How did you meet?
We met while attending Humboldt State University. We crossed paths twice while out dancing at the beloved Sidelines Sports Bar in the Arcata Square. After closing the bar down the second time, we shared a pizza at the 24 hour Don’s Donut shop down the street, talked, and exchanged phone numbers. We spent the last few weeks of the semester getting to know each other and soon became inseparable.
Tell us about your engagement.
Dustin popped the question in October 2023 on Moonstone Beach in Trinidad, CA. Dustin found a complete clam shell when he was a kid and knew one day he would do something special with it. We were walking along the surf and Dustin had picked up a few shell fragments and rocks to show me. He was grabbing what I thought was just another shell when he called me over to look at the full clam shell. I was so excited because I had never found one before. He held it up and pretended to pry it open. Then he got down on one knee and opened the clam shell with the ring hidden inside and asked me to marry him.
#WeddingGoals
We knew we wanted to throw a party. Our priority was to spend time with our favorite people and have an absolute blast. We did not have too many expectations beyond that going into planning, but during the process found things we knew we wanted to have: a four-foot elk shed on the arbor, an outdoor ceremony, beer burros, the perfect wedding dress that had a beautiful train to drape down the steps of the arbor, a beer boy to start the party before we walked down the aisle, delicious food, and a rocking dance floor.
How did planning go?
Overall, the wedding planning went well. We started planning our wedding pretty early due to booking our venue well in advance. We made A LOT of lists and we were very flexible with want we wanted to do. We talked often and dedicated one night a week to wedding planning so we did not get overwhelmed (that only lasted for a little while, then it became everything we did for a few months). It does take a lot of time and hard work to plan a wedding. To add on top of planning a wedding, we were both working full time (Dustin as a wildlife biologist which required several nights out of town in the warmer months, and Caroline a busy school teacher). And Caroline was going to school part-time working towards a Master’s degree. So we did not have a lot of free time.
Our favorite part of wedding planning was learning country swing dance from Freedom Swing every week for a few months before our wedding day, and putting together a routine for our first dance together.
For us, the worst moments during wedding planning were when it came down to the wire, about three weeks out from the wedding. There seemed to be endless last minute finishing touches that would come up even when we thought we had everything pinned down. There was always something that needed to be worked on every day. Balancing all these tasks as the big day approached, while also keeping up with regular life responsibilities, became really stressful.
Biggest Challenge?
The biggest challenge of wedding planning for us was putting together our guest list. We have a lot of close friends and family in our lives, and we would have loved to celebrate with them all. We initially thought standard guest sizes would work fine for us, but we came to realize that we had many people that we wanted to be a part of our special day. In the end, we had to reduce our guest list from what we had originally envisioned, which was not easy.
How was the Ceremony?
The backdrop of our ceremony was a beautiful green orchard with green grass and blue sky on a sunny and warm spring afternoon. The aisle was lined with rose petals and wild flowers from our and our family members’ gardens. We stood on a raised rustic wooden arbor below an elk shed antler adorned with a variety of colorful wildflowers. We wanted a semi-traditional wedding ceremony with some fun and a country flare to represent our lifestyle values. Caroline wore a white floral laced “trumpet style” dress with a beautiful scalloped lace edge train and added a veil, handmade by her aunt, and white floral laced leather boots. Dustin wore a western style dark charcoal coat and black cowboy hat with blue jeans and leather boots. Our bridesmaids dressed in various shades of sage green dresses with boots, while the groomsmen wore charcoal vests and matching cowboy hats with sage green ties, blue jeans, and boots.
We had one of our best friends officiate our wedding, and kicked off the ceremony with our beer boy (Dustin’s younger brother), who rode in on a stick pony tossing out beers to the crowd before the wedding party came down the aisle. Our closest family and friends made up our wedding party and Caroline’s 3-month-old niece was the flower girl. We paid tribute to family we have lost throughout our lives, two of which were unexpected within the six months leading up to our wedding. Our officiant read a beautiful poem about love moving like a river; twisting and turning, powerful and free, and always finding its way back to the sea (Wedding Poem by Whitney Hanson). We had an unplugged ceremony so our family and friends could be fully present, but allowed 30 seconds of photo taking once everyone was down the aisle. We shared our vows privately during our first look, but had our officiant read our personalized “I do’s” that we wrote together to fully encompass what we want and promise for each other in our marriage. Our ceremony was short, sweet, and perfectly us.
Memorable Moments
Before our cocktail hour and reception started, we got all of our wedding guests in one picture. Danielle with The Red Barn Weddings & Events and Maria with Pixel Perfect Photo + Video quickly got all our wedding guests out of their seats and into an area for our big picture. We love that we got a picture with every single one of our guests.
