After months of dreaming, planning, and counting down the days, Jack and I finally celebrated our marriage in the most joyous way at The Godfrey Hotel in Detroit, Michigan. Surrounded by our closest family and friends, the entire weekend was filled with love, laughter, and unforgettable moments we’ll cherish forever.
All photo rights reserved to Dave and Ang Photo.
A special thank you to The Godfrey Hotel and True Society for allowing me to work with your teams on one of the biggest days of my life. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting A Paige Of Positivity.
Our Love Story & Wedding Day
Some love stories feel like they were meant to be from the very start. For us, we met in the 6th grade and spent 15 years growing, learning, and navigating life side by side. Together, we’ve built a life full of memories—moving away and returning to our beloved hometown, raising our sweet goldendoodle, Georgia, and sharing countless milestones along the way. Our wedding day was the culmination of a journey that’s been nothing short of extraordinary.
Set in the heart of Detroit at the newly established Godfrey Hotel in Corktown, our black-tie affair was a celebration as timeless as our love. The weekend kicked off with a chic rooftop welcome party, where friends and family mingled under the city lights, setting the tone for a weekend brimming with excitement.
The Catholic ceremony was intentionally crafted and personal—a reflection of our unwavering bond, our shared history, and our joyful anticipation for the future. The love in the room was palpable, the kind that leaves no heart untouched!
Then came the reception, an unforgettable evening hosted in a space that radiated elegance and energy. Guests danced the night away on a stunning black-and-white checkered dance floor, while cocktails flowed freely, fueling the celebration. The entire room buzzed with joy and connection, the kind of atmosphere that makes you wish the night would never end.
Of course, the party didn’t stop there. The afterparty brought everyone back to the Godfrey’s rooftop, where the celebrations continued beneath the stars—a fitting end to an incredible day.
To cap the best weekend, we joined our loved ones the next morning for a Detroit Lions game, a perfect nod to their shared love for their hometown and its traditions. Though the game would be one of two games lost that season, the electricity that hummed throughout was so awesome.
Our wedding wasn’t just a day; it embodied our journey together, filled with laughter, love, and the kind of magic that leaves an everlasting impression on everyone who witnessed it (or so I hope so). Here’s to the next chapter of our lives—a love story still unfolding, with its best pages yet to be written.
As always, I have an Instagram Highlight saved of the entire day (and the BTS leading up to the big day on a highlight too). But first, let’s get into the details!
Experience leading up to the Big Day
Working with a Wedding Planner
When I was growing up, I used to tell my mom that I wanted to be a wedding planner. While I went to school for something else, I felt like I was living out a childhood dream when planning our big day!
I knew a Day Of Coordinator was going to be essential for us; but I also wanted some help throughout the planning process too. When I asked on my Instagram stories for coordinator/planner recommendations in Metro Detroit, Bianca from Belle Events was one of many recommended.
Bianca (and our photographers) have our absolute highest recommendation. She is so lovely and easy to work with and single-handedly the reason our wedding weekend was perfect (seriously, not one thing went wrong).
Our glowing review of her services:
Her calm demeanor and ability to handle every little detail with such grace made our wedding day a dream come true. What really stood out, though, was how much she genuinely cared. Bianca didn’t just feel like a coordinator; she became a friend throughout the process, someone we could count on and trust with one of the most important days of our lives. Her warm personality, attention to detail, and absolute dedication to making our vision come to life made everything perfect. We are so thankful for her!
If you’re looking for someone who will make your wedding not only stunning but also stress-free, Bianca is your girl! I would hire her for ANY future event & she has my highest recommendation as her level of execution is perfect. Thank you, Bianca, for making our day unforgettable! 💕
XO, A VERY HAPPY BRIDE
Courtney
I feel like I gained a friend in the process of planning. She always removed stress and concern from my plate and added it to hers. I’m incredibly grateful for her and her knowledge of the wedding industry. I sing her praises and know if you book with Bianca, you will be in the BEST of hands!
Our first vendor we booked: Our Photographers
In August of 2023, we saw Dave & Ang in action, at a friend’s wedding. Jack noticed Dave’s set up and immediately took note. At this point, we had been to a lot of weddings together and not once did Jack ever note a wedding vendor. So this was BIG!
When we got engaged, we knew that selecting our wedding date revolved around Dave & Ang’s availability! They are the definition of class and grace. Here’s the review we wrote after working with them:
Dave & Ang, you treat every client like a dear friend; it’s so evident based on reading the other reviews. We will cherish our wedding, engagement, and wedding shower photos forever. They perfectly captured our personalities, details, and love that surrounds us. We are cheering for your continued success in the wedding industry and immensely grateful for your incredible work.
All the best, the newlyweds
Jack & Courtney
All of the incredible photos on this post were taken & developed by Dave & Ang Photo.
