Our Wedding Wasn't Perfect—It Was Better Than That
LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS | LISTEN ON SPOTIFY | LISTEN ON AMAZON MUSIC
Vitals & Values took a short hiatus. The reason: David and Dr. Lara got married, then spent two weeks on their honeymoon, and recording a podcast episode did not make the priority list. They're back now, ready to recap the whole thing — starting with the wedding weekend.
The rehearsal dinner that almost wasn't
Catering quotes for the rehearsal dinner kept coming back either underwhelming or expensive, so the plan changed. Dr. Lara's sister, Dr. Jana Baatenburg, offered to handle the food herself. Her husband Chris grilled tri-tip. Jana made lentil salads, roasted potatoes, and a carrot salad, all leaning Mediterranean. Pizza came from Martha's, desserts and bread from Nantucket Bakery, and a charcuterie board from Louis Earl Butcher rounded things out.
The whole thing was hosted at Dr. Lara's house rather than a restaurant — a deliberate choice to keep the evening relaxed instead of formal. It worked. Guests mixed indoors and outdoors all night, and by the end, both David and Dr. Lara were surprised at how much fun a "just the rehearsal dinner" evening turned out to be.
The one mishap of the night: a full glass of red wine, a step down into a sunken living room nobody clocked, and a rug that took the hit instead of the hardwood. Minor, forgivable, and mostly forgotten by the next morning.
Getting to the ceremony — by scooter
Getting ready happened at a friend's place near downtown Grand Rapids, and David had one idea he wasn't going to let go of: riding electric scooters through downtown, fully suited, on the way to the ceremony at LaGrave. It happened. Their videographer caught part of it. Downtown was unusually busy with police activity that day, so the wedding party's scooter parade drew more attention than expected — in a good way.
The ceremony itself leaned traditional and intentional. Dr. Lara had noticed that a lot of weddings she'd attended recently felt rushed, without much space for what a wedding ceremony is actually meant to hold. That was something both of them wanted to protect. A live organ — an instrument most modern guests have never heard live — became part of that. During the rehearsal, most of the wedding party hadn't experienced it before and visibly reacted the first time it played at full volume. On the actual day, the same reaction rippled through the crowd.
The reception, the snafu, and the unexpected upside
The reception moved to the Mines Golf Course via trolley. A planned first look before the ceremony meant more relaxed picture-taking and less of the rushed, tension-filled photo window that tends to derail wedding day schedules.
One real hiccup: the photographer accidentally left her keys in the trolley, throwing off the timing for a planned round of photos on the course between the ceremony and reception. The fix — shifting those photos to sunset instead — ended up being the better outcome. The couple had the entire golf course to themselves in ideal evening light, producing photos neither of them expects to be disappointed by.
The first dance involved a month of lessons and a choreographed routine that included lifting Dr. Lara over David's shoulder — a moment that got a strong reaction from the room. The night closed with a glow-in-the-dark long drive competition on the fourth hole, several duck-hooked attempts, and one final 300-yard drive that landed exactly when it needed to.
What made it work
Both David and Dr. Lara point to the same thing: a detailed schedule, built out ahead of time, that left no one feeling rushed. Their photographer told them directly that the pacing was some of the smoothest she'd worked with — no forced formality, no cookie-cutter structure, just a couple who knew what they wanted and left room to enjoy it.
Budget discipline played a role too. Flower costs came in well above the original estimate, so alcohol service shifted to a cash bar to keep the overall number where they wanted it. It's a small, practical detail, but one that reflects how they approached the day generally — plan for what matters, hold the line elsewhere, and don't let costs creep just because it's a wedding.
The larger takeaway, in David's words: a single day, however meaningful, isn't where a life's quality is actually built. That gets built in the daily pattern — the ordinary decisions, the emotional consistency, how two people treat each other on a random Tuesday. The wedding mattered. It also didn't need to be perfect to matter.
What's next
The honeymoon gets its own episode — there was too much to fit into one. And in a preview of where the podcast is headed next, David mentioned pulling the pastor who officiated their wedding onto the show for a conversation about faith and mortality. That one's coming soon.
Vitals & Values is the podcast of Concierge Medicine of West Michigan, hosted by Dr. David Roden and Dr. Lara Baatenburg. New episodes available wherever you listen.
