Outdoor Michigan Wedding at The Felt Estate | Wild deer photobombs golden hour portraits and eats the brides bouquet

Morgan + Luke

Morgan & Luke, Luke & Morgan. Where do I even start with these two? We’ve had such a unique experience together, one that will surely keep us oddly bonded for life! I’ll get to that…but let’s take it back to the beginning…

We met in 2018 on a quaint beach in West Olive for their engagement session. Immediately I adored them, and I’m certain this is true for most people who have the pleasure of coming in contact with Morgan & Luke. They’re both so genuinely sweet & kind. Good people you just want to be around, that make you smile. We had an overcast day for their engagement, but the soft diffused light from the heavy cloud cover was making their shots all dreamy. Their engagement session has always been one of my favorites. You can check it out here!

Fast forward to September 1, 2019, their wedding day. Another overcast day, too, but beautiful none-the-less. Not too hot, not too cold. That perfect summer to fall transitional weather us Michiganders crave!

The Felt Estate in Saugatuck hosted Morgan & Luke’s wedding; their ceremony in front of a small white chapel and their reception under a large tent in front of the Felt Mansion. Morgan rolled up to the ceremony in her Dad’s red corvette for a grand entrance (which is contradictory to her personality as she typically prefers to fly under the radar …but when your Dad has a cool ride…you use it). Naturally, the red corvette became a prop later for some romantic bride & groom portraits in front of the historic mansion.

I LOVED all the unique details incorporated throughout their day like the mini dessert cups by Luke’s cousin, Brooke LaFore (helloooo personal smores and strawberry shortcakes), the birch wood escort card holders, and the shiplapped “Mackley Ever After” backdrop for guests! Everything was beautifully thought out and executed, and the Felt Estate was a stunning setting for it all.

Morgan wanted her golden hour portraits in a field just beyond the white chapel…and this is where the narrative of their dream-like wedding manifested into a full on fairytale the world would soon share a part of.

As we headed towards the field after dinner, we saw him - a young buck grazing in the field, just beyond a fence. We briefly joked how it would be funny to get shots with him in the background, but without hesitation, the deer pranced up to Morgan & Luke and immediately took liking to Morgan’s bouquet full of fresh flowers and foliage (designed by Melissa Anne Floral Co.). He leaned over and started munching, then stepped over the fence to get closer, continuing his mission. We all exchanged glances, astounded, but laughing and rolling with it because what else do you do, really? How often does a wild buck casually hang with humans…letting us pet and feed him…even if the menu is an expensive bridal bouquet? The answer is never. This never happens. As it is playing out, I am capturing it all, of course. What an experience.

Morgan raised her bouquet in the air several times in attempt to salvage what was remaining, but the buck was adamant, jumping up for it each time. OK, at this point I’ll admit, as overtly friendly as this deer was, my heart started to race rapidly when I saw how desperate he was for Morgan’s bouquet. He wasn’t giving up, and to avoid any accidental mishaps with a jumping buck, we all agreed that relinquishing her flowers to the hungry deer was our safest option. Morgan, being her sweet carefree self, seemed to have NO problem giving up her bouquet. She dropped it without hesitation and onward we went to finish up their golden hour portraits, sans bouquet. When we returned 15 minutes later, the deer was gone and all that was left was a single rose. We joked that it was like “the final rose” on The Bachelor, and I snapped a photo of her holding it, naturally.

Lots of laughter and dancing to the tunes of Brena band beneath a tent full of twinkling lights filled the remainder of their evening….but buried within just a few of us was an experience and story that was about to go viral…

I was sluggish and achey the next morning, as after every wedding , but also with an eagerness to cull through the Mackley wedding photos to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Did that really happen?? I was questioning if my memory was serving me correctly and clearly in disbelief from the previous evenings happenings. But when I inserted the card into my reader, there they were. Morgan, Luke, her bouquet…and a friendly buck standing in front of them, casually eating the flowers. I was reliving it all over again, giggling at what I captured…Morgan’s priceless reactions…the deer chowing down her bouquet. I kept thinking…this is GOLD. I decided to use a handful of the photos for their sneak peek. I edited a half dozen photos and posted them on my Facebook business page with the caption “Deer: 1, Bouquet: 0 - When the field you want to take bride & groom portraits in has an overtly friendly deer...you roll with it until the deer decides the bouquet is lookin' like a good snack.”

Then I hit “Post”.

The proceeding hours, days, and weeks after were some of the most wild in my life. Within hours we had hundreds of shares. Within days we were being featured across national and international news publications everywhere, and by week two we had over 15 million views on my single Facebook post.

Fox News Deer Photobomb | Buck Eats Brides Bouquet | Laurenda Marie Photography

Bored Panda | Wild Deer Photobombs Wedding and Eats Brides Bouquet

Wild Buck Photobombs Wedding and Eats Brides Bouquet | Laurenda Marie Photography

During these two weeks we were interviewed by The Huffington Post, Bored Panda, Buzz Feed, Inside Edition, Yahoo, MSN, among many others. We were #1 trending on Fox News, trending on Reddit, and on front pages of newspapers across the country. A reporter from Good Morning America was sending me text messages and The Today Show shared our photos live on air during their Morning Boost segment. Dylan Dryer said, and I quote, “Amazing photos, too”. That’s when I died and went to heaven. Check out the video below.

And the saga continues. Even 10 weeks after their wedding date, Morgan and Luke were asked to be ON The Kelly Clarkson Show. It was too last minute for them to make it…but WHAT?!

I think all of us involved can agree that this was an experience we will remember for a lifetime. A chance happening that none of us could have planned or prepared for. We are grateful for the acknowledgement, the positive publicity, all the kind comments and sweet words, and just incredibly honored that the friendly Saugatuck deer chose us.

If you missed any of our features, here is a list of the publications that have graciously shared our story…

The Today Show (on air)
Fox News
Bored Panda
Good Morning America
The Huffington Post
The Dodo
Inside Edition
MSN
Insider
Yahoo
Buzz Feed
New York Post
MLive
Tres Clicks
Detroit News