Exactly 20 years ago today, I got married…
7/3/25
Exactly 20 years ago today, I got married to Michele.
We were married on Mackinac Island. It was a small wedding on the veranda of the Harbour View Inn, with my parents, my two kids, Michele’s parents, Michele’s siblings (her brother and her sister – with her sister’s husband and their ‘less than 1 month old’ daughter). It was a ‘surprise’ wedding for some that were there; but, before we get to that, there were a few other interesting events leading up to this.
I proposed to Michele on the beach at sunrise in Fort Lauderdale a few months earlier. I know that is a little ‘too cliché’, but the reality was that the beach was probably Michele’s favorite place in the world, Florida in particular had become one of Michele’s favorite places to be after working some assignments there, and her parents were going to be in Florida to help pull off the ‘surprise’.
Michele’s Dad, Larry, was a very traditional guy. I wanted to be respectful and follow the tradition I assumed he would expect, so I asked his ‘permission’ to propose before I did it. I invited him to lunch one day — just the two of us. We hung out frequently but I had never asked him to lunch with just me before. He suspected right away what I was up to. So, when I asked for his approval during lunch, he wasn’t surprised at all. He had even already mentioned to Michele’s Mom what he thought was about to happen. Fortunately, he was very happy and ready for me to join the family. I asked him for one more favor. I told him I wanted to propose to Michele at the beach in Florida. Her parents went on a multi-week Florida trip each March (at that time) to two different locations in Florida, including Fort Lauderdale. Michele and I were to join them for a few days during the Fort Lauderdale portion of the trip. Since Michele and I would be flying, I didn’t want to (1) try to get the engagement ring to Florida without Michele seeing it in a carry-on and (2) take the risk of the ring being lost / stolen in a checked bag. So, I asked Larry if they could bring the ring on their trip (since they would be driving) and he agreed.
When we arrived in Fort Lauderdale several weeks later, Larry secretly gave the ring box back to me the night before I planned to propose. The next morning, Michele and I went to the beach to watch the sunrise, I dropped to one knee and proposed, and she said ‘yes’ — thankfully – or else the rest of the vacation would have been a little awkward. (Side note: For some period of time after this, the text of my proposal scrolled across Michele’s laptop as her screensaver. Setting up a phone to record my proposal would be easy these days, but 20+ years ago that wasn’t the case. That screensaver, the laptop, and some ability to remember for both of us are all gone now – so we can’t recall the proposal word for word anymore; but I could probably still recite the most important parts.). We must have stayed on the beach for a bit too long after the proposal, because when we returned to the condo Michele’s parents were very impatiently waiting to see the ring and share in the news they knew before Michele ever did. Larry revealed they had been very nervous about transporting the ring to Florida safely and were relieved to see it on Michele’s finger. They hadn’t opened the box to look at the ring (or confirm it was still there) because they wanted Michele to be the one to see it first.
Over the next few months of Michele researching possible locations to get married and considering who to include, we decided to get married on Mackinac Island. Some of the original locations considered were beaches or islands in Florida (for reasons noted earlier). But, Michele decided she wanted a small wedding with just our parents and her siblings and she wanted it to be a surprise for both sets of parents. So, it was decided that inviting my parents to visit us in Indiana with intentions of taking a trip up to Michigan for a couple days was the best way to pull it off. We visited Mackinac Island to scope out a location, make arrangements for a photographer, and meet with a pastor to perform the ceremony. Her siblings were aware of the plan, but our parents and my kids were not in on the secret.
We managed to keep the secret almost all the way to our arrival at Mackinac Island. The kids were only 9 and 7 at the time, so they had no reason to suspect anything. But, somehow our parents didn’t suspect anything either despite being invited for the first time on a joint vacation with us, the kids, and all 4 parents — and being told to bring something a little ‘dressy’ to wear for a ‘dinner at a nice restaurant’. The other 4 attendees (Michele’s siblings, brother-in-law, and newborn niece) were traveling together in another vehicle. They started off later than the rest of us, but were quickly gaining ground on us travelling without parents in the car. Our parents, of course, weren’t aware the others were also coming on this trip. We were driving a used GMC Envoy we had purchased recently and weren’t aware of loose hardware on the rear air deflector above the rear window. After a few hours of travel, the hardware loosened further and we started to hear a rattling noise from the deflector as were were driving 65+ mph along the highway. Before we were able to stop to address the issue, the deflector came completely loose and flew off our vehicle landing in the middle of one lane of the highway and we pulled off the side of the road. In addition to wanting to recover the deflector, it was creating a hazard for other drivers on the highway. So, I darted out in the road to gather the deflector and load it into the back of our Envoy.
With this additional delay, the siblings in the other vehicle were going to catch up to us before we arrived in Mackinaw City to meet the ferry to the island. We didn’t want to risk Michele’s parents seeing them, so we decided to pull off the highway at a roadside stop and wait for the others to get there. Once they arrived, we handed out wedding invitations to everyone and let the parents and my kids in on the secret – including that the kids were going to be part of the ceremony. I believe Michele’s Mom then claimed she had suspicions about this trip, but I think we actually managed to get away with it to that point.
We managed to travel the rest of the way and ferry over to the island without any additional issues. We travelled around the island by horse ‘taxi’ – to check into our hotel rooms and to have a group dinner that evening. The next day (the day of the wedding scheduled in the afternoon), the guys and gals went our separate ways. The girls went to a spa – for Michele and Hannah to get their hair done for the wedding and the moms to get mani-pedi’s. The boys went to a local mini-golf course with actual putting greens for the holes. My dad had never played golf in his life and struggled with the swing. He wanted to swing the putter more like a baseball bat – and always swung way too hard. The ball was always tracking dead center on the hole but went screaming past every time. Mackinac Island was very busy that weekend (4th of July holiday) and everything we tried to do took much more time than expected (and that we had allowed in our schedule). We were supposed to be doing a boys lunch together after mini-golf but ran out of time (with long waits at all restaurants). So, we ended up eating hot dogs from a hot dog cart — you know like most people do on their wedding day. We all arrived back at the Inn with little time to spare. The ceremony went by in a blur.
We had hired a local wedding photographer (a married couple that did summer weddings on Mackinac Island and winter weddings in Florida). We did photos with the small group of attendees on the veranda and then the photographers followed the four of us (me, Michele and the kids in a carriage) around to typical photo spots on the island.
If we had it do over again, I don’t think we’d change anything. We were able to surprise the parents and kids, go to a scenic location most of us had never been to before, and have a unique experience on an island with only horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. Most importantly, I managed to marry my best friend and start our 20+ year adventure together as Mr & Mrs Martin — and have the photos to prove it.
previous blog entry…
[6/26/25] Let me tell you a few things about my wife…
RetiredInIndiana 