How did the two of you meet?
We met at the end of our senior year of high school, just as we were preparing to head in two different directions. We seemed a bit star-crossed for several years, but stayed in touch through our individual phases of growth, education, and travel. It made it all the more meaningful when we finally committed to being together despite life’s many curve balls. We’ve supported one another through two cross-country moves, several job changes, and lots of adventure now—and wouldn’t want to do life with anyone else.
How long have you been together?
Dave told me he was going to marry me when we were 18 years old. We didn’t actually get engaged until 28. So, our love story is a long and winding road.
Give us all the proposal details! When? Where? How?
We took a road trip home for Christmas in 2015, stopping at a few meaningful places along the way. One day while I was off on a run, Dave called to ask for my Dad’s blessing. We then headed off to Dry Tortugas National Park and out of cell phone service for a few days. We’re National Park enthusiasts and love to travel, so I didn’t think anything of it. We got in a few relaxing days of swimming, camping, and exploring before heading home to be with family for the holidays.
We’ve supported one another through two cross-country moves, several job changes, and lots of adventure now—and wouldn’t want to do life with anyone else.
On our last night there, at sunset, Dave got down on one knee. Utterly surprised, I cried the happiest tears for a few minutes before getting it together enough to say yes! We headed up the coast, newly engaged, and excited to share the news with our friends and family, but Dave had one more surprise up his sleeve. He had made plans to stop by a wedding venue in our favorite city of Charleston. We’re so excited to get married there this fall!
mfeltphotography.com
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Staying true to our laid-back style. We wanted an intimate destination wedding and it’s been a lot of fun infusing our love of travel, food, and friendship into the wedding.
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
We told ourselves from the very start of our engagement that we were going to do things stress-free and enjoy the process. Anytime we’ve hit a hiccup in the planning, we’ve chosen to focus on the real point of the day: sharing our vows in front of our closest family and friends. Everything else is just details.
How did you hear about Joy?
We did a lot of research looking for a wedding website app with helpful features that would let us personalize our guests’ experience. Planning a destination wedding in a city that we love meant we had a lot of helpful information we wanted to share with our guests. Joy had everything we needed and more.
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
Our favorite parts is the web address “with joy” which really gets at the heart of our wedding focus!
mfeltphotography.com
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Take some time to explore all of the website features before it’s time to send out save the dates. We didn’t rush the process and felt confident in our website when it was time to share it with our guests.
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
That is a perfect example of our approach to our wedding day. The wedding industry can try and convince you to get swept up in that one day, but we’re also trying to respect our goals for a lifetime of love together. Joy has helped us streamline the planning process and stay focused on what truly matters on our big day.
mfeltphotography.com
