Bret and Brittany met as college freshmen at Northwest Missouri State University. He was the baseball stud at the gym and she was an office worker for the Rec Center and Pool, but they really hit it off during a game of flamingo football put on by their residence hall.

Almost five years later, Bret and Brittany found themselves on a family ski trip to Keystone, Colorado.

On the last run down the mountain for the day, the family all decided they would just ski down the mountain and meet back at the condo. But Bret and Brittany wanted to look for a trail called Ripper’s Roo. After finding it they started to ski down, but about twenty yards down there was a closed sign. Unable to ski back up the mountain, the couple decided to ski through the trees to get back to the main slope.

“Bret asked to go first through the trees since I was a little leery,” Brittany said. “He barely started and fell over! I was laughing because he didn’t need to fall over and then he started trying to take his skis off. I went over to help him and see what he was doing and he was on one knee with the ring.”

Brittany said he gave a very nice speech — one that neither of them remember because she was crying, shaking, jumping and saying YES!

“Before our ‘first look’ moment, we were getting ready and there was a door that headed straight out to a patio area,” Brittany said. “The boys were told to stand at one end, with the girls at the other, and the groom in front of them with his back to me. As I exited the doors, I was greeted with our handsome group of boys and it was nice to see them looking so sharp. As I turned and headed toward my groom, my heart started to beat faster and faster. Finally, our photographer told him to turn around. It was such an amazing moment with just our wedding party, to see my groom for the first time.”

The couple then exchanged rings, which neither of them had seen before. Brittany had picked out Bret’s and she hadn’t seen hers after the wedding band was sautered together. She said it was the perfect moment to share before the craziness of the day was about to begin.

Throughout their engagement and wedding planning process, Bret and Brittany’s main goal was to incorporate as much of their personalities and love for each other into the wedding as possible.

“I had been looking for ideas for some kind of unity activity during our ceremony song,” Brittany said. With so many couples doing sand or a unity candle, I wanted to think of something different. My mom found the idea for a unity braid, which had an amazingly biblical meaning and really contributed to our ceremony. We literally ‘tied’ our marriage together.”

Brittany recalled a sweet moment she had with her dad right before walking down the aisle. They had about five minutes just to themselves and started talking about the day ahead. They told each other they loved one another, but as the words were coming out of their mouths they quickly took them back as they both started to cry and tried to reel in the emotion a little so they weren’t bawling by the time they reached the ceremony doors

“We arrived at our reception, Hillcrest Country Club, where our signature drink, Tequila Smash, and a DJ were waiting for us to start the party,” Brittany said. “During the reception all of our guests began to ring the bells we had left for them as part of their favors. After doing this a couple times, we both stood up at the head table and Bret began to dip me, and plop! I fell on my chair! Everyone laughed and we secretly thought it was a good plan to have no one ring bells anymore.”

The couple ended the night with fun and dance in their lavender and pink, glitz and glam reception hall.

Best Advice: Stay organized
“Since I did not live in Lincoln for most of my engagement, it was a hard task to keep everything in one place,” Brittany said. “I started a wedding ‘tub’ where I kept everything from contracts, to promotions, to contact information. I filed everything accordingly, and this tub worked great on the go and was always with me on any appointment or trip.”

Essential Details:

Church: Christ Lutheran
Venue: HillCrest Country Club
Photographer: Slice-Studios
Videographer: Sullivan Photography
DJ: A Sound Impression
Cake: Sharon’s Cake’s
Florist: Russ’ Market
Bridal Party Dress: Ellynne Bridal
Tux’s: Tip Top Tux
Limousine Service: Leisure Limousine
Stationary: Melissa Leigh Designs

Other details can also be found on Bret and Brittany’s Wedding Website

This story begins with a bartender, Christine, and a customer named John. These two college kids had a few design classes together at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, but that was about it until John started coming into the bar with his buddies for happy hour that they really started talking.

Considering their college status, their dates consisted of a movie and popcorn in the comfort of their own homes

“I knew he was the one for me when I saw that he had Blue Hawaii in his movie collection,” Christine said.

