Download the full version of this feature including all the photos, plus complete venue information!There’s a hint of romantic destiny in a story Dan and Karyn like to tell. While they both grew up summering at family cottages on Glen Lake in Leelanau County, they didn’t meet until the summer after high school—though their great grandparents knew each other well enough to flick their porch lights “good night” to each other from across the Glen Lake. Eventually, their grandmothers introduced the two. The rest is a love story that was sealed at The Homestead’s mountain top amphitheater with its drop-away view of Lake Michigan on one side and its Glen Lake panorama on the other. The destination wedding drew nearly 200 of the couple’s family and friends to the Glen Lake area—many of them staying at The Homestead—for a weekend of wine tasting, boutique browsing, golfi ng, boating and playing on Leelanau County’s gorgeous beaches. “We wanted people to come and see why we love Up North so much,” Karyn says. The ski chairlift whisked the entire wedding party to the top of Bay Mountain for the ceremony. Karyn and her father rode together, and as they skimmed the treetops he turned to her and asked: “Are you ready kiddo?” She was, and walked down the outdoor aisle beaming her cover girl smile.
After the ceremony, guests lingered on the hilltop enjoying the breathtaking view while sipping wine from Leelanau County’s Black Star Farms and grazing on hors d’oeuvres. Then it was back down on the chairlifts for the reception at The Homestead’s charming Mountain Flowers Lodge where guests mingled at food stations that included Asian stir fry, carved tenderloin of beef, pasta and salad. Two DJ’s had the dance floor rocking until late into the evening.