Surprise... We are MARRIED!!!
I am SO happy right now getting to share this happy news with you during one of the craziest seasons of my life. Rusty and I eloped, and to put it simply… It was perfect. And it was planned in less than 24 hours (for real!!)
Soon after I’d gotten my breast cancer diagnosis, we started talking about getting married sooner than planned. We knew we wanted to be husband and wife through this journey.
It was Friday afternoon - I was having a good health week mid-chemo, and the weather forecast for Saturday was beautiful, so we decided… Let’s get married tomorrow!
Luckily, I had rush-ordered a dress online a couple days before, because I had a hunch I might be wanting it. It fit perfectly, and at 2PM on Friday afternoon, I called my seamstress down the street and she was willing to hem it in time! My mom and I were crying happy tears driving home with the dress in hand by 4PM (thank you Hendersonville Alterations!)
Our beautiful friends and family went above and beyond, planning sweet details that I honestly didn’t have the time or energy to create, as I was getting an MRI that Friday and was still really exhausted from my chemotherapy treatment. My sweet friend Trisha found us a photographer who agreed to be there the following day (wow, we are forever grateful to the most incredible photographer Ashtin Paige for photos that we will treasure forever), and another friend made me the most beautiful bouquet and a boutonnière for Rusty too (huge thank yous to Kristen!) Our friend Brian's mom was in town visiting from Canada and as fate would have it, she is ordained… so she performed the most thoughtful ceremony for us (thank you Anne!) Another friend invited us to use his family’s ranch for the big moment (thank you Brian!)
So many people worked so hard to make our day so special, and we will never forget it. ❤️
I honestly don’t know if we could have planned it better if we’d had 12 months, or a full 24 hours for that matter!!
We capped off the night with dinner at the restaurant where we had our first date! We sat in the same booth… but this time with rings on our fingers (rings that we ordered from Amazon the night before thanks to next-day shipping!)
I am sharing this story on a very special day – Today is the anniversary of the day we got engaged! One year ago, we were walking on the beach at sunset, and Rusty got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife - it was the easiest YES of my life!
This year has not turned out the way we imagined it. We have been thrown more challenges than most newlyweds might experience in a decade, and I have felt more love and commitment and support than I could ever have hoped and dreamed for in a marriage. Together, I know we can make it through anything. ❤️❤️❤️
Rusty… You have been my rock “in sickness and in health”. You continue to show me the strength of the vows we made to each other, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be your WIFE!
I have felt ALL the emotions in these last six months. I’ve had days where I’ve mourned everything we would be giving up this year while I go through chemotherapy and surgery and radiation, including our wedding. And now it’s so wild and wonderful that we are having these incredible moments that never would have existed if we weren’t going through what we’re going through right now.
This journey to beat cancer isn’t easy, that is for sure. It’s been filled with a lot of ups, downs, and unknowns. I feel so lucky to learn that even when I’m feeling at my lowest low, a high moment can be right around the corner!
I’m so grateful we were able to have this truly joyful day, and I am holding on to this happy feeling so tight. I get to be a wife… and I get to call my amazing man “husband”! How does it feel? SO good!!!
Thanks for sharing in this journey with me. Love you all! XO Julie
Photography by Ashtin Paige.
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