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Photographer & Videographer: Cork Creative Ceremony & Reception Venue: The Berg Event Space Gown: Bridal Extraordinaire Menswear: The Black Tux Cake: Hy-Vee Florist: Andrea Grist Floral Designs Catering: Shining Stars Catering Makeup: Ashley Nelson Studios DJ: Elite Sounds Bridesmaid Dresses: JCrew Rentals: Ultrapom Event Rentals
Jeff & Kaitlin’s Love Story
Jeff and I met our freshman year of high school, way back in 2000. We were both waiting to be picked up after school, and Jeff had just enough confidence to say hi. The next year, I persuaded Jeff to take yearbook class with me, and we quickly became best friends. My friends would often say that we were joined at the hip and his friends would often poke fun at him for being stuck in the “friend zone.”
Even though I dated his best friend for most of high school, we would often go on “Jeff and Kaitlin dates,” where we’d spend hours driving around talking and listening to angsty pop punk music from the many CD mixes we made each other. Senior year, we decided to go to different colleges. Saying goodbye was one of the hardest things we had to do.
Fortunately, our relationship remained strong, despite the distance. During our freshman year of college, we traveled back and forth from KU and MU to visit each other. Then, on New Year’s Eve freshman year, we finally shared our first kiss. A few months later, Jeff asked me to be his girlfriend.
Everything was going pretty well when we received a somewhat major surprise the summer of 2011. I was pregnant! We soon moved in together and began making preparations to welcome our little girl to our lives. We always knew that we loved each other, but it wasn’t until we saw how great we were together as parents that we were 100 percent convinced that we were meant to be. Nine years after we met in high school, Jeff surprised me by popping the question on my birthday!
During the planning process, Jeff and I tried to incorporate a lot of little details that were unique to our story. We really wanted our wedding to be a tribute to the happy, quirky, romantic and fun aspects of our relationship. Everything from the hand drawn Save-the-Date cards to the three foot wall decal with our favorite song lyric were all little details that made our day so special. Music has been a huge part of our relationship, so picking out our ceremony music was definitely a huge highlight of the planning process! In high school, we would drive around for hours listening to “The Best of Me” by The Starting Line. I couldn’t have imagined a better song to play while I walked down the isle. We looked for the sheet music for months with no luck. It wasn’t until the day before we were to meet with our ceremony musicians, Forte Quartet, that we found it and sent it over knowing it would probably be too late. The next afternoon we were wrapping up our song selections when they told us their composer had been up all night finishing our song and asked if we would like to hear it. It all worked out perfectly and made the moment more special than I could have ever dreamed.
The Groom’s Favorite Part of the Day
The dancing. All along it was our goal to make it fun and entertaining for guests. We set the tone by having the DJ introduce the wedding party to the song “Shut Up and Dance.” The entire wedding party converged onto the dance floor and had a mini dance party. Everyone in the crowd got up and started clapping and dancing along. It stayed that way all night.
The Bride’s Favorite Part of the Day
Our wedding was my favorite and best day of my life. There had never been a time when I had been surrounded by all of my favorite people in one place and it was an honor to share our love and commitment to each other in their presence.
