For guests of ours not attending our wedding ceremony, we have created a private facebook group. We will be live streaming our ceremony to this group at the scheduled time of our ceremony: 4:00PM. If you would like to watch the livestream, please let Kirsten or Reed know and we will add you to the group.

In light of the global pandemic, there is a possibility that our wedding may need to be changed. In the event this happens, we will contact everyone via phone call, text, or email as soon as we have made the decision. Until then, we will continue to have our wedding on the original date as planned. If you have been exposed to COVID-19 or have any symptoms 14 days prior to the event, or even the day of the wedding, we kindly ask that you not attend the wedding, for your safety and the safety of our other guests. We encourage our guests to wear masks when inside the building, and may need to make this a requirement as it gets closer. We will have masks and hand sanitizer readily available and will be checking the temperature of every guest upon entrance of the venue. Please do not bring uninvited guests to our event, unless it is okay’ed with the bride or groom first. We want to keep the space as safe as we can for all our guests and vendors.

Our story started at New Cassel retirement center. Reed worked there, then moved on to a different job. A best friend of Reed’s, Mary, still worked there and here is where I (Kirsten) came in. I worked at New Cassel during college on my breaks from school. On May 22nd, Mary invited me to a birthday party she was going to for her friend, Andrew. I just turned 21 years old two days prior and almost decided not to go. Very last minute, I hopped in the car and headed to good ol’ Mic’s Karaoke bar. Mary and her friends were regulars there. Her friends, including the birthday boy, entered and Reed sat in the empty chair next to me while Mary made the introductions. For the next several hours, the conversation flowed between us, cell phone pictures of our cats were shown; the chemistry was instant. A few movies, a lunch date, and 10 days later, we officially started dating.

At this point, we had been through 6 and 1/2 years worth of memories together: two apartments, 4 cats, a few jobs, 1 and 1/2 years of my education for Physician Assistant studies, and many days apart due to out of town clinicals. I told Reed all I wanted for Christmas was to spend time with him, as school and working opposite schedules had stolen much of our time with each other away. Our date night was the first Saturday of my winter break. Reed had made secret reservations at a restaurant, which was later revealed to be the Grey Plume. The food was amazing and probably the fanciest restaurant I’ve ever been to. After dinner, Reed drove us around Omaha to look at Christmas lights and listen to Christmas music, even though he doesn’t like doing either of those things! We returned home with full bellies and smiles on our faces. Just when I thought our wonderful date night couldn’t get any better, Reed knocked on the bathroom door while I was getting ready to wash off my makeup. I opened the door to see what he wanted and he grabbed my hand and said, “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, but I’m not going to do it in front of the litter box...” He pulled me into our apartment hallway and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I, of course, said yes! He then left me standing in the hallway, still in shock from what just happened, and closed himself and the cats in the bathroom. Several minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom with our cat, Bear, in a tux under his arm and our other cat, Boo, with a halfway put-on white wedding dress. I could not stop laughing, because if you know us, then you would know how “us” this is. The next half hour was Reed and I cracking up trying to stuff our chunky kitty in her wedding dress and bribe them with treats, so we could take pictures of them dressed up in front of the Christmas tree. 🎄 Rest in peace my baby, Bear.