned to see both of our parents, smiling, taking pictures, and crying tears of joy. The best day of my life and the beginning of our future.

Here's the story about how I "almost" ruined the most thoughtful proposal. Early June 2019 I came home from my parent’s house to find a brown paper bag with “DeVries Jewelry Store” on the front sitting on Weston’s night stand. He obviously didn’t expect me home that early! I walked out of the room in shock (I think Weston was too) and later the bag was gone! (I found out later he hid it in a shoebox in our closet!) Fourth of July arrived, but Weston had to work the night shift and I spent the day at my parent’s house on Ryerson Lake. Weston planned to come to the lake after he got out of work the morning of July 5th and my mom asked if we could all take a photo for our “Christmas card” when he arrived. I didn’t think much of it since we usually do this sometime in the summer. However, Weston told me multiple times that he was very tired after working the night shift and would need to sleep shortly after he arrived at my parent’s house. I spent the morning trying to rush the picture along so Weston could go to bed ASAP. It also happened to be THE HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR (or close to it) and I just wanted to go swimming! This is when people started acting weird. My mom said she would have to run back in to town before the picture (even though she had just been in town), my sister, Kayla, told me to go Kayaking in my nice clothes (no thanks!), and Weston asked me to drag all of the Kayaks down to the shore (remember I’m in nice clothes and very hot). Little did I know they were stalling because his parents were driving 3.5 hours across the state to surprise me and they weren’t there yet! It all worked out because they arrived JUST IN TIME for him to get down on one knee! (His stalling tactics worked). He asked me to marry him on the shore of my parent's lake house! My grandparents arrived an hour later and we spent the rest of the day on the water, relaxing on the boat, and fishing of course! It was the BEST DAY EVER and the easiest YES ever.