Vendor List: Detroit Based Vendors
- Reception/Venue: The Godfrey Hotel, Detroit, Michigan (the whole weekend here)
- Church: Ss. Peter & Paul Jesuit Church
- Photography: Dave & Angela Kovacs Photo
- Partial Planning & Day of Coordinating: Bianca from Belle Event Co.
- Floral / Design: STEM Event Design
- Videography: Bella Reel Films
- Music/DJ: Danny & Bryce from DJDC Productions
- Glam Booth: Shutter Booth
- Signage: Exclusive Imagery
- Pipe & Drape: contact from Bianca from Belle Event Co.
- Marquee Light Letters: Michigan Marquee Lights
- Checkered Dance Floor AND Cold Sparklers: Encore Event Co
- Chargers & Chair Rental: Elegant Events MI
- Groom’s Cake: Red Velvet Cake Shop
The Venue: The Godfrey Hotel
Would you ever pick your wedding venue when it was only drywalled and you had to wear construction hats on the tour?! When we first toured the Godfrey Hotel, I knew it was the one. My fiancé on the other hand needed some convincing. It offered everything we wanted in a venue and knew we could make it special to us.
By the time our wedding rolled around, we had attended 20 other weddings, many in the greater Detroit area. We LOVED that it was a new venue to all of our friends too.
Engagement Photos in the new space
Aesthetically, The Godfrey was exactly what we wanted and offered a variety of backdrops. When it opened November 2023, we knew we wanted to capture our engagement photos throughout.
One Stop Shop for the Weekend
There are a variety of reasons why we immediately LOVED the Godfrey Hotel for our wedding weekend. It has multiple spaces to utilize; making it a one stop shop for the whole weekend!
- To emphasize how important it was to have everything in one place, we had: the guests stay at the hotel, the rehearsal dinner that then flowed into the welcome party for guests was on the rooftop Solar Bar area, morning of the wedding the groomsmen “got ready” in the presidential suite (where Jack & I stayed for the weekend), hair & make up for the girls was again on the rooftop area in the conference rooms (the pictures here are stunning), and then cocktail hour was in the pre-function space of the ballroom that overflowed into the lobby & their lobby bar, then the actual reception was in the ball room, and the after party was up on the rooftop bar (again LOL). I just listed the 8 different ways we utilized the whole space for the weekend!! Other than the church ceremony being offsite, everything was hosted at The Godfrey Hotel.
Other than it’s versatility, the spaces were all new & clean, had excellent design selections that we could build off for the overall wedding design! In the heart of Corktown, it’s a charming place to host an event!
- We had a guest list that started around 280. We had 235 attendees and the spaces accommodated this. I believe we had 78 rooms rented of their 200ish rooms for the weekend. The food was exceptional! We worked with the Pastry Chef from The Godfrey to make two special cake recipes (my mom’s Carrot Cake & Jack’s Grammy’s Texas Sheet Cake), The Godfrey was willing to work with us on just about any ideas that I brought to the table & I’m so appreciative of their flexibility and hard work to make this happen.
I want to extend the most heartfelt thank you to Mary Kate, the director of events at The Godfrey Hotel, for helping bring our wedding to life. Her transition into the role was seamless to us. From her dedication & expertise to her genuine care, it made the entire planning process wonderful and our special day absolutely unforgettable.
What stood out the most was how she made me feel like my wedding day was her top priority. I know she offers this same level of care and attention to all of her brides, but experiencing it firsthand is truly something special. It’s such a gift to work with someone who pours so much heart into what they do, and that feeling of being genuinely supported and celebrated is something I’ll always cherish.
Thank you, Mary Kate, for everything—you made our dream day a reality, and I’ll forever be grateful!
Before & After
It’s kind of giving Extreme Home Make Over, wedding/hotel edition! In April of 2023, we were standing in the ballroom in hard hats. 16 months later, we celebrated our wedding in that same room! You can tell by my sheer reaction of the final space that it was everything I dreamt of…and more.
Food Tasting at The Godfrey
The word that I continue to come back to is welcoming. Everything about The Godfrey & it’s staff was welcoming and accommodating. We all were incredibly impressed by our wedding tasting selections.
I’ll be the first to admit: most wedding food isn’t good. I mean, you don’t go to the wedding for the food. You’re there for the couple.
So when we had our tasting and wine pairings, it surpassed our expectations in every way! We had glowing reviews from our guests about the food selections. Thank you to Mary Kate, Anthony & the catering director, chef & pastry chef at The Godfrey for the wonderful attention to detail and presentation.
Finding The Dress Experience
About True Society
True Society is a bridal boutique that specializes in helping brides (like myself!) find the dress of their dreams. When I started my dress search, I knew I wanted a brand that offered a personalized experience with stunning dresses in their catalog. They delivered on all counts!
