Bryan and I met at Arkansas Tech University in 2012. I was a freshman and he was a senior, so we only had a short time in school together before he graduated and we started a long-distance relationship. We worked hard to see each other as much as possible and made the most of every visit. One of the things so great about our relationship is that we both enjoy traveling and are always up for an adventure. We love traveling out west and visiting the state and national parks. Bryan always talked about hiking Angels Landing at Zion National Park, so we decided to make a trip to Utah. This trip also coincided with our 6 year anniversary.
We stayed at a private cabin overlooking a ravine just outside Zion. On our first night there, Bryan was setting up and taking down cameras all over the cabin and he was so sad when the sun went down before getting to take a picture of us in our nice dinner clothes. I had no idea why he was so insistent on getting dressed up in the morning, but I agreed since it seemed so important to him. The next morning we were on the back porch of the cabin taking pictures and admiring the sunrise, when on the final photo, Bryan knelt down and asked me to marry him.
We picked our wedding date of November 2, 2019 because our anniversary is November 3rd and we found it special to get married around our anniversary! We wanted a venue that was timeless and offered an outdoor ceremony area with an indoor reception area. We looked at several venues but when we saw The Ballroom at I Street, we were blown away! There was something about being in the empty ballroom with Bryan that just made it feel like the right place 🤍.
With a little luck and a lot of organization, we were able to plan and book vendors early in our engagement. Having the big items chosen early really allowed us time to decide on the special details we both wanted.
I wanted to do a “first look” with my dad and with Bryan. Our bridal party all went to college together and we hadn’t seen each other in years, so we really wanted everyone to get to spend the whole day together. Doing a first look allowed us to get pictures beforehand so that the bridal party could “party” and spend time together before all the wedding activities started!
What made our wedding day so special to us was that we wrote our vows for the ceremony and a long-time family friend was our officiant. The wooden arch backdrop from our ceremony was a gift from another family friend that he handcrafted from 25 year old red oak. It was such a beautiful day of love and one that I will always cherish.
