Winter weddings at The Laurel are always magic, and Katie and Tyler’s December day was no exception. Having celebrated Katie’s brother’s wedding at The Laurel in 2018, it was destined that Katie and Tyler started this chapter of their love story in the same special place, while making it all their own. We were so excited to hear their favorite details and memories from when they said “I do!” Enjoy!

From Katie:

Tyler and I were introduced by mutual friends on June 25th, 2016. I was meeting with a couple of our friends, and Tyler was there. My friends have always tried to set me up with someone, but I did not like being set up. I was told that I was not being set up with Tyler, so I was relieved. However, when he got out of the car, I thought, "Dang it, he's cute." I was not planning on meeting my future husband, but I did.

We dated for several months before I met his son, Riley. Riley was 5 at the time, and I thought he was a pretty awesome kid. He still is. Initially I was nervous thinking about potentially being a stepmom, but I quickly got over it the more time I spent with Tyler and Riley. He asked me to be his girlfriend on October 15th, 2016.

I was living in San Antonio from January of 2020 to May 2020 completing a child life specialist internship. Tyler and his family came to visit me in March during spring break. We went to the Japanese Tea Garden and that is where he proposed to me. My family was hiding and came out after he asked me. I was so nervous and excited that I forgot what Tyler said to me, and Tyler says that I did not say "yes" quick enough! I was pleasantly surprised and it was a great weekend spent with our families.

Tyler and I are both very low maintenance, so we did not want a formal wedding. We wanted our guests to be comfortable and have a lot of fun. We didn’t necessarily have a “theme” but since it was around Christmas, I wanted to make sure to include a lot of Christmas trees at the reception.

My brother actually got married at The Laurel in 2018, and I instantly fell in love with it. They got married outside in March, while we got married in the chapel in December, so it was a very different feel. I just wanted a beautiful venue that was close to where we lived and was able to accommodate our guest list. Tyler is actually the one who suggested that we have our wedding at The Laurel. The whole place is just gorgeous!

We had a great time working with Carly and Maggie from The Laurel. I was impressed with how every employee catered to our needs and made sure we had everything we needed in order to get ready. Having a wedding during a pandemic is not the easiest thing, but I was so blessed that I was still able to have friends and family come by the bridal suite and say hi to my bridesmaids and me as we were getting ready. We had someone come check on us to see if we needed more refreshments and worked with us in order to allow us to play our own music.

One of my favorite moments was getting ready with my bridesmaids and seeing friends and family before the wedding. I also enjoyed the actual ceremony, of course, because I was getting married to the love of my life. The reception was so fun and ran so smoothly thanks to Carly and Maggie who kept things moving along. Tyler’s favorite part was getting to eat dinner with me in the bridal suite before we went into the reception. We were able to share our first meal as a couple before going to talk with all of our guests, so that was really awesome. Being surrounded by friends and family all in one place was very special.

Carly pulled off a huge surprise for me by having my maid of honor, Caroline, (who lives in Ireland and could not be there due to the country shut-down) on FaceTime while her speech was read over the speakers. I was sitting there crying and listening to her speech when Carly walked over to me with her phone and Caroline was on the screen! I instantly cried even more and tons of my friends and family rushed over to get behind me and say hi to her as well. It was definitely special having her be able to still be involved with my wedding.

I would describe our day as amazing, special, unique, heart-warming, and one-of-a-kind.

To future couples, my advice is to consider having a private dinner while your guests are finishing cocktail hour and finding their seats. Tyler and I were able to have a nice, quiet dinner with each other and were able to talk about the ceremony. This way, we were able to eat and had time to go around and talk to each one of our guests and not be starving.

HAVE YOUR WEDDING AT THE LAUREL!