at the drive-in

Photo ©2021 Victoria Danielle

Married Outdoors... at the Drive-in

Laurel and Chris Janisse were determined to get married in 2020, despite the many logistical issues presented by an ongoing pandemic. On November 14, they pulled it off, and by holding it outdoors at the Skyway Drive-in in Fish Creek, even managed to safely host 200+ guests. Laurel, Door Guide Publishing’s longtime Art Director, recounts the couple’s successful planning.

‘‘Having both been raised in Door County, Chris and I knew we wanted to get married here. In February 2020, we booked the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor for our reception and the Ephraim

Moravian Church for the ceremony. Little did we know that just a few weeks later, the country would get shut down. Certain we would have to reschedule for a much later date, after a few months, we decided we still wanted to have the wedding in 2020. We knew we needed to get creative since neither of our chosen venues was still open. We reached out to the owner of the Skyway and asked if he’d consider having a wedding there, since it had never been done before, and he agreed. We originally chose November 14, 2020 as our wedding date, so we decided to stick with it so it wouldn’t interfere with the Skyway’s season. We reached out to Alexander’s to cater the food and appetizers, Victoria Danielle to photograph, hired two bartenders and provided a full bar, and had a lot of help from our friends at Door County Event Planners and Horseshoe Bay to plan and decorate. We were able to pull off an outdoor, COVID-friendly wedding in mid-November (temps were in the 40s with rain and sun here and there). We arrived in true Hollywood fashion by limo while guests enjoyed apps and hot beverages from 1-3pm. Photo ©2021 Victoria Danielle The ceremony began at 3:30pm. We had a small wedding party, just our dogs and brothers. Guests could either stand outside with us or sit in their cars listening in on an FM transmitter to witness vows. We also livestreamed the ceremony to those who weren’t able to attend. We rented a huge tent and several patio heaters to keep everyone warm if they wished to mingle during dinner. There was no late-night party or dancing (we played our own song playlist on a laptop!), just a fun social event to raise everyone’s spirits during an uncertain time. We will truly never forget this day or the friends and family that were there to support us! ’’