Behind The Scenes: Coordinating a 240-Guest Wedding at Saint John's

When bride-to-be Sarah brought Signed & Sealed on 11 months before her 2025 wedding, I had a good amount of time to get to know her vision, and help turn it into an actionable plan.

Sarah and her fiancé Chaese were planning to host 240 of their friends and family members at Saint John's in Plymouth, MI, with a ceremony in the Garden Pavilion followed by a reception in the Atrium, two gorgeous, light-filled spaces perfect for a summer affair.

Sarah's vision was timeless and elegant: a modern black & white color palette, lush white florals, and a feeling of sophistication while never losing sight of what mattered most: faith, family, and having a really fun time.

With 240 guests, multiple event spaces within a HUGE venue, lots of decor, and a full wedding party to keep moving - there was plenty to coordinate!

Bringing The Vision To Life, Together

Over the months leading up to Sarah and Chaese's wedding day, I provided planning support as decisions were made and details came together. As we got closer, that transitioned into the nitty-gritty: venue walkthroughs, timeline development, vendor coordination, rehearsal coordination, and ultimately full wedding-day management.

One of the best things about pairing our Planning Support package with coordination is that I was not meeting the couple for the first time a couple of months before their wedding day, trying to catch up on a year's worth of decisions. By the time we created their timeline, I was already familiar with the couple's priorities, and we were simply executing the plan that we had created together.

Personal Touches

A family member played a very important role on wedding day, serving as officiant for the ceremony, and later serving as DJ for the reception! This drove the family-first feeling that permeated throughout the day.

We also built thoughtful moments into the timeline. Before the ceremony, Sarah and Chaese wanted to have a "first touch" without actually seeing each other. This sounds simple enough until you're coordinating two people in a sprawling venue, making sure the photo team is ready, and working in a busy hotel/event space. But we made it happen!

Party Time

For Sarah and Chaese, Signed & Sealed handled full decor setup for the reception, in addition to our usual timeline duties. That meant taking all of the pieces that had been planned over the previous months and actually setting them up in the space - from the black & white signage details to the classic white florals, all of the finishing touches made the spaces extra pretty.

And at the end of the night? We took it all back down again, and loaded it right into the couple's cars. It's not necessarily the glamorous part of wedding coordination, but it's one of the reasons I love being there from beginning to end. My couples and their families shouldn't have to spend the final hours of an amazing wedding day worrying about packing up decor.

And speaking of the end of the night... no one was ready for this one to end!

The dance floor stayed lively, and as the scheduled end time approached, Sarah, Chaese and their families decided they wanted to keep the party going for another hour.

Signed & Sealed worked directly with the Saint John's team to coordinate the extension and keep the celebration going.

After nearly a year of planning together, I can't think of a much better problem to have than "everyone is having too much fun to go home."

Signed & Sealed offers wedding planning support virtually nationwide and wedding coordination throughout Metro Detroit. Looking for someone to help turn your pretty ideas into a wedding day that flows? I'd love to make that happen. :)

-Kelly