A Fun New Year’s Eve Wedding at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church | Haleigh & Andy

Weddings

Wedding veil photo of the bride and groom on their wedding day in downtown Detroit.

I met Haleigh about two weeks before her own wedding when she was one of Genna’s bridesmaids at her wedding with Ben. At the time, I didn’t know I’d be photographing Haleigh and Andy’s New Year’s Eve wedding! Funny enough, I was on a roadtrip in the Southwest when Haleigh, last minute, needed a wedding photographer and so I bought a plane ticket and was on a flight from Denver to Detroit the day before her wedding. It was a wild couple of days before the wedding but in the end, all went well and Haleigh and Andy’s super fun New Years Eve wedding in Detroit was perfect!

When I asked Haleigh how she met Andy, I didn’t realize I was going to both die laughing and cry at the same time while reading it! Haleigh and Andy met on Tinder and as Haleigh says, it was the best swipe of her life! No one can tell this story better than her so here it is, straight from the source: “After getting out of a 7 year relationship, I needed a breath of fresh air, and Andy was all of that and more. [For our first date] he warned me that he was going to pick me up and kiss me right away, to which I laughed and thought he was absolutely full of shit, but he wasn’t and he did. We laughed and drank margaritas and had the best night but I wasn’t ready for a relationship.

“Then, unbeknownst to me, I was in the middle of setting up a brunch date with his best friend. They were out together and began talking about their love lives and Justin mentioned me, Andy put two and two together and sent me a snap of him and Justin together, ending with “Yeah, you aren’t going out with Justin. I’ll pick you up tomorrow for drinks.” And I’ve loved him ever since.”

I mean come on!!??? When you meet Haleigh and Andy, you realize there is literally nothing better than their story. It fits each of them and their personalities to a T and no kidding, that was the best swipe of Haleigh’s life.

Now, they’re married and it was the most perfect and fun way to end a year that in every other way wasn’t ideal. But you would have never known 2020 was a bit of a shit show for most of us during their New Year’s Eve Wedding at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church, complete with a champagne toast and all! I always say that everything happens for a reason and for Haleigh and Andy, everything fell into place just in time for their epic and so so so fun day!

Haleigh and her tribe got ready at Farmington Co-work (which was also their private mini reception space – super cool) and the morning could not have been more fun. To say Haleigh is a ball of energy is an understatement. Haleigh wore an amazing Maggie Sottero dress with the coolest custom Nike shoes, complete with socks that say “Mrs. Claremont” on the bottom. I’m OBSESSED!

Haleigh is a teacher at St. Paul’s Catholic Church on the Lake in Grosse Pointe, Michigan and was so excited to be married there! It may have been freezing but it was a rare sunny and blue sky winter day in Detroit – the perfect backdrop for their ceremony and the rest of the day. Not to mention Haleigh’s incredible veil from JJ’s House that could not have been more perfect for the already stunning church.

After the ceremony, we headed to downtown Detroit for their wedding party photos! We started at the Detroit Institute of Art before jumping over to the Fox Theater where we may or may not have literally stopped traffic. I LOVE Haleigh’s bridesmaid’s white velvet dresses from Revelry and the pop of color for Andy and his guys. It’s traditional with a fun twist, just like the rest of their day and I’m so here for it!

Then, taking a cue from Genna, Haleigh and Andy held their first dance (to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” – so fun) and a necessary champagne toast in Parker’s Alley behind the Shinola Hotel downtown.

Haleigh and Andy’s day was so full of energy and excitement and was the perfect way to round out 2020. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to ring in the New Year and am so happy everything worked out the way it did!

Congratulations Haleigh and Andy and thank you for being the most carefree and energetic couple! I know life is going to be one hell of a party and so fun for the two of you and I can’t wait to hear all about it!