Weddings 2022: A Dreamy Aurora Cellars Winery Wedding

Haley and Kane knew they wanted a Northern Michigan wedding in a vineyard. After viewing Aurora Cellars’ ceremony site, featuring a half-century-old willow tree, they couldn’t picture their Up North nuptials anywhere else. From incredible vendors to ending the night with Diet Coke and PB&J’s, go behind the scenes of this Lake Leelanau wedding.

This article was first featured in the 2022 issue of MyNorth Wedding.

Haley Cribbs & Kane Sarkisian | July 17, 2021

A law student went into a bar. And fell in love with the gorgeous bartender. A month or so later that law student, Kane, who was attending Valparaiso University in Indiana, asked that bartender, Haley, also then a student at Valparaiso, out on a date. Six years later, on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, Haley followed Kane into the bar where they had first met. She thought they were simply meeting some family and friends who were in town for the holiday weekend. When she walked in, she was surprised to find a lot more family and friends there than she’d expected. And even more surprised when Kane got down on one knee and proposed to her. Oh, yeah!

When the planning began, their love of the breweries and wineries up and down the West Michigan coast prompted the couple to imagine a vineyard wedding. “I wanted an outdoor wedding with plenty of greenery,” Haley says. A bit of internet surfing landed Haley on the Aurora Cellars website, where she found she and Kane could be married surrounded by vineyards—and in front of a massive half-century-old willow tree. “The willow was the selling point,” Haley says.

Haley and Kane told both sets of parents to get ready for a road trip to Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula, where Aurora Cellars is located. They traveled North in December when the landscape was more white and brown than green, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the happy families who met with Aurora’s event manager, Kristi Brown. Haley and Kane had no trouble imagining how romantic the setting would be. The willow weeps beside a vintage white farmhouse—a perfect place for the bridal party to get ready. Aurora’s Tuscan-style winery sits across from the vineyard, where a 40-by-80-foot tent could accommodate the 150-person wedding they dreamed of.

Event coordinator Stacy Horn of Juniper and Lace Events teamed up with Kristi to make the event magical. The Aurora team “bent over backward,” Haley says. And as for Stacy, Haley wishes she could hire Stacy to run her entire life.

Kane and Haley kicked off their destination wedding with a meet and greet the evening before the wedding at The Parlor, an intimate cocktail bar in Traverse City. The day of the wedding, some guests golfed while others toured area wineries.