It was a sunny September day and we were just starting our junior year in college….and our love story began. Just four months later, outside of an old, white, small-town church snowflakes peacefully fell as we said “I do” with our closest friends and family watching.
It was a beautiful picture…but the real story behind that pretty picture is quite a story! The pastor of that church that we only attended a few times, had never married anyone before. The marriage counseling that we had consisted of, “Do you love him? Do you love her? Well, Okay then!!” The pastor, who always wore a suit and tie, showed up for the ceremony in quite colorful attire, wearing moccasins on his feet! And he never told my grandfather (who walked me down the aisle) that he could be seated (so Doug finally did!) And the highlight of it all, was that there was no rehearsal….so that small step on the church platform became quite a big surprise as I tripped and was caught by Doug before hitting the floor….but not before tearing a slightly bigger slit in my form fitting dress and almost yelling out a bad word in church!! No, we didn’t get it on video and win $10,000, but we did learn about paying attention to every little detail!
As two young newlyweds putting ourselves through college and needing to pay the bills, we found some creative ways to make money. One four day weekend, with the help of Doug’s dear grandmother, we baked 12,000 cookies (yes, the number is correct) for holiday cookie trays, resulting in cookie requests for many years to come. With Doug’s past experience working for a floral shop we were able to do the flowers for multiple weddings, decorate businesses and people’s homes, and prepare and serve food for weddings and various events. Not only did we support ourselves and finish our degrees, but we honed our skills and found our passion. However, as we became more involved in our careers, and started our family, free time to do what we loved became our dream for the future.
Here we are 25 years and four kids later. The first day we first walked the property at “The Place”, and felt God had it waiting just for us. We are so excited to put all of our effort and energy into paying attention to every little detail of your day and making it all you have dreamed of.