Jon and Katie's Wedding in Durham, North Carolina

Over the next 18 months we laid out the best plan for our wedding, it would be thoughtful and beautiful and everything that we dreamed our wedding day to be. No question, we wanted to go back to our hometown to celebrate with all of our famiy and closest friends. I proposed to my bridesmaids and Jon picked out the most gorgeoud dress pattern for them to wear. I found a lovely duet to play "our song" as I walked down the aisle - Come and Get Your Love by Redbone. Our parents came with us to venue tours and dress fittings and shared love stories and advice with us. We found The Cookery and knew it was meant for us - it opened as a brewery for a local beer, Ponysaurus Brewing, and had grown into an event venue with a rich history and pieces of several historic buildings in Durham.

The big day arrived and I spent the morning getting ready with my three moms and five amazing bridesmaids. There was music and champagne while Wink! Hair and Makeup got us ready and everyone squealed when Mew's brought in the beautiful flowers. Jon and I didn't want to see each other before the ceremony, and I knew straight away that I wanted to do a first look with my dad - which was every bit as emotional and tear jerking as a first look is promised to be. Jon and I wrote sweet love notes and created our own special vows. The guys got dressed to the nine's and took their places once the guests arrived. I met Jon at the end of the aisle where one of my favorite college professors acted as our officiant and one of our closest friends provided a beautiful reading.

We kissed and walked away as husband and wife, then snuck away for portraits with the breathtaking Shane & Lauren Photography and Wild Oak Films who flew all the way from California and Kansas to capture our big day. We met our guests again, where we received a thoughtful blessing from Jon's dad and then dug into a delicious plated dinner from Sage & Swift. We cut the cake, and both ended up with icing on our faces - Jon being a self proclaimed choco-holic and me being a sucker for anything lemon blueberry- we had a little tribute to our fur babies hiding on the cake. My dad gave the toast to end all toasts, followed by Jon's brother, Chris, and my best friend, Lauren. With full hearts and bellies, we danced the night away with All Around Raleigh DJ before we snuck outside to Dusty's Donut food truck for a little extra sweetness. We hopped in our getaway car with a big box of cake, which we dove under the covers and ate and giggled about our perfect day.