The True Society team reached out to partner together shortly after seeing our Engagement on social. In exchange for content & deliverables, they gifted me my classic Martina Liana dress. From sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of my shopping experience to the magical moment of saying “yes” to the dress, it was such a rewarding collaboration!
Note: This section is sponsored by True Society. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting A Paige Of Positivity.
The dress shopping experience
We visited the True Society store in Grand Rapids, MI, a short 2 hour drive from where I live. I actually went dress shopping at two other stores previous so I could compare the True Society experience. Despite the partnership of this section, I can honestly say I had the best time at True Society. Maybe it was because it wasn’t my first time & I had two other experiences to compare to?! Regardless, these were my takeaways:
- True Society’s dresses are perfectly displayed on the rack, evenly spaced apart and not in a garmet bag, making it easy to see the selection. There is room to gently move the dresses across the rack opposed to it being crammed.
- You’re able to walk around with your designated design consultant and observe all they have to offer, instead of being hushed into a small dressing room where they bring the dresses to you.
- Their selection is vast, but not too much where it’s overwhelming! More than 300 dresses, less than 3,000.
- There is no bridal booking fee for your appointment *dependent on store location.
When I visited the other two salons, I had to pay for an appointment, the dresses were brought to me & I couldn’t look at them before as they were in bags, one salon didn’t have enough selection and the other had so many I barely could tell the difference of dress I tried on, making it hard to decipher what I really liked!
The overall store was so clean, calm, and inviting! All of the staff made us incredibly welcomed and contributed to a positive & efficient wedding dress shopping experience! True Society has my highest recommendation for finding THE dress.
Dress reveal
I have always loved surprises, which is why I decided to keep my dress reveal a secret from family & friends (other than my Mom/MOHs/MIL/SIL)! I’m so happy I did that and would recommend it to any bride. You cannot control their reaction; I was confident in my decision not to share to protect my feelings if they were to not love it as much as me (impossible😉!)
Some brides end up choosing a dress completely different from what they initially envisioned. Others choose exactly what they had envisioned. I’m the latter. I knew that I wanted crisp lines, form fitting, white with some type of removable piece (insert a big beautiful bow)…and gosh, from every angle, I absolutely adore my Martina Liana gown.
Appreciation for True Society
Because I had tried on a few dresses prior to my experience, I actually connected with True Society Grand Rapids and sent them the dresses I liked thus far. Their team thoughtfully curated a selection of what I would like based off what I had already tried on (how incredible)!
I want to give a heartfelt thank you to the True Society team, especially Monica, Ashley & Jill. You made this process so special, and your kindness and expertise are something I’ll never forget. My experience with True Society was nothing short of amazing, and I’ll forever be grateful for the role you played in making my wedding day so magical.
When I got home that night, I poured myself a glass of red wine and danced around in my kitchen, simply beaming with happiness!
Special Touches unique to us
As if this post wasn’t long enough, this might be the most detailed part. I wanted to ensure that our wedding was a true reflection of our love story and personalities!
We incorporated so many unique touches that made the day unforgettable (and I’m sure we overdid it in some ways, but it was important to us that everyone attending knew how loved and special they are to us!)
For our guest book, we had everyone sign a custom Detroit Lions jersey with our last name on it, a nod to our shared love of football. I surprised Jack with a groom’s cake featuring his favorite soccer team—something non-traditional here in Michigan but so worth it to see his face light up! Guests received “The Newlywed Post” in their welcome bags, a custom wedding-themed newsletter I made on Zazzle & I filled with fun details about the weekend.
We also gave disposable cameras to our friends to capture the night through their eyes. Those candid photos are some of my favorites! To kick the party off post-ceremony, Jack and I brought shot roulette for our bridal party in the party bus which was such a hit.
The dance floor was an absolute highlight! During “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire, we threw out custom T-shirts I made that said, “Do you remember the 14th night of September? JACK & COURTNEY’S WEDDING.” The energy was electric! For the grand finale, we handed out confetti poppers for the last song, “Mr. Brightside,” creating the perfect send-off…upstairs to the after party.
As a special nod to our families, The Godfrey’s Pastry Chef scaled two family recipes and we served my mom’s Carrot Cake recipe and Jack’s grammys Texas Sheet Cake Recipe. It was a neat way to tie together generations of love and tradition. Every detail was thoughtfully planned, and seeing it all come to life was pure magic.
The Most Special Detail We included
I saw this on Pinterest while wedding planning and knew we were going to make it happen. With a guest list at 235, it’s no small feat. But the time they took to write for each individual was drastically outweighed by how much everyone loved them.