The beer burros were a huge hit that gave our cocktail hour a little something extra.
Our table numbers were also a cute and unique touch. For each table number, we had side by side photos of us from that age. It was great to see our family and friends reminisce over our photos.
Our first dance was very memorable. We both would not call ourselves the best dancers, so when we whipped out the moves we had be practicing, our guests loved it. The dance floor was packed most of the night with everyone singing and dancing the night away with foam glowsticks, and kettle corn as a late night snack. To send us off into the late night partying, our guests created a sparkler arch that we ran through. Toward the end of the night, Caroline had an outfit change to a fun short black dress (she always joked that she’d have a black wedding dress!).
Unexpected Moment
The four-digit number “1018” is associated with Dustin’s late grandmother. Throughout the years, the number has popped up frequently and randomly. Dustin and his family take notice of these instances as tributes to her. While taking our sunset photos, we noticed that the number on the mailbox we had been walking near was “10180.” We took this as Grandma Marleen making sure she visited us on our special day.
Special Dances:
First Dance: All Your’n by Tyler Childers
Family Dance: I loved Her First by Heartland (Father/Daughter) and How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) by James Taylor (Mother/Son)
Last Dance: Photograph by Nickleback
Special Dance: Listen to the Music by The Doobie Brothers (Bride’s family dance)
Best Part of Your Day
Dustin: Every part of the day came together to make for a wonderful wedding experience. From the ceremony, to visiting with friends and family, and to partying it up on the dance floor. However, I think the best part of the day for me were the small things we got to do together that helped slow down the day and bring calming moments to all the excitement. One of which was when we set off to take sunset photos out in the orchard. We got a fun first-class golf cart ride out away from the reception together, where the two of us had time to take a deep breath and watch the party from afar. During the photos and the ride to and from the orchard, we really got to soak in the moment and catch up with each other on how we were enjoying our day. It was a great way to pause and look around at how our wedding day vision had come to life.
Caroline: The best part of our day in my perspective was being able to celebrate our love in a way that was true to who we are. We love to have a great time surrounded by great people, laughing and being goofy. And that is exactly what we got. Dustin and I met while out dancing, so it meant a lot to me that we could just be ourselves and dance the night away.
Favorite Detail
Our favorite detail from our day were our flowers. We had gone back and forth a lot on our wedding and floral colors, unsure of what was really “us”. One of the bridesmaids sent Caroline Pinterest inspiration pictures of wildflower weddings, and she instantly knew that was it. The bright colors of varying heights and textures, as well as the symbolism of wildflowers, spoke to how we live our lives and love each other–fun and free.
Looking back, what do you think your guests will remember most about your wedding?
A lot of guests have said that our wedding was a really great time that just felt so easy. We did not over plan and try to do too much with our day. We wanted to just be with our people, have fun, and throw a party. We kept everything pretty low stress, and our guests felt that. Oh, and they will definitely remember the beer boy tossing our beers down the aisle, and the cutest beer burros ready with a beer in exchange for a pet.
#VendorRaves
We absolutely loved all of our vendors and would have been so lost without them. Danielle, Ryan, and the whole team at The Red Barn Weddings & Events truly made our day amazing with their attention to detail. Our day was perfect and stress free because of their hard work. Our photographer, Maria at Pixel Perfect Photo + Video, captured our day beautifully—she was amazing to work with and really listened to us about our vision. Odell Craft Barbecue is always a crowd favorite—they were able to cater to some specific food allergies so all our guests could enjoy their delicious food. Our floral designer, Alli at June Bloom, created the most beautiful wildflower-inspired pieces and also took on the task of decorating our four-foot elk shed for the arbor.
Advice from the Couple
We would say to couples planning their wedding to take a deep breath. If you stay true to who you are and plan what YOU actually want, then your wedding will be perfect. Things are going to come up and plans will change, but if you remember that this day is to celebrate your love and commitment to your partner with the people who are most important to you, nothing can ruin it. During your reception, stay with your spouse. Do everything together, it will help the night feel a little slower. Lastly, HAVE FUN. Life is too boring to not have any fun ,and your wedding day should be one of the most fun days of your life. Run in the rain or through the dirt in your fancy clothes, you can clean them later; take all the photos with everyone, they will be beautiful memories to look back on; dance the night away, your sore feet will heal, and no, you don’t look silly; and love your partner unapologetically–they are your person for life.
What would you have done differently?
If we could change one thing about our wedding, it would be the week leading up to our big day. We were so caught up in last minute details, that we did not get much sleep. This led to Caroline catching a cold, and both of us being exhausted. We wish we could have sat down and just spent some time together connecting and relaxing before our wedding.
