You may be wondering why another wedding website was needed. There are all kinds of them out there. When my wife and I got married we visited a lot of them. We also found a problem. None of them were complete. None of them focused on all of Michigan.

We were married at Garland Resort. It was very nice, even with temperatures hitting -20 degrees! You have to understand, however, this wasn't our first choice. We didn't have a first choice, we had a concept. We, okay Nicole, wanted a winter wedding. We also wanted a small wedding and wanted it in a church close to family. If you are following along you are starting to see that between the two of us we had a fairly narrow vision of what we were looking for. We started looking for locations that would be able to handle the wedding, the reception, some kind of entertainment for the reception, and lodging. A large church would have dwarfed the 45 people, including the wedding parting, that were in attendance. Many smaller "Chapels" aren't heated in the winter. Similar issues arose with the reception. We didn't need a big hall and dancing would have been overkill.  Garland fit almost the whole bill, it wasn't a church, but that wasn't a deal breaker. They provided excellent service in one of their cozy lodges that served as a location for both the ceremony and the reception. The sleigh ride was a nice bit of entertainment and in the end, we were happy and had a great day.

Now, back to the wedding website issue. I knew about Garland and had been there several times before, so I knew what they offered. However, you check out most of the wedding sites out there and Garland isn't listed. I have researched this and there are many reasons for companies not getting listed. For some the advertising cost is too high with no proof of return and others only cover specific areas of the state. Still others are actually national sites that offer a section for Michigan and don't have the time to reach out to all of the businesses in Michigan.

I figured this would be an easy remedy. Set up the website, contact wedding related businesses, and have them all listed. Here is the problem, they AREN'T listed anywhere. Many businesses don't have websites, don't publish their e-mail, and aren't even listed on ANY of the other bridal sites out there. I have contactdd hundreds of wedding related businesses and at one point had this directory up to over 300 entries. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the businesses have not always renewed and the number of active listings is now very limited.

Over the last two years since I first started Michigan bride more and more businesses are getting online. More and more are working to get their businesses listed in online directories. I am making a commitment to continue to grow this directory so that it becomes the source for brides in Michigan to plan their wedding. Help me spread the word. If you know of a business that works in the wedding industry in Michigan tell them they can get their free listing at michiganbride.com. For a minimal annual fee they can add a link to their website, a description they can update any time they want, and add pictures!

Feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions on the site.