HITCHED

Port Washington native Michelle Taylor  tells people she got engaged “next to a castle under the Tuscan sun.”

Then she got married next to a Great Lake.

Michelle and Justin Taylor tied the knot at the Port Exploreum on Oct. 5, 2019. The Exploreum is in downtown Port Washington, which was fitting, because Port Washington was the theme of the wedding.

Michelle and Justin met in Washington State and live in Tennessee, but Michelle wanted their wedding in her hometown.

“She wanted people to experience the town she grew up in,” her mother Janet Trzecinski of Port, said.

Michelle said her mother served as her personal assistant for wedding planning.

The Port Washington Historical Society’s Port Exploreum was an easy choice. Trzecinski is a member of the society and had enjoyed attending a number of events at the venue.

Michelle, a 2006 Port Washington High School graduate, had been to the Exploreum, but Justin, who moved often and graduated high school in Missouri, had not. The couple visited their venue over Thanksgiving in 2018.

“As soon as he saw it, he fell in love,” Michelle said. “The building is very old and kind of unique. The wood floors were very neat.”

Having more than a year to plan a wedding 650 miles away helped.

“I never felt overwhelmed or stressed out,” Michelle said.

The couple’s 10-day trip to Italy in the summer of 2018 put wedding plans in play. Each chose an activity to do; Michelle chose a nice restaurant and Justin chose a castle that he had visited while being stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army.

On the last day of the trip, they went to the castle and found a walking path around it. “I was leading of course, because that’s what I always do,” Michelle said. “He called my name. I turned around and he was on one knee.
“From there, it’s a little bit fuzzy.”

The proposal was a complete surprise to Michelle, who was as amazed that Justin hid the ring for the entire trip. She helped pack the morning they were going to leave and didn’t find it.

“And he still won’t tell me to this day where he hid it,” she said.

The couple met at a back-to-school event on an Army base in Washington in 2014. Michelle asked people to sign up for raffle prizes and Justin approached her table and signed up. He ended up winning her love.

Justin had just returned to the United States after his stint in Germany and didn’t know where anything was in Washington. Michelle remembers being in the same boat when she moved there in 2011 and gave him her number.

By the end of the day, he had texted her, and their love story began.

“We understand each other. We’re goofy. We like to have fun,” Michelle said. “We’re serious when we need to be but life is about laughing. We really embrace that about each other.”

A few years later, Justin suggested moving to just outside of Knoxville, Tenn., where his cousins lived. He moved in 2017 and Michelle, who was finally making “adult money” but was in a job that wasn’t her best fit, followed a few months later.

“Now I’m done moving across the country,” she said.

The couple enjoy visiting craft breweries — their favorite is Blue Stallion Brewing Co. in Lexington, Ky. — and have a cat that showed up at their house weeks before they were married. Michelle wanted to keep it and Justin “grumbled about it,” she said. They named it Nubs since it doesn’t have much of a tail.

“This cat and Justin are inseparable,” Michelle said.

Justin works for Hamilton Equipment and handles parts inventory; Michelle is a logistics project manager for Principal Global. “I get the stuff from point A to point B,” she said.

That came in handy during wedding planning. Janet said Michelle would select items on the internet and ship them to her house in Port.

Except one.

Michelle accidentally had 16 cases of engraved wine glasses shipped to her home in Tennessee. That, Janet said, precipitated a road trip.

“The Jan van got a lot of miles,” she said.

The couple held a private ceremony before the reception for about 125 family and friends from 15 states and Germany.

Michelle honored her father Michael, who died of cancer on Nov. 22, 2009. His photo was displayed on a table and Janet had the lining taken out of his Wisconsin Badger red suitcoats and used it to wrap the bride’s bouquet.

Janet also had diamond-studded earrings Michael gave her reset as a gift for Michelle to wear at the wedding. She still wears them every day.

Michelle changed her last name to Taylor but changed her middle name to Trzecinski in memory of her father.

The party carried a come-and-go-as-you-please format with heavy appetizers — Michelle remembers making a plate of food but only got two bites due to talking to people — and quality wine. Michael loved wine and so does Janet, who has traveled to Napa Valley many times and got a supply for the wedding from two of her favorite wineries. Three wines came from Trefethan Family Vineyards, including one called Double T, which fit the bride and groom’s last names. Two more wines were from Summers Estate.

Much of the wedding experience was a dive into Port culture. Gary Haseley, Port’s piano man, played background music at the reception, with Michelle’s aunt joining to sing a few songs.

Haseley and the local band Shad Lads later performed at the after-party in a tent at the Harborview hotel, where Trzecinski is employed.

Guests stayed at the hotel and Janet led shuttles to the airport so they wouldn’t have to rent cars.

The Friday night welcome reception at the hotel was “truly representative of Port Washington,” Janet said. She made Michelle’s favorite meatballs and carrot cake. Yummy Bones provided pulled pork, Ewig Bros. provided smoked fish and cheese and sausage came from Bernie’s Fine Meats. The hotel did cheese curds and perch.

Welcome bags featured local items. The wedding’s flowers were done by La Tulipe,  run by Vicki Kunz, who used to have a floral shop in Port.

“We wanted it truly representative of Port Washington,” Janet said.

The planning paid off. Justin and Michelle got hitched without a hitch, and the guests enjoyed themselves.

“You know you’ve thrown a good party when you get thank-you notes from people,” Janet said.