Jim and Valerie’s Crossroads District Wedding Reception was the perfect end to their beautiful, natural, and navy wedding at Calvary Lutheran Church.
Get the Look
Photographer: KDog Photographers Ceremony Venue: Calvary Lutheran Church Reception Venue: Berg Event Space Gown: Gown Gallery Menswear: Gown Gallery Bridesmaid Dresses: J. Crew Hair: Penny Tuckel & Emily Wright Makeup: Terri Good Catering: Jack Stack BBQ DJ: Jeff Holmes Cake: Dolce Bakery Florist: Stems Flower Market Videography: A to Z Videography
Jim & Valerie’s Love Story
Jim and I met at an apartment complex pool just off the plaza in the summer of 2009. We both had friends that lived there at the time and just so happened to be at the pool on the same day. Needless to say, the pool became a hot hang out spot for the two of us and our friends the rest of the summer. We dated for four years before Jim popped the question!
I woke up early on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend in 2013, excited to spend the day with family on the lake. First thing in the morning, Jim gets a call from my Dad that he needs us to come pick him up at another dock on the lake. Jim and I get to the boat and start heading to get my Dad when Jim slows down the boat and tells me he thinks the boat is ticking and acting funny. He then asks me if I will get him a beer out of the front cooler of the boat (it is maybe 9:00 a.m. at this point). I question his early request, then say something about how there probably isn’t any beer on the boat yet this early in the morning. I open the cooler and there is no beer, but there is a little box. I turn around and say, “What is this?” He says, “Well I got you a little present, I hope you like them.” I bend down, pick it up and start to open the box. He then walks over to me, takes the box and says, “Actually this is a present I should open for you…” He gets down on one knee, tells me a bunch of things that I really don’t remember and then asks me to marry him. I say yes and we immediately hear cheering from the shore. I realize that he stopped the boat in that particular spot so some of our family could see the proposal. The rest of the weekend was spent celebrating our engagement and talking about all things wedding.
We did a lot of the wedding planning together. It was important for us to make it special to us as a couple and that everyone who attended could tell that this was our style shining throughout the entire day. I feel like I have a very classic, timeless personal style and I tried to keep that in mind when choosing every detail of the wedding day from bridesmaid dresses to flowers to the decor.
The Groom’s Favorite Moment of the Day
My favorite part of our wedding day was standing at the altar, overlooking so many of our friends and family sitting in the pews, then watching our closest friends and family walk down the aisle which ended with my beautiful bride walk down the aisle with her dad to join me. There will always be a time to celebrate a good party or in this case, our wedding reception; however, the feeling I had standing at the front of the church on our wedding day is something I won’t be able to duplicate.
The Bride’s Favorite Moment of the Day
As cliche as it might sound, my favorite part of our wedding day was seeing the look on Jim’s face when he turned around and saw me in my wedding dress for the first time. I had thought about what his face would look like and what he might say, but it was amazing to actually experience it in real life. We were both so anxious and nervous that after we had our first look, we both relaxed a ton and could really concentrate on enjoying our wedding day.
Special Touches
Jim and I visited the Shatto Milk farm a couple of years ago together. After that day, I was determined to have little pints of milk for guests to have with their dessert.
