Gary and Miranda met at Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, where Gary attends college. Miranda goes to Ball State, but her good friend from high school attends Indiana State University, which is also in Terre Haute! Miranda’s friend also happened to be dating a Rose-Hulman student, and when she was in town visiting, Gary and Miranda’s paths crossed. The rest, as they say, is history!
Give us the proposal details! When? Where? How?
I proposed at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana. We had been hiking here several times, and there is a spot called Sunset Point. During one of our previous hikes we took a photo there, and it’s always been one of our favorites. I decided to recreate that photo. I set it up so that her good friend Halee (who we had hiked with before and who took the aforementioned photo) invited us to go hiking with her and her father.
Oddly enough before that could happen Miranda asked her family if we could go hiking that weekend. So the plan was to go to church that morning and then to go hiking with her family. (I set it up so that her friend Halee and Halee’s father Rob were going to be hiding at Sunset point to take photos of the proposal.)
Ever since I met Miranda I have been happier than I ever imagined. She has this ability to make the hard times easier and the good times even better just by being there. To me she creates Joy in my life every day!
Miranda’s brother and his girlfriend as well as my parents, brother, and sister-in-law were going to meet us after the proposal for lunch at the Turkey Run Inn restaurant. Sadly though things took a turn when we arrived at church and we learned that a close family friend of Miranda’s family had passed away that morning. We then went to visit with the family and see if we could help in any way. I considered postponing the proposal and I asked Miranda’s mother Jenny what she thought I should do.
She asked the family of the deceased for their thoughts and they gave their blessing to proceed. So we did proceed just delayed by about an hour. Miranda had no clue what was happening, so much so that I had to have her sister talk her into changing shirts and to do her hair (things that I knew she would want changed for the photos). From there the proposal went as planned. She was very surprised and she said yes!
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
We are having our reception at a 1922 vaudeville/movie theater and we get to use the original movie poster displays. So we set up a photo shoot to recreate famous movie posters (Beauty and the Beast, The Great Gatsby, Gone with the Wind, Cinderella, Casablanca, etc.). Doing the photo shoot for that was so much fun!
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
By going through it together and always talking about any issues that come up.
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
I love that we can introduce the wedding party. Also how pictures can be posted in real time during the reception. It creates sort of a digital scrapbook of the event.
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Just to explore all of the features. When you first start it has some features disabled, so make sure to check those out.
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
To me it means marrying my best friend. Ever since I met Miranda I have been happier than I ever imagined. She has this ability to make the hard times easier and the good times even better just by being there. To me she creates Joy in my life every day!
