Vendor Credits

Photography: B Matthews Photo
Wedding Day Coordination: Kaitie Gill for Meredith Events
Ceremony Venue: Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church
Reception Venue: Lafayette Building
Flowers: Petal Chik Designs
Catering: RX Catering
Videography: Ryan Kravitz
Cake: Mickey's Cakes & Sweets
Uplighting and Staging: Central Arkansas Entertainment
Rentals: Confettis Party Rentals
Band: The Juke Joint AllStars - BandStand Entertainment
Bridal Party Hair Stylist: Natalie Black with Fringe Benefits Salon
Bridal Party MUA: Megan Irwin
Bride's Hair Stylist: Devin Van Patter
Bride's MUA: Tess Williams with Winc Beauty

Interview with Lindsey and Josh

By Meredith Corning

Q.  How did you meet? 

Josh says he first saw me at a church event and remembers what I was wearing and exactly where he was sitting when I walked past him. (One of my wedding gifts from him was a necklace with a small gold plate engraved with the longitude and latitude coordinates of that exact spot.) Several months later, he signed up for the army and was leaving for training in Georgia before being stationed in Alaska for three years - but he signed up for a mission trip to a small town in Haiti that would take place a couple months before he left for the Army. 

At that time, I was going through a breakup and wanted to focus on helping other people instead of sulking over my own life, so, on a whim, I happened to sign up for the same trip. He recognized me in one of the planning meetings, but we truly met traveling to Haiti and spending the week together over there. We played with the local kids and worked in construction helping build a facility for the school in Haiti's BLAZING July heat.

He actually almost missed the trip by accident because he thought he gave missions pastor his passport but when he got to the airport he realized he didn't, so he had to go home and search high and low for his passport. He finally found it under the top flap of his printer from when he scanned a copy of the passport. He found a later flight and met us at our layover in Miami.

Q.  How did he propose?

By the time the trip came around, I was getting back together with my boyfriend. But Josh and I really hit it off as friends on the trip and not knowing I wasn't so available, he really wanted to ask me out but wasn't sure if I was feeling the same way. I don't know how the cornrows I was sporting from one of the local girls didn't turn him off haha! At the end of the trip, when we landed back at home at the airport, he built up the courage to ask me out. As the group of us were walking towards the stairwell down to baggage claim, he started to approach me to ask and saw my boyfriend and parents waiting for me with flowers so he quickly retreated and never got to ask me out. That spot at the top of the stairs in the airport has been a sensitive spot for him ever since and an inside joke between the two of us.

Several months later, we re-connected and soon after, while he was in town for Christmas for a month, we were inseparable and that's when he says he fell in love with me. We stayed in touch and I visited him once in Alaska (total disaster btw - that's another story). We talked on the phone every day and sent each other long emails back and forth. But long story short, I ended up breaking his heart and the poor guy was stuck in Alaska for a few more years, freezing and devastated. In the meantime, I got back together with my long time on-and-off again boyfriend. Josh was crushed but never gave up on me. He felt strongly that God was telling him to be patient and reassuring him we would be together in the end. At one point, in a romantic attempt to win me back, he printed all of the emails we'd ever exchanged and packaged them together with burlap and ribbon and mailed them to me with a cover that read "'Words We Spoke' by You and Me." I still have them, of course.

Fast forward, after the Army, when Josh moved back to Little Rock - while I was still dating my boyfriend, (who was ready to get married), Josh reached back out trying to re-connect again. I was torn between the two guys, like really really really bad torn - for months. I ended up "choosing" Josh because I couldn't deny he was my soul mate and the most selfless, romantic, humble human being I had ever known. 

We dated for a couple of years and when he proposed, he told me we were going to the airport to pick up a couple of his friends. When we got to the spot at the top of the stairs where he never got to ask me out, he got a chance to ask me "the ultimate question" - he dropped to one knee and said all the sweet, ugly-cry-worthy things about how he had been waiting for years to marry me and how he knew I was the one all along. He said he was probably just as nervous then as he was when he originally tried to ask me out at the top of those stairs 5.5 years earlier. He had my family and friends gathered at the bottom of the stairs with signs that read 'Will you marry me?" Both sets of parents were there meeting for the first time so we decided to take them to dinner afterward, but when we got to the restaurant, Josh had arranged for a big group of family and friends to be there for a surprise engagement party. 

