A Vintage 1950s-and-Hockey-Themed Wedding at Holly Hotel in Holly, Michigan

When two of Amanda's (33 and a restaurant manager) friends asked her two host a web show for them, she happily agreed and began working at internet television station, which Ben (25 and a webcast engineer and youth hockey coach) helped found. She was immediately interested in Ben, but when she found out how young he was at the time, she tried to ignore her feelings. They continued to work together (trying to come up with excuses to collaborate on projects) until Easter, when they realized that neither of them had plans. Amanda offered to cook dinner for the two of them, and their relationship blossomed from there. After about two years of dating, Ben took her on a picnic and brought out a box of six of her favorite red velvet cupcakes that spelled out the big question as he proposed with her mother's engagement ring. In order to better accommodate Ben's grandmother, Amanda and Ben got married close to her at the Holly Hotel in Holly, Michigan, a historic venue rich with character--and supposedly ghosts! They couldn't agree on a theme, so they decided to merge her love of 1950s elegance with his enthusiasm for hockey. Conveniently, both their favorite hockey teams (the Red Wings and the Blackhawks) fall in the same red, white, and black color scheme. Inspired by pin-up fashion, Amanda wore a sleeveless, silk, lace cowl neck wedding dress, a fur shawl, and a birdcage veil with a large red feather over her victory roll updo. In keeping with the theme, the groomsmen wore classic black tuxedos and black and white wingtip shoes. At the reception, framed photos of Ben's favorite hockey players served as table numbers, a hockey jersey substituted a guest book, and the wedding cake was topped with a hockey puck cake topper. While two disparate themes may seem difficult to consolidate, Amanda and Ben proved that with a little finagling, a complex wedding can be both glamorous and expressive.