This week is our annual bridal section, Wedding Bells.
This year, our three brides happen to be friends of mine: Jordan Fairfield from Odessa, Hollis Schnieders from Oak Grove, and Cailey Dowell with strong connections to Wellington. I've known Jordan, one of my sister's best friends, and Cailey, the daughter of one of my mom's friends, since before I can remember. When Hollis and I were seniors (she in Oak Grove, me in Odessa), she was the intern at the Focus and I was the intern at The Odessan. We then ended up at Mizzou together.
Wedding Bells is in this week's issue of both The Odessan and Focus on Oak Grove.
Before I became news editor, I had no idea we even had a bridal section. It was my first big project after ending up in the role, and it felt like the worst possible fit: I've spent my life as a workaholic, so I've still never seriously dated or felt like I was approaching some big wedding. I was also freshly 23 years old at the time, so I had yet to be through a wedding for any of my friends. My first few years, I got a lot of coaching from my sister, Hallie, who wants to be a wedding planner.
Hallie's bridal party: Jordan's second to left, I'm third to left. Hallie's going to split duties as matron of honor at Jordan's wedding this fall. Molly McGraw, next to Hallie and one of her maids of honor, will be maid of honor.
Well, as I've documented in my column, my distance from the wedding scene changed drastically when Hallie got married. Hallie had two maids of honor (who weren't me), and yet I ended up being the one she bounced most of her decisions off. Don't worry, this didn't fundamentally change my character; I was still branded a few not-nice names for my lack of sentimentality around various aspects of the ceremony.
That said, it has made it easier for me to talk to the brides, not that I needed any help this year. There are perks to being old enough now to know the girls getting married in the area. Also, this was my fifth bridal section, so hopefully just doing it so many times means I'm getting better.
You have to know us well to know just how little patience Hallie has for me in this picture.
What I've learned is that weddings are serious business, so the stakes of making sure a wedding goes well are much higher than I had thought. But what's rewarding is to go beyond the basic planning aspects and tie the whole thing into the story of this stage of their lives.
My point is, the bridal section is fun now. It was great to catch up with Hollis, who got engaged in Thailand. I couldn't help but smile as Cailey told me all the reasons she absolutely did not think she was getting engaged, from being told that it would have to wait to having gone through her fiance's bags. I knew most of Jordan's story already, but it was fun to put Dustin in the hot seat to ask him what, exactly, it is he likes about her.
I'm excited for all three of my friends, and excited that I get to tell their stories for everyone to read!