Q.  Describe your wedding design and style.

The ceremony was in a rustically ornate church in a charming little neighborhood and the reception was in the gorgeous lobby of a 1920's downtown hotel-turned-condo complex. I wanted to play up the classicly glam vibe of the reception venue so I gravitated towards timeless elements, including the mermaid silhouette of my dress. We didn't want to distract from the venue's incredible details in the wooden walls, mezzanine, high, hand-painted ceilings or black and white marble floors so we added a few tall centerpieces and scattered romantic candles throughout the venue. We loved the long, dramatic head table down the center of the lobby.

The design we used in our Save the Dates and invitations was simplistic and modern. I probably spent more time agonizing over the printed pieces than anything else (that's a lie, I agonized over every single detail), but I work in Marketing and Advertising so that's no surprise. 

The U of A was playing South Caroline in football that day so I, of course, I had custom Razorback tanks made for my bridal party and me to wear while we got ready. The tanks didn't help us win. :/

Q. Did anything interesting or funny happen that you would like to share about your wedding day?

We were supposed to leave for our honeymoon in Portugal three days after the wedding but on our wedding night, I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible stomach bug that had been going around for a few weeks, that I thought I had dodged. Most of my wedding party had already had it but one bridesmaid and I caught it that weekend! I couldn't get out of bed for the next two days and we almost postponed the honeymoon. I even had a doctor's note to provide to the airlines in case we needed to cancel. But in fact, our domestic flights actually got canceled the day before we were supposed to leave but Josh got on the phone with the airlines and rearranged the flight schedule. I finally started feeling a little better the night before the trip so we packed up and headed to Portugal the next morning with all the meds and prayers in tow. 

Q.  What is your favorite memory of your wedding day?

During the ceremony when Josh and I were facing each other, I took a moment to pause in my head and reflect on the fact that I was in the middle of my wedding ceremony, in my wedding dress, while my friends and family were all in one place and in front of me was my almost-husband crying in disbelief and joy that we were finally sealing the deal forever after years of waiting and perseverance. It was surreal to be in that moment knowing what we went through in the years leading up to this.  

During the middle of the reception that night, someone grabbed Josh and me and sat us in two chairs in the middle of the dance floor facing the band. We didn't plan for this, so we had no idea what was going on. That's when "Hit Me Baby One More Time" comes on the speakers and in comes my bridesmaids dressed in our old, all-girls Mount St. Mary's Academy houndstooth uniform skirts, polos and sunglasses dancing to a choreographed routine. I was obsessed with Britney Spears growing up and used to try to memorize all of her choreography. It was hysterical and a complete shock. I still cannot believe they did that for me. 

Q.  Do you have any budget saving tips or advice for other brides-to-be?

I have been saving up to pay for my wedding since my first full-time job paycheck six years ago so it was extremely important to me to pull off a meaningful, gorgeous wedding as cheaply as humanly possible. It was challenging because I am very particular and design-oriented - an expensive combination. My advice would be to scour the internet for affordable products and order lots of samples or items that have free returns so you can see and feel them in person, then return the ones that don't work. Also, don't assume the vendors your friends have used in the past are the cheapest - keep researching!

Q. What was your biggest worry and how did you overcome it?

My main goal for the reception was for everyone to have a blast and dance all night. I was worried the vibe might not end up being fun. Fortunately, I found a very affordable band that was so much fun and they had a big crowd dancing their booties off the whole night. The mom of one of my bridesmaids tied several of the guys' ties together to form a jump rope and we all gathered in a circle and took it back to 3rd grade haha. I jumped rope in my dress and heels like a champ! And the Britney Spears flashmob upped the fun factor, too, of course!

Josh's response: 

I was told over and over by friends and strangers alike that my wedding day would be a whirlwind, a blur, that it would be over in the blink of an eye and I would hardly remember a thing. I was worried that I wouldn't remember one of the most important and fun days of my life. So I made it my aim to slow down, savor conversations, take in the details and the overall grandness of the occasion, really look at my wife on the altar, think about the words I was saying, and actually remember my wedding day. And I did. It's not easy, especially for brides I'm sure; weddings by nature are overwhelming events that we get swept up in by default. But if you have an intentional conversation with yourself, you can make an internal shift away from the default and toward very real memories that are worth the effort.