We’d do it again as it was the most special touch. Technically speaking, I created a master document on Canva, split it hot-dog wise and copy/pasted DEAR ___, the body paragraph & LOVE, Jack & Courtney, then we customized the text of each one. We printed them at FedEx Print on heavy cardstock and had them cut them down the center; ensuring they kept them in the same order as that was crucial to organizing!
After the seating chart was finalized, we wrote them by table to keep them organized. I printed them at FedEx and Bianca wrapped each note with a napkins and ribbon the night before the wedding (have I told you how much I love her?!) By far our favorite detail we included.
A list of links & all things I ordered off Amazon linked on my Storefront.
- A NFL jersey to sign as our guest book (and this jersey frame to hang it in our house)
- Pearl ring box
- Welcome bags that came with precut tissue paper (so chic)
- Customized Newspapers printed & places in guest’s welcome Bags
- Ranch fountain for late night pizza (I never saw this in action but I saw ONE photo & it was well received)
- paper confetti poppers for the dance floor
- disposable cameras for the candids
- Custom Napkins with our dog’s silhouette on them
- Custom Drink Stirrers with our last name
- Custom Drink Stirrers with our dog’s face on them
- Customized tshirts given to all immediate family & bridal party, some tossed out on the dance floor!
- Customized matchbooks
- Decal mirror (Bianca from Belle Events Brought this)
- His & Her Champagne glasses
- Glowsticks for the dance floor
- Surprise groom cake!
All in all, I felt like everything we designed & selected was special to us and our relationship. The ONLY things I would change are I would have used the Glam Booth more because I only used it twice, I would have went earlier for hair (not last) so I had time for touch-ups, and I wish in my speech with Jack I noted a few more details. HOWEVER, those are very specific AND I combed through every little detail to reach those points.
More photos I love…
Ways to honor a loved one
There are a lot of the same ideas on how to honor a loved one during your big day. Truthfully, most of the ideas didn’t feel like enough to honor my heavenly sister who would have been my Maid of Honor. She witnessed mine & my husband’s relationship for 11 years before she was tragically killed in a car accident.
So, throughout the duration of planning a wedding (usually a very joyous time of life), there were many quiet, ugly moments of grief that hindered the experience for me.
I wanted to feel like my sister’s presence was with us on such an important day. Here are some things I did:
- Ordered a beautifully framed photo of her for my bridal bouquet
- I printed off the same photo, framed it & had my other two sisters walk with her down the aisle (this was special. I did tell my parents beforehand as I wanted to make sure they were comfortable with it).
- During our Catholic Ceremony, I had a special Intention prayer said for our grandparents no longer with us and a separate one for my sister (while my Aunt was reading it, the sun beamed through the stained glass and everyone kind of looked around like, Hey Em. It was special)
- Her name was listed on our wedding programs under Maids of Honor, with a angel wing decal next to her name
- Every table, there was a printed card that said: In lieu of favors, a donation has been made in your name to The EVS Memorial Scholarship Fund. We placed flowers at her grave site with a laminated note, letting her visitors know we were thinking of her missing presence during the weekend.
- My bridesmaids (and husband) wore our EVS bracelets in honor of my sister throughout the weekend
The Bride & Groom’s favorite moments
Gosh, the whole damn weekend?! This feels incredibly hard to articulate, but I’ll try. Overall, the whole weekend was JOYOUS. It was FUN. Jack and I LOVE to dance and host. It felt like 15 years in the making and all of our guests made it WONDERFUL.
We never left the dance floor (other than when I switched dresses) and we stayed next to each other the whole night. I feel like people share that tip, but don’t stick with it. Best decision we made!
One of my personal favorite moments during the ceremony was when we stood up for the first time in front of the altar and our priest was gesturing for my MOH’s to fix my dress. Instead, Jack said “I’ll do it” and he intentionally fluffed my dress each time we stood. I feel like this should be the new standard for brides. It was such a sweet gesture during our ceremony.
We also are so happy we didn’t do a first look (controversial, I know). It was so special to see each other walking down the aisle. We were giddy and just so excited to celebrate our marriage. I can close my eyes and go back to moments in our ceremony. I hope those memory screenshots will last forever (if not, I have this very thorough blog post I can refer to – HA)!
Our reflections of our big day
As I tell my friends & family, recapping our wedding is literally one of my favorite subjects to discuss. SO, please reach out with any questions! Thank you for allowing me to share little (and big) life events with you. It’s one of my favorite parts about my job and I’m so grateful.
Other Wedding Related Posts
I recapped our “mini-moon” in Copenhagen, Denmark, and documented my bachelorette party in Rosemary Beach (30A)! Once I publish our Asia honeymoon recap, it will be linked below too!
we’re planning a January black & white themed wedding too and this has SO much good inspo – thank you for sharing! the reception is exactly my vision too so it’s so cool to see it all come together!
Ahh, Lauren! It makes me so happy to hear that. Wishing you a beautiful wedding 🙂