Here is the link for the facebook Live Event! Go to Taylor's facebook page or copy the link to join us on 08/08/2020 at 6:30pm CST https://www.facebook.com/taylor.riner.9/posts/10217895629328523

Due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus, we have made the difficult decision to only have our family and wedding party attend the wedding ceremony and reception. We are so grateful for everyone’s understanding during these unpredictable times. Please know we very much wish we could have all of you there but have decided it is best for everyone’s safety and well-being for us to have limited numbers. In order to celebrate with everyone to the best of our abilities, we will be live-streaming the wedding ceremony. For those in town or nearby, we will also be having a “drive by parade” after the ceremony at 7:15pm. We will be posting further details on our website as the date gets closer. For family and wedding party, we will be asking you all to practice social distancing, remaining primarily in your respective family units over the course of the evening. Thank you again for your support and understanding!

Take note of the date change, we are now getting married on Saturday, August 8th.

Taylor and I are finally graduating undergrad and we could not be more excited for what’s next! After the big day, we will be moving to our new home in Kansas City. I am starting grad school to pursue my Doctorate in Occupational Therapy over the next 3 years. And Taylor will start working as a sales rep in Kansas and Missouri, while also pursuing writing.

Whenever my friends and I showed up to help out with Winter Day Camp at New Life Ranch, I never could’ve imagined I’d meet the love of my life. Going into it, we said we were not going to do anything of the sort. That was not going to be our focus. We were there to spend time with these kids! Looking back, it turns out you can do both. Because it was the first time all these people who’d gone to camp but never met were finally together, we all got to meet and work along side a bunch of new people and ended up making a lot of new friends. And coincidentally some of those new friends just happened to be girls. Well one of them happened to be this funny, kinda shy, kinda crazy girl, who from the first second we all met, I knew I wanted to get to know. Subconsciously though, I think I was still trying to keep my priorities in-check. So for the first day or two I couldn’t for the life of me remember this girl’s name. I kept having to ask other people what her name was, again and again. Eventually I got it stuck in my head and would try and find any excuse I could to talk with her. By the end of the week, we had to go our separate ways. I had hoped we would see each other again just a few days later at a retreat. To my great disappointment, however, she didn’t show up. Then a couple weeks passed of me not being able to stop thinking about this captivating girl. So I texted her randomly one day, Hey Harper, do you have that picture of our flock from winter day camp? She responded with a Yeah! and sent the picture. I said Thanks! and then ... nothing. How do you even go about starting that conversation? With a little nudging from some of our friends, we eventually came clean and told each other how we felt. Over the next couple months, some friends and I would go to Fayetteville. Harper and her friends would come to Tulsa. And by spring our little fling had become an official full blown thing. 5 years later, and here we are, me and that girl who’s name I’ll never forget.

Well, I know Taylor is going to start a half a year into the future, because it took awhile for him to notice me. Most of y'all know our story to be as Tay will tell it: we met at camp in the winter. But, I being a hopeful teen, noticed him in a gaggle of boys at camp the summer before. I first laid eyes on Taylor when our timothy team was left behind on the first night of camp when a club of boys, including Tay, stole our leaders from us. Noticing him again, suddenly he was not the enemy but a tall, dark, and handsome boy I saw walking to the pool with the ease of owning the place with a towel swung over his shoulder. As a shy 15 year old, I watched from afar until that winter when we were paired as co-counselors to a bunch of kindergarteners. I was already smitten, so I was ready for him to notice me. However, I know Taylor remembers this very different. As we talk about it later, he does not recall me flirting at all. Which is quite the shock to me. I'll let y'all decide if I thought I was more flirty than I actually showed or if Taylor was just being oblivious. Thank goodness for our best friends, Betty and Will, for finally helping move the romance along. Will gave Taylor the confidence to text me, but to my dismay he only asked for a picture of our campers. Days, feeling like weeks, went by before I heard from him again, but finally he confessed his feelings and it was the start of forever. I claim to know he was the one right from the start, which Taylor doesn't believe I could have possibly known as a junior in high school. But, I have always been a planner and that boy fit perfectly into my future plans.

The artwork at the top of this page was done by Matilda Westin Bergh (@matildawb) and Nolan Foster (@nolfoster).