Bradley and Nicole's Wedding in Shafer, Minnesota

The story of our wedding

July 4, 2013 is when our story began.Ever heard of the app Thumb? Maybe, but more than likely not. One part instant messenger, one part advice meter on-the-go, Thumb was an app that allowed its users to post polls to the community and friends to gain instant feedback in a number of categories. Knowing how much the two of us love to discuss and share opinions about nearly everything, you can only imagine how quickly we grew together when we found each other on this app, over a thousand miles apart.Ages 15 and 17, we were in high school when we first met — obviously making it difficult to make our online relationship into one in person. However, after many years of online dating through late night conversations and Skyping, we scheduled a flight to meet in Atlanta on February 2, 2018. Despite all of the twists and turns that planning a wedding during a pandemic entails, we decided to keep our original wedding date and celebrate with our closest family and friends. Being that we’re from different states, we even had a second, smaller reception to keep our guests safe and able to celebrate this monumental occasion with us. Quarantine and working from home gave us the time we needed to do all of the planning and make nearly all of the decorations ourselves (including making our invitations from scratch by carving a linoleum block and making prints)! While this was a crazy time to say the least, I wouldn’t trade this experience and wedding-planning journey with my now HUSBAND for anything in the world!!