Katie and Sean met at a pub in Brigantine, New Jersey where Sean worked. Katie went to the bar occasionally with some friends. One night Katie and Sean started talking, and Sean told me her he was a Steelers fan—which got her attention. They went on a couple of dates before Sean told Katie he’d be moving to San Antonio shortly after Thanksgiving (only a few weeks away at the time). Katie figured that would be the end of their short time together, but Sean had other plans.
We know that even though the wedding will be an incredible experience that will provide us memories that last a lifetime, the journey that we take together afterwards will be the greatest joy!
After moving away, Sean and Katie kept in contact. He surprised her with a couple visits to New Jersey, and she traveled to San Antonio to visit as well. They spent less than three months apart before he decided to move back. He returned in time to celebrate Valentine’s Day with me, and we have been together ever since!
Give us the details! When? Where? How?
Sean claims he had some grand plans, but he ended up choosing a fairly spontaneous moment to pop the question. We were in Pittsburgh with my family for the holidays, and we all decided to go ice skating downtown. After a few laps around the ice, the Zamboni came out and everyone cleared the rink.
Rather than leave the ice, Sean pulled me to the side where my mom handed him the engagement ring and a book he made about our love story. He read me the book, A True Fairytale. The rink employees were trying to clear us from the ice because they didn’t notice what was about to happen.
He almost fell as he got down on one knee (he had only been ice skating once before), and asked me to marry him. He didn’t hear my response the first time because onlookers were shouting things like, “He went to Jared!” and, “I love romance!” I said yes again and we finally let the Zamboni do its job!
Lizard Nickel Photography
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Our answer would probably be the food tasting except that we haven’t done that yet. I like all of the things we do together, because even though we go into each thing with a purpose, we still have a lot of fun. That said, I think my favorite experience so far has been our engagement photo session. We went to a lantern lighting festival and had a picnic before releasing our wishing lanterns into the air. It was really beautiful and an awesome date night! Not sure how much that counts as planning, but I did use the photos to create our save-the-dates.
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
I am an event planner, so I stay pretty organized (I use excel spreadsheets for EVERYTHING). Sean likes to remind me that no matter what happens, we will get married and spend the rest of our lives together. Remembering what is truly important puts it all in perspective.
Lizard Nickel Photography
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
I like how easy it was to design the website and app. I like to make things look good! I also like how much detail we are able to include. It is comforting to know that all of our wedding information can be found in the same place. We don’t hate that it’s free, either!
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Use as many features as you can. You never know what your guests will find most helpful. Also, don’t be afraid to chat with the Joy staff and ask questions. Not every wedding will fit the traditional format. Ours sure doesn’t!
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
Sean and I are looking forward to the day our family and friends will gather to celebrate our love, but beyond that we are most excited to start this next chapter of our lives and spend every day celebrating our love. Planning and getting through the wedding is a good challenge to start us off. We have surprised ourselves a time or two, still learning things about each other as we go along. We know that even though the wedding will be an incredible experience that will provide us memories that last a lifetime, the journey that we take together afterwards will be the greatest joy!
Lizard Nickel Photography
