Wedding Date on May 28, 2016

From The Bride: Joel and I attended the same preschool and grew up going to the same church. We officially met in middle school youth group with a classic middle school crush that ended as fast as it began. Fast forward to high school when we re-hit it off in the same room our crush began years earlier. Joel tapped me on the shoulder with a smooth, "long time no see," and that's when it all began, again. Our relationship has been quite the adventure. We’ve taken two trips to Uganda, Africa to work for a non-profit Joel's family is a part of where we learned about service and teamwork. We’ve battled sickness (malaria, Dengue fever, kidney stones, and more), a year and a half of long distance, and perhaps hardest of all having to wait far too long before we could get married. Joel proposed on November 24, 2015 and it was a dream. He took me to watch the sunrise at the beach (a really special thing and place for us), all the while convincing me our friend (and videographer) Seth needed us to be in a video for him. After going to a coffee shop and spending the whole day together, I was told I would be picked up at my house for the last part of the shoot. Joel picked me up and brought me to a park where he had an entire display set up that he had built (see proposal video). Here he read me the sweetest letter and washed my feet before getting down on one knee and and asking me to be his bride forever (not to mention the most perfect ring in his hand)! The entire day was nothing short of a dream. Since we dated for five years, we didn't want a long engagement and picked the soonest date we could get married (which still gave us the longest 6 month wait ever)! We got married in Joel's parent's backyard on a beautiful lake. That is such a special place to us because we spent so much time learning to love each other there throughout the years. Planning the wedding was the most fun. We loved dreaming about it together and picking out all the details. We did the majority of planning together and loved every minute of it! Now we're married and think back so often to that day in May that was the best we've ever had.