After moving to Omaha and not finding any dream jobs, John was offered a design position in Ankeny, Iowa. Christine (who most of our readers know as Miss Deco) and John decided it was time to take the plunge, move in together in Ames, Iowa (20 minutes away from Ankeny).

“We had a great time living in Ames, but after a year we knew it wasn’t the place for us,” Christine said. “Luckily, I had a great opportunity to transfer with my job to Omaha so away we went!”

Christine and John have now been living in Downtown Omaha for several years with their French Bulldog, Cheese (how cute is that, right?!).

“We love the city life,” Christine said. “Now seven years later, we are taking another plunge into marriage and couldn’t be happier.”

When John proposed the couple was far away from the Nebraska life — they were in Boston, Massachusetts for a Celtics game.

“On our first morning there, as we were getting ready for the day, there was a knock on the door,” Christine said. “Thinking it was housekeeping, I had John answer it. Ah, but it wasn’t housekeeping, it was a bottle of champagne! Completely clueless, I wandered over to the bottle and there was a card to Ms. Christine Huebschman. Giving John a quizzical look, he told me to open up the card. It read ‘YES?’ and as I turned to John, he was down on one knee with the most fabulous ring! He asked me to marry him and of course I said YES!”

If there’s one thing to love about Christine’s wedding, it’s that she made it so personal to her and John. The couple had a ceremony that was perfect for the two of them and Christine said it was one of the best decisions they made when planning their wedding.

And you could probably call it a reception, but really, it was just a big dance party. They skipped all the gimmicky dance lines and bridal tosses — John even created a surprise playlist that was thrown into the mix that night.

“It was completely awesome to see our guests joining us on the dance floor and having a ball to our unorthodox music choices,” Christine said.

Christine and John spent a lot of time (and saved a lot of money) by creating their own decorations. They used wine bottles for vases, screenprinted their own table runners, designed their own wedding logo, painted a backdrop for the ceremony, collected family photos for table wreaths for the reception, painted frames to use in a photobooth, sewed together throw pillows for the reception lounge area and more.

John and Christine had so much fun at their wedding they almost forgot to have the marriage license signed!

Essential Details:
Proposal date: April 7, 2011
Wedding Date: October 13, 2012
Florist: Garden Flowers
Cake: Nothing Bundt Cakes
Caterer: Attitude on Food
Photographer: Bellus
Music: Michael Walker, The Vintage Vocalist
Wedding & Reception: Durham Museum
Colors: 1950′s Pink, Absinthe, Cinnabar, Fig & Blueberry
Number of Guests: 150

Molly and Tim Walters met when they were in college at Creighton University. She’s sure it was her good looks and magnetic personality, but he says it was the sequined Christmas tree dress with dangling ornaments that got them talking.

Tim eventually took a job down in Orlando, Florida and Molly had moved with him. She was about five months pregnant with their daughter, Finley. On top of that, Molly was diagnosed with a condition that required her to be on bed rest. Needless to say, Tim thought she might need a little pick-me-up. And what could cheer someone up more than a proposal? Tim proposed to Molly on August 9, 2010 and they set a date to get married on May 18, 2012.
      
The couple got married at St. John’s Catholic Church at Creighton University and a reception was held at the Scott Conference Center.

Molly says that one of her most memorable moments from their wedding was when her one year-old niece walked across the altar behind all the action, which was a beautiful reminder for her to let the stress over the small details go and to enjoy what’s really important about the day.

But for Molly and Tim, there was one important person that was unable to share this moment with them — Dawn, Tim’s mother. She had passed away suddenly three years before. But at their reception, the couple had created a signature drink, “Dawn’s drink,” which gave their family and friends the opportunity to take a moment to remember all of her love and support.

“The biggest thing I learned from planning a real wedding was that there are a lot of expectations for your wedding day, but when it comes down to it, you’re planning a big ol’ party to celebrate your love, so you should focus on what’s important to you.”

Dress: Maggie Sottero
Florist: Flowerama on Pacific
Photographer: Tin Box Weddings
Caterer: Scott Conference Center
Guests: 275

Find more photos of Molly and Tim’s big day on page 55 of our Wedding Essentials Magazine