The Oakley weddings: venue guide and wedding DJ

The Oakley is a family-run wedding venue on Fish Lake Road outside the village of Holly, on 40 acres of rolling hills with a pond, a greenhouse and a courtyard. It sits between I-75 and US-23, within reach of Flint, Detroit and Lansing.

Menzo Weddings provides wedding DJ and MC services at The Oakley and across mid-Michigan, and Dave Menzo, who founded Menzo Weddings, has been part of the venue's story from the beginning. He was the DJ for Tom and Ellen's wedding in August 2018, the first wedding the venue ever held, and the venue credited Menzo Media as the DJ for Genna and Frank's wedding in 2021. This page covers the venue, those two weddings, and how we approach music for a day split between the outdoors and the reception hall.

What is The Oakley like for a wedding?

The McKay Estate was built in 1990 on 40 acres near Holly. The McKay family began turning it into a wedding venue in December 2016, and the first weddings followed in 2018. It's still family-run: Cathy and Ken McKay own it, with Alicia McKay as co-owner and wedding coordinator.

The Oakley's venue package includes:

• an outdoor ceremony space with views of the pond
• a dedicated cocktail-hour space, a courtyard and a greenhouse
• indoor and outdoor bar access
• two suites for getting ready: a private suite inside the venue, and The Estate, with a living room, full kitchen and screened lanai

The venue also offers a smaller Greenhouse Package for intimate weddings, and it hosts weddings from May through the first weekend of October. See The Oakley's website for current packages.

Weddings Dave has played at The Oakley

Tom and Ellen, August 2018

Tom and Ellen live in England and planned their Michigan wedding from overseas. In their own review they wrote that they were the first wedding to take place at The Oakley. Dave was their DJ. The ceremony was on the lawn in front of the new building, with white chairs facing the fields, followed by portraits by the pond and in the long grass at sunset. Bella Uno Photography took the photographs and Bair Media Co. made their wedding film. When The Oakley shared the film, it tagged Dave and Menzo Media among the vendors. That summer, Menzo Media was also one of the vendors at The Oakley's launch open house.

Wedding storyTom & Ellen The Oakley, Holly · August 2018See the wedding

Genna and Frank, 2021

A few seasons later, Genna and Frank's guests lined the aisle on the lawn, and the reception moved inside to teal linens, a candlelit head table and a grand entrance under the chandeliers. The venue posted their photographs by Kayla Bouren Photography and their film by FairyTale Productions in early 2022, crediting "DJ: Menzo Media".

Wedding storyGenna & Frank The Oakley, Holly · 2021See the wedding

Ceremony music by the pond at The Oakley

Outdoor ceremonies need a little more thought than indoor ones. Sound doesn't reflect off anything in an open field, so our approach is to amplify even acoustic guitar and vocals lightly, enough for the back rows to hear the vows and the processional. We plan the processional to the length of the walk, so the music lands as you reach the front. Because The Oakley plans to move the ceremony indoors in bad weather, the ceremony music is planned to move with it. Ceremony music is an add-on to the DJ and MC booking. See live ceremony music.

Cocktail hour at The Oakley

With a dedicated cocktail-hour space, a courtyard and a greenhouse to wander through, guests tend to spread out after the ceremony. A live acoustic set gives them something to gather around while you take photographs by the pond. See cocktail hour music.

Wedding DJ and MC for an Oakley reception

At a relaxed country venue like this, our approach is to keep dinner easy, then open the floor with the songs your families can't stay seated for, and read the room from there. The wedding DJ and MC booking covers the whole reception, from the grand entrance and toasts to the last song. If you'd like live drums, guitar, sax or violin during the reception too, add DJ plus live music.

Outdoor ceremonies with fields and a pond behind them suit acoustic arrangements: a slowed-down version of a pop song for the processional, or a classic love song on guitar. For the reception, couples at venues like this often lean toward sing-alongs, a little country, and the classics that bring every generation out together. These are only starting points, and the acoustic ceremony song ideas guide has more.

Planning an Oakley wedding around the season

The Oakley's season runs from May to early October, and that covers very different evenings. In June, the sun sets around 9 pm in southeast Michigan, so an outdoor ceremony can sit late in the afternoon with plenty of light left for photographs by the pond. By late September and early October it's dark much earlier and evenings cool quickly, which pushes the ceremony earlier and moves the party indoors sooner. Your coordinator and photographer will have a view on timing, and it's worth agreeing one plan early.

A few things to ask the venue before you plan the music: where the ceremony moves if it rains and who makes the call, when vendors can arrive and what time music needs to end, and which spaces your cocktail hour and reception will use.

More wedding venues in mid-Michigan

Dave has also played weddings at Everlastings in the Wildwood in Owosso and Brookshire Inn & Golf Club in Williamston. For more of the area, see Lansing weddings, or browse all the venues we've played.