How did the two of you meet?
We first met in fourth grade when I moved to a new school. Even though we lived down the road from each other and attended the same elementary, middle and high schools, we never truly connected until the second half of our senior year. At this point, we were both moving away to go to different universities. We decided to make it work long distance and visited each other on the weekends until we both graduated and moved to Salt Lake City together for Kevin’s job.
Eden Strader
Give us the proposal details! When? Where? How?
Kevin and I went down to our hometown, Houston, TX, for the holidays last year. Because we were visiting family and old friends, we weren’t able to spend a ton of time alone together. Kevin told me that we were going to go out to a fancy dinner with another couple, and told me to dress up nicely. The restaurant we were supposed to go to was inside of a gorgeous hotel, and when we got there, Kevin told me he got us a room! I assumed he just wanted some alone time, so I didn’t think it was too out of the ordinary. When we got to the room, he opened the door and I walked into champagne, chocolate covered strawberries and flowers. I turned around to see him on one knee. He gave the most beautiful speech and asked me to marry him. I obviously said yes, and we spent the rest of the night drinking champagne, eating at a wonderful Spanish restaurant (our favorite type of food) and then returned to our luxurious hotel suite. We decided to keep the news to ourselves for a while, and enjoyed being excited with each other before sharing with everyone else!
Eden Strader
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Even though we live in Salt Lake City, our wedding will be in Austin, Texas. This is mainly to keep our families involved in planning as much as possible. We traveled to Austin for a friend’s wedding and were able to look at wedding venues in the area with both of our moms and my grandma. It was so nice being able to share that with them because we don’t get to see them very often. It was a really special experience for everyone!
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
I try to remember that this wedding is only one day, and we have the rest of our lives to be together. That’s what matters. Wedding planning is just planning a big party, so it should be fun!
Eden Strader
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
I think the layout is really great. It looks completely modern, refined and doesn’t look like just a filled in template. I also like that most of the information we should provide is prompted, so we don’t have to think of it all by ourselves.
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
I think exploring all of the different options you have when you’re going through everything is important. There are a lot of cool features that I might have not found if I weren’t so curious.
Eden Strader
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
Kevin and I had been together for eight years before we started seriously talking about getting married. Our wedding is more of a symbolic gesture rather than a huge life-changing event. We already have a life together that won’t change much after the wedding. Marriage is just a continuation of the amazing relationship we already have!
