Congratulations to another Believe Bride! Keirstan and Matthew married on October 24, 2020. Although 2020 was a tough year for us all, this couple brought a little more light to their lives and the lives of their family. We wish you a lifetime of happiness!
The Proposal: In November of 2019, Matthew took me to Bowl and Pitcher and proposed on the bridge. Bridges have a special meaning for us, so it was the perfect choice. Our best friends were hiding out taking pictures. To top it off, he custom designed the ring!
The Big Day: We knew we wanted to get married and I knew venues book up fast, so before we were even engaged, we went searching for a location (about a year in advance). We knew we wanted to marry in the fall, indoors, about 200+ people and we didn't want a big ball room or a farm atmosphere. We wanted it to be unique. A coworker suggested going to Trezzi Winery and the moment we got there, we knew it was the perfect fit. Even more, the owners are Italian and serve the most amazing fresh Italian food. My (now) husband is 50% Italian and knowing that his family roots would be represented made it all that much better. Come to find out, there were only a few Saturday wedding dates left, which made us worry because we were hoping to marry on my late grandpa's birthday, October 24th (we used to celebrate our birthdays together when I was a kid). By some miracle, that date (out of maybe 2-3 Saturdays) was one that was left! We booked it for that day.
I continued planning, getting rentals, linens, and of course having my mom and sister come to Spokane over MLK weekend to look at wedding dresses. The process was rough. I wasn't too excited about trying on dresses, it just felt awkward. Every dress I tried on just didn't feel right. I either felt like I was a 10 or it just didn't fit me right. We left two different shops feeling defeated. My mom told me to make an appointment at Believe Bride just to have one last look. So that Monday, just the two of us went in for an appointment. Teresa was my stylist and asked me to look at the rack and pick out some dresses that stood out to me. She was surprised to find that one of the dresses I picked twice in two different sizes. We tried that one on first and it was beyond perfect. I took it home that day.
Then Covid hit. We decided to not make a decision until about a month out from our wedding and felt we needed to be cautiously optimistic. For months, I didn't want to plan anymore, worried I'd spend money that we'd lose and worried I wouldn't be getting my dream wedding. The one thing we did know was that we would be getting married on October 24th, no matter what.
Five months until our wedding, we came up with a backup plan: Cannon Beach, Oregon is a favorite location for both Matthew and I. We both grew up vacationing on the Oregon coast with our families. On our third date, we found out that both of our families have a photo of Haystack Rock hanging in the living room. So it was the perfect fit.
Three months until our wedding, family members were calling and asking about travel plans, wondering if they should make reservations or not. We decided a decision needed to be made and Covid just didn't seem to have an end date. We made the call to cancel our 200 person wedding, cancel our reservation at Trezzi and instead rent an Air BnB on the Oregon coast with just our immediate families.
Two months before our wedding, the beautiful Air BnB we booked, which was just 2 blocks from Haystack Rock called to tell us they SOLD THE HOUSE!!! We would need to find a plan C and different location. During this time, our rentals also canceled on us and we had to find another avenue. Since our wedding went from 200 to 15, we decided to order our flowers in bulk from Costco, after ordering we found out they can’t deliver flowers to an Air BnB and had to change plans once again.
Altogether, it was a super rough process, but in the end it all came together. Since it was so small, I was able to make it special by decorating the table nicely, having personal menus, special glassware and little touches like that. Our photographer, Amanda Muchmore was AMAZING and we were able to get the most wonderful local pastor to marry us on the beach. We would have loved to have our family and friends there and a lot of other touches I would have loved to have at our big wedding that were special, but life threw us a curveball and we had to make the best of it.
What was your favorite part of your wedding?: I think the location was really special. Never in a million years would I ever want to get married on the beach, but with Covid having other ideas, it ended up being the perfect plan b. Matt's parents honeymooned there and my grandparents honeymooned there. We both grew up going on vacations there and both of our parents have a photo of Haystack Rock hanging on the wall in the living room. Now so do we.
Special Memories: I started to get anxious around dessert and decided to take a little break. I excused myself to the restroom, I thought no one had seen me. But my 2yo niece and flower girl came into the bathroom, asked what I was doing and we sat on the floor and ate wedding cake together. It was so cute.
What advice would you give to future brides?: Plan early and don't let anyone tell you you're planning too much too soon! People and places get booked so fast!
