Wedding Date on Jul 29, 2016

From The Bride: Ryan and I met the pretty-typical way, through a friend of a friend. My friend Cydney had asked me to come and play a game of wiffle ball with her then-boyfriend (now-husband!)'s group of friends from work and it turned out we were playing at Ryan's house. Ry and I were both pitchers for opposing teams and actually didn't talk much that night unless it was competitive banter. Three weeks went by and we randomly ran into each other in downtown Gainesville (Go Gators!) and really as cliche as it sounds, the rest was history. For any special occasion or really any reason we had, Ry and I always loved going to Disney. We went there for our first anniversary and then a few birthdays and we had a trip planned for after my graduation. On May 7, 2015, we arrived to our second park of the day when Ryan complained of being tired and wanting to sit down. We were inn front of Hollywood Studio's infamous Rockin Roller Coaster (the first roller coaster I ever rode on back on our first Disney trip, only because Ry somehow convinced me) when he began "the speech". A couple of "I love yous" and other details that I can't remember because I was so excited, he proposed and I said yes :) Ry and I always knew we would have a big wedding- Ryan is the oldest of seven and his cousin's family are the same size so our motto was definitely, "the more the merrier". I was that girl that had her fairy tale dream wedding in mind and it was always going to be Mackinac Island. I have grown up going to the island in the summer because my grandparents own a house on the island so it has been my favorite place ever since I can remember. When we started planning, I became obsessed with having sentimental ties and details to my parents' day 25 years prior. I got ready in my grandparents' home, the same place my mom got ready, and wore my mom's dress (with some alterations). Ryan and I rode in the same carriage my parents rode in from their ceremony, which is my grandfather's. The beautiful horses that pulled our carriage were also my grandparents' and the majority of our pictures were taken in my grandparents' backyard. We were so fortunate to not only be surrounded by people who love us but the meaning our day had to family and tradition was something that we could never trade for the world.