Katie and Caleb Byrd

How we met: The first time we met it was love at first… “Meh.” We were truly not interested in each other at all. I was training with the military and Katie had just gotten out of a relationship. A few months later, after I returned home, Katie and I met again at church through family members and actually started talking. Almost on a whim, we went on three dates in one weekend and immediately knew we had finally found what we were looking for.

How we fell in love: We fell in love long before the feelings hit. After the first weekend, we knew we were going to get married. We each had everything the other was looking for in a spouse. We instantly knew our search was over. But the love, that came later. The love came after months of prayer and pursuing God’s will together. I guess you could call it, “head over feels.”

The proposal: Our proposal was straight out of a Lifetime move: PJs and a Rental House. Because of an opportunity with the Army, I had to move to North Carolina right before Christmas. Our jeweler was able to ship the ring to North Carolina in time for Katie to come up for New Years. The day we exchanged gifts, I was still waiting on the ring to arrive and had convinced Katie that I bought her perfume.  When the mail carrier arrived, I was standing at the driveway waiting. I hurried in, quickly wrapped the ring, and gave it to Katie as a Christmas present. Sure, probably not the ideal engagement in a wintery field of gentle snowfalls. But, ever since we started dating, Katie and I refused to live a life for Instagram. Our engagement was free from noise and photographers. It was ours.

Favorite detail from wedding day: Our wedding day was hectic. Our families did most of the wedding themselves. No one tells you that on the day of your wedding you spend most of the day anxious, hungry, and in a hurry. The one thing I adamantly stood-by for our wedding was not seeing Katie before she walked down the aisle. We are finally there, Katie comes walking down the aisle in all her beauty, her father hands her to me. Finally, we felt like we could breathe. The pastor starts praying and both of us just instinctively rested our foreheads together. That was the moment. Those few seconds felt like it was just us, together at last.

Meet the team:
Jeweler – Kelly’s Jewelry in Decatur
Photographer – Letty Weeks Photography
Venue – Harvest Hollow Venue and Farm
Wedding Dress – Something Blue
Caterer – Rolo’s Cafe
Flowers – Judi Thornton, Rolo’s Cafe
Hair and Make Up – Suzanne Kantmann