Cypress Barn Wedding

The other girls drank their mochas and cappuchinos and black coffees.  She sipped hot chocolate.

The other girls had matching fuschia tshirts.  She had a a light pink shirt to almost match her sister’s white one.

The other girls had high heels.  She did too…kind of.

As sister-of-the-bride, Abbie took her responsibilities seriously.  She had to make sure everyone felt welcome (“I like you because you’re the photographer and I like photos,” she said to me.  “I like you because you have cute clothes and I like cute clothes,” she said to another.  “I like you because…you’re my friend,” she said to yet another.)  She had to make sure everyone laughed (no nervous silence allowed here:  “Will you feed my puppy?  I need to find a bone for my puppy! Oh no! I need to go play with my puppy! You can’t see my puppy? OPEN YOUR EYES! He’s right behind me!”)  She had to make sure everyone was having as much fun as she was. At all times.

And everyone did.

Bleary-eyed and not-quite-caffeinated, the table of girls at Pour Jons didn’t have much time to think about sleep deprivation.  Abbie made sure of it.

It was her sister’s wedding day and it was a very good day.

Thanks to the flexibility of the staff at Pour Jons (they opened early to accommodate the wedding day schedule), the day started with a bang.  The Toms wedding shoes was icing on the cake…and merely the beginning of a day filled with personalized details and unexpected surprises.

While the girls had a Karaoke party in the Berry Performing Arts Center of John Brown University, the boys had their own fun in the sun.  Anyone who knows Jacob for even the shortest of time will know what he did on the morning of his wedding day.

Yup, you guessed it.

Quality time with his bicycle.

Jacob and Ashleigh had walked these stairs before, many times.  There was the time when they were Freshmen at JBU and met on these stairs.  There was the time three years later that he asked her to be his girlfriend very near those stairs. And, oh yeah, there was the time seven months ago that he proposed … right there….on those stairs.

And then came wedding day.

Finally.

And there she was, climbing up the stairs to meet her groom.  She had to move a little slower than maybe she normally would (stairs + heels + long dress = risky combination) but Jacob waited . . . patiently, quietly.

“Hey sweetie, are you ready?”

She had reached his side.
He waited another minute as she held his arm.
He didn’t look.  Waited to look.  Took a deep breath.  Then looked at her.

His bride.

Jacob’s groomsmen were waiting in the parking lot below, but were under strict orders not to look at the arriving bride until after she’d seen Jacob.  They’d followed directions and didn’t look her way when Ashleigh walked up to meet her groom. When they finally did see the bride and groom walking back toward the cars, they were understandably awed.

Then it was off to see her Dad.   Enough said.

Ashleigh being the crafting soul that she is used her talent and artistry to create a very personalized ambiance at the Cypress Barn in Siloam Springs, AR.  You’ll especially note the massive fuschia balloons.

Jacob has never given Ashleigh flowers.  In their whole relationship, never.  Instead, he surprises her with bouquets of balloons. He even proposed with a personalized balloon.   Of course balloons would be a prominent feature on their wedding day.