How did you meet?
Tommy and I met in college playing pool at Partners Pub (Stevens Point) on a Wednesday on Dollar Bottle night. Super classy ;) We were both there with different people but had a mutual friend who introduced us so we could play pool together so that he could leave for the night.
When did you know you wanted to spend the rest of your life together?
(Jeanna) I would say I knew right after our first huge fight. It was actually a fight about getting married... I was grilling him on if he would ever propose or wanted to get married and he is such a pacifist, he just responded so vaguely that it annoyed me and turned into a fight. But once that fight was over and we realized what we were doing wasn't really "fighting", it was learning more about each other. How to communicate about different things and learning about how we saw our own futures; apart and together. It made us stronger, not weaker, and I knew I wanted to continue growing stronger with this amazing man :)
How and where did the proposal happen?
Tommy's proposal was absolutely perfect. And again, if it weren't for some disagreements we had had in the past to learn more about each other, it would never have been this way. We were looking at buying our first house and he was all excited and pushing forward HARD to get one ASAP. I on the other hand was very obstinate because I didn't want to buy a house until we were married or at least engaged; and he knew that. So when we found the house, put in the offer and it was accepted, we set up a time to go back on Monday (Also my Birthday) to show our family. Well, he convinced me to dress up a little so we could go out to dinner for my birthday after we saw the house. Well, when we got to the house, before we went in, he stopped me and told me that he cares about my feelings and wants me to be as excited as he is to buy a house. So he said something like "I don't want us to go inside and look at this with separate eyes, we should be looking at this together, as a couple, as our home." and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :) I cried a lot... I don't even think I looked at the whole house again :)
What did you envision your wedding to be during the planning stages?
Totally different than what happened... Friday evening we had some pretty nasty storms roll through that knocked over part of the tent we had, but other wise didn't cause much harm. However, Saturday morning brought the hurt. Between 10am and 12:30pm, Central WI had 12 confirmed tornadoes touch down. Unfortunately, multiple of those went directly past the farm where we had worked for months to clean out an entire working and functional barn to make it a wedding space... as well as landscaped and decorated 4 of the 20 acres. By 10:40am power was completely out across the 2 counties. This meant, no hair, no nails, no A/C, no lights, no toilets, no nothing. We had to change everything. Our bus was late to pick up the girls due to downed power lines and trees EVERYWHERE. SO everything was postponed, and we were mostly concerned about everyone's safety. On the bus ride to the farm, we had to find alternative routes because the roads were all blocked. Originally we were getting married under the willow by the pond, but that was flooded. So we got married in the barn and it was gorgeous. We ended up getting 4 generators to run for lights, DJ and beer cooler. And that's all we needed. Thank goodness for solar lights port-a-potties too!
What was your color palette and style vision?
When we first picked a date and started planning it was tirquoise and grey. That quickly went away and turned to "summer colors" meaning farmers market flowers and black bridesmaids dresses. But again, that changed and I let my bridesmaids all decide what they wanted to wear which was lavender/lilac and denim/blue. Worked out beautifully :) As for the style, we knew once we were offered the barn for the wedding, we had to keep it as natural as we could. The barn was gorgeous on it's own so we did some lights and minimal decorations as to not take away from the absolutely gorgeous architecture of the barn.
What surprised you on your wedding day?
Where to begin.. I think first, I was surprised that so many people actually still came after the weather! I was also surprised that the afternoon was so gorgeous. The rings were also kept hidden from us until the ceremony. That was fun to see those for the first time together. Also, my brother released ducks lol they are still living on the pond happily!
What was you favorite moment from the day? and your detail?
Favorite moment: seeing Tommy smiling while I walked down the aisle, even after all the chaos Favorite detail: Either the rings or the flowers
What advice would you offer to other couples planning a wedding?
Relax and accept the help. If your parents want to push and be a part of the planning, dear lord LET THEM! It will only give you more time to enjoy the countdown :) And in the end, you won't even remember half of the day anyways :) only the parts you want to. Also, our running joke was "it's not about you." as in everything you plan for this wedding literally isn't for you; it's for your guests. You're essentially planning a party for other people who are going to constantly be pulling you in different directions and asking you the same questions... Make sure the ceremony is for you, then enjoy the party ;)
