Have Your Wedding on the Michigan Riviera

Looking for a romantic location for your Michigan wedding? Consider the bucolic options available on the "Michigan Riviera," the state's southwestern-most coastal region, beautiful Berrien County.

White-sand beaches washed by the clear blue waters of Lake Michigan ... quaint 19th century churches and chapels set amid picturesque hills and rolling green valleys ... virgin forests filled with towering oaks, beeches and pines ... Berrien is a natural for your nuptials!

The entire county is sparsely populated - it's home to just eight cities, the largest having a population of about 11,000. Tiny, historic unincorporated villages dot the sandy coast, so you'll have all you need, but you'll never have to go far to get away from it all.

Weko Beach House

Located in tiny, upscale Bridgman (pop. 2,300), this gorgeous waterfront gem is one-of-a-kind, a city-owned, two-story wood-and-glass facility built right into the white sands of 40-acre Weko Beach, the little sister to neighboring Warren Dunes State Park. You'll reach the Beach House at the end of the wooded, winding Lake Street, where the road slices between mountainous sand dunes and ends at the lake.

Weko Beach House offers an unparalleled scenic setting for your wedding, with three window walls that provide panoramic views of Lake Michigan. More than a mile of wooden decking surrounds the lovely old building. In cool weather, you can marry indoors in the historic high-ceilinged community room. In warmer weather, with its built-in window-doors, Weko allows you to take your wedding right out to the waterfront if you'd like.

A favorite summer resort for Chicagoans in the 1930s and 1940s, the newly renovated facility is the perfect site for your reception as well! Weko Beach House offers a brand-new, complete kitchen with on-site professional catering and ample chairs and tables, indoors and out.

A new sound system has made the place a popular site for local wedding musicians, or you can ask the staff to secure recorded music for your happy event. Alcohol is permitted for rental events, and bartenders must be bonded and licensed.

The Weko Beach House is available by reservation only. To reach Weko Beach, take I-94 to Exit 16, and travel north one mile on Red Arrow Highway, turning left to Weko Beach at Lake Street. For reservation information, call the Bridgman Area Chamber of Commerce at 269-465-4413.

Fernwood Botanical Gardens & Nature Preserve

Thousands of years ago, the Wisconsin Glacier advanced and drew back for centuries, chiseling hills, ravines and fertile forest under-story into the 105 scenic acres known now as Fernwood.

A perfect spot for your outdoor wedding is the overlook platform in the midst of Fernwood's unique tall-grass prairie, a five-acre wonder of wildflowers and native plants. Or choose the fairy-tale setting of the whitewashed Dovecote, a sweet shelter in the center of Fernwood's famous and fragrant circular herbal gardens.

If the gentle hum of dragonflies and the splashing of fearless and friendly bass and blue gill are more to your liking, take your vows on the boardwalk near the garden's inland pond. Or gather at the garden's historic old Summer House, and pledge your love with the music of the natural waterfall playing behind you.

Fernwood Botanical Garden & Nature Preserve is located 13988 Range Line Road in the rural outskirts between Buchanan and Niles, Michigan. For seasonal hours, reservations or information, call 269-695-6491.

Warren Woods Climax Forest

For a genuine back-to-nature wedding, surround yourself with the thousands of beech and maple trees that are still in their first growth, preserved through the foresight of the Warren family who owned these 311 acres - now Warren Woods State Park - at the turn of the 20th century.

This lush and lovely climax forest is the only one of its kind remaining in Michigan, and is bisected by the gently flowing Galien River, which provides a wonderful choice of scenic views for your wedding day keepsakes.

After your nuptials, join your family and friends at the beautiful Warren Woods Inn in nearby Union Pier, a 15-bedroom historic "cottage" that comfortably sleeps up to 35 guests. Just steps from the sugar-sand beaches of Lake Michigan, the Inn is available for weekly group rentals during the summer season for a mere $8,500 - and that includes the entire Inn, all common areas and the run of its five-acre grounds, as well as daily country breakfasts prepared by the Innkeeper. From September through May, the weekly rate drops to just $6,000.

Warren Woods State Park is located three miles north of Three Oaks, Michigan, off Exit 6 at I-94. You'll find Warren Woods Inn at 15506 Red Arrow Highway, Union Pier, Michigan 49129. Contact the Innkeeper at 1-800-358-4754.