Our Story | A Wedding In 12 Days

12 days. We planned our entire wedding in 12 days. Yes, it was quick and I’m sure people questioned our sanity. We wouldn’t change anything about that day, though. It was more beautiful and perfect than we could have ever imagined. We had friends and family helping out to make it everything we ever wanted. It was stressful at times, but we kept telling ourselves we only had 12 days of it. And that is refreshing. 🙂

Those were 12 very busy days! We were engaged on a Sunday and that same evening, I had already reached out to a photographer who I hoped was available despite it being last minute. By the next morning I had received her reply saying she was available! You can imagine my excitement that my first choice for a photographer was available and willing to shoot our last minute, Friday evening wedding! 😀 Kelsi Kliethermes was the best choice we could’ve made! Check out her page here because she is incredible! We did engagement photos the Monday of our wedding week and Kelsi made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera, which is huge as a photographer! Grant wasn’t too eager about photos at first, but afterwards he commented on how much fun we had during our session. We looked forward to our wedding photos so much more because we knew Kelsi would make them enjoyable, interactive and fun. 🙂 So, shoutout to Kelsi who was not only the greatest wedding photographer we could’ve had, but inspired us to get into photography as a team. That’s how much she changed Grant’s mind about photos. 😀

So, despite feeling like we were insanely busy, we had tons of help. Our sister-in-law, Hillary Joy, who lived in Texas at the time, made up our online invitations for us. We never would’ve had those if it wasn’t for her willingness to help despite being two days away from going into labor with our nephew!  🙂 Our pastor’s wife did a lot of the reception planning and several ladies from church offered up their time to help out the day of. My sister and I made our wedding cake and were happy with the results despite not really knowing what we were doing. 😉 One of those things where you “wing it” and hope nothing bad happens, like it crumbling to pieces at the last minute. 😉

If you’re wondering how much Grant contributed to the wedding preparations, it was a lot! Besides still working his normal hours, he worked out at the farm and lake in preparation for the big day. He also cut down trees to use as stumps for our aisle. And the impressive arch?? Grant used a chainsaw to cut it out! We’re talking holding a chainsaw up in the air while he’s in the bed of his truck to cut a tree lengthwise in half. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself! And if that wasn’t enough, he also made our initial-engraved tree stump into a cake stand! And all within a few days of our wedding! 🙂

Our wedding day, I woke up to a major thunderstorm. We’re talking dark and heavy rain. Our outside wedding wasn’t looking like it was going to happen. Our backup plan was to use the reception hall as a ceremony location, but there was no way we would be moving the arch (it was staked into the ground), so we knew it wouldn’t be all that we wanted. Instead, we all did lots of praying and thankfully the rain disappeared! By around 1:00 in the afternoon, it was sunny and beautiful! So, so thankful!

Grant and I opted for a first look due to our wedding being in the evening, and I’m so thankful we did! Nothing against waiting till your ceremony for that first look, but I loved that Grant and I got to spend so much time together during that time! And I love those pictures!

Our ceremony was taking place out on the grass runway of his grandparents farm. We worried a little bit that with it being the end of June and early evening, it would be super hot out and people would be uncomfortable. But, right as everyone was headed to their seats for the start of the wedding, a cloud came over and shaded us throughout the entire time. A really amazing and special moment happened as we started to say our vows. The clouds parted just enough to let the sun stream through on us. Almost as if we were receiving God’s blessing on the day!

While I have many favorite memories from that day, one sticks out to me as being extra special. Grant and I were leaving the farm after the ceremony and headed to our reception as husband and wife. As we were passing his grandparents’ lake, we pulled off the road. We were overwhelmed with happiness and thankfulness with how perfect the day had gone. We never dreamed our wedding could be so incredible with only 12 days to prepare. We pulled off to the side of the road and offered up thanksgiving to the Lord for all He had done to bring us and our families together to celebrate a truly wonderful and amazing day. Even after we left our reception, we were still overwhelmed by God’s goodness throughout the day. He truly is a great and wonderful God.

I may have not conveyed how amazing our day was to it’s fullest extent, but just know that it was more beautiful and precious than we ever hoped or dreamed. And it was all thanks to God’s goodness to us. <3

And now, go back in time and enjoy that beautiful day recreated through our photos. 🙂

All photo credit to Kelsi Kliethermes Photography