Due to the state of our nation with the outbreak of COVID-19, we decided to cancel our planned wedding and have a small backyard family celebration. We were so saddened to miss the opportunity to celebrate with all of you, but our priority was the health and safety of our friends and family. With all of this said, we will not be continuing as scheduled with any large wedding celebration. There is no end in sight to COVID-19 and with us both now working full-time, travel is not an easy task. We appreciate all of the support we have received these past couple months and we thank you all for your never ending love and understanding.

With all of the last minute plans being thrown together we worried that we wouldn't be able to enjoy our wedding day or that we would look back and wish we had done things differently, but boy were we wrong! Nine months into married life and we still love looking back on our special day and sharing the story of our wedding with all of our new California friends! Of course, we could never have pulled any of this off without the incredible Momma Bare! She worked tirelessly from the moment we decided to get married on April 20th (which was only 3 weeks before the big day!) until she was certain we would have the wedding of our dreams. She baked and decorated the cake, she made the flower arrangements, decorated our house and backyard and even did hair for the ladies!!

We started out our morning doing the final prep all around the house and setting up the backyard as a soon-to-be family. Around noon we went our separate ways to get our glam on. The ladies were in the guest house and the men were in the main house. Momma Bare helped to make sure everyone was looking beautiful before it was time. We had set everything up in the backyard at the top of the hill so we all had a little bit of a treck up the stone stairs. It was a surreal moment stepping out of the carriage house and seeing the people closest to us all together to support and encourage us in our journey that was about to begin. Tim did the ceremony and I could not have asked for a more special ceremony. We spent time in prayer together and were able to share stories of encouragement. We took part in communion and had a bit of a hiccup trying to pour sands, but it made the day just more memorable! We had a little smooch and then a quick surprise. A drive-by was planned for us! People had decorated their cars and threw gifts and signs and balloons out their windows to us. It was such a sweet way to allow more people to feel apart of the day. Then we headed inside for a WOWZER dinner! Our caterer chose to still help us with our smaller gathering and knocked it out of the park! I still have dreams about that steak. Around our little table in the dining room the 12 of us shared stories of moments throughout our relationship and laughed for hours. We ended the night by heading to a secret (COVID friendly) honeymoon getaway that Tim had planned. We went to a cabin in the woods that overlooked a river and spent the next week, which included both of our birthdays (Madison 4-21 and Tim 4-22) there. We wouldn't change a thing, and even though it was a bittersweet decision to make, we are so glad we got an intimate gathering where we were able to just be comfortable and not worry about anything other than loving each other well in that moment.

We are now living and working in Modesto, California and are quickly settling in. Tim is the Video Director at a Big Valley Grace Church and I am Student Teaching at Big Valley Christian School. We got our first apartment and are loving settling in. We added a furry friend named Stella to the mix in October and she has been a blast ever since. Each day is a new adventure as we learn to love each other better, but we are loving every second of it!