I met Emily and John through Emily’s brother Stewart and sister-in-law Alana (a previous couple of mine…they were married a couple years ago and their wedding still holds as one of my all-time favorites so far)! Emily approached me with great enthusiasm as she had already decided she wanted to use me as her wedding photographer long before she was engaged. I, of course, was SO honored that she wanted to use me, and BONUS! I was able to see a lot of people from Stewart and Alana’s wedding as well!

The day was just perfect. The weather was wonderful, the sunset was gorgeous, and everything went smoothly.

Here’s a little peek into their wedding day… 🙂

How did you two meet? Who made the first move?
Emily: We met through school at WashU. Freshman year, he lived on the floor below me in our residential building. We knew of each other because we were both from the KC area, and met once or twice, but not much more than that. By sophomore year I started getting rides to the church he went to (and kept going somewhat as an excuse to see the cute boy from KC). Around October of that year I needed a date to my sorority formal, and decided to go out on a limb and ask John, even though we’d hardly talked. My parents were thrilled to hear that I had asked a tall, respectful, Christian, pre-med boy from Kansas. The date obviously went well, and we kept getting to know each other and eventually started dating. I definitely get the credit for initiating it all though! 🙂

What do you love most about him/her?
I think we both love the absolute no-nonsense honesty that has developed in our relationship. For that to work, I think we’ve established a high level of emotional trust, granting each other the freedom to speak our minds and speak honestly without fear of backlash. We challenge each other to grow and continuously learn from one another and from our diverse experiences. John, who studied chemical engineering and is about to start medical school, is incredible logical, precise, action-driven, and efficient. On the other hand, I studied graphic design in art school, and I’m a lot more emotional, empathetic, contemplative, and indecisive. Our almost comically-stereotypical differences have really helped shape a more complex and complete world view. We’re also just total goons if you get to know us. We make each other laugh, a lot.

Tell us about the proposal!
First of all, I totally knew when it was going to happen because John is terrible at keeping secrets. That didn’t make it any less awesome though! We started with a nice dinner out, and then he drove me to Forest Park. We took a long walk (like we have many times in that spot before) and then he finally stopped on a bridge and got down on one knee. He planned with my roommate to be hiding on the sidelines with a camera, so we have great photos of it too! After that he did surprise me with a big party with all of our friends.

What do you like to do together?
We’re pretty low-maintenance as a couple. We dated through our busiest, most stressful years of college, so at times our dates were mostly quick study breaks or late night de-stressing Game of Thrones binging. When we have a little more time, we like going out for walks or trying to find new restaurants.

Shout out to all the fabulous vendors who made this party possible:

Cake: The Baby Bird Bakery, Kristin Sebel
Catering: Salt Catering
Ceremony Venue: Second Baptist Church
Hair/Makeup: Darla Stokes from Hair For You / Leslie Leaver – Mary Kay Consultant
Reception Venue: St. James Event Center
DJ: The Entertainment Company, Rick Bradford
Dress: Savvy Bridal Boutique
Florist: D’Agee & Co. Florist
Second shooter: Derek Jenkins