The 1868 Farmhouse Wedding Venue

Rehearsal Dinner

Wedding Day

Ceremony

Reception

Our Wedding

Our story begins where most other stories begin:&nbsp; on a trampoline at a junior high youth group gathering. At least, that’s where things began for me. I was doing my best to survive on a trampoline full of other wild junior-highers just trying to mind my own business. Just as things were starting to get out of hand, a girl named Lizzie got on the trampoline and told me I didn’t have to risk my life but informed me I could step off whenever. I was grateful for her offer but knew I had to stay to prove my 6th grade manliness. That day, however, I got off of that trampoline not just with my life (and a few bruises) but also with a love interest.&nbsp;	Things would never be the same from that moment on. That next school year, I transferred to Grand View Christian School, where Lizzie attended. So now we didn’t just go to the same church but also the same school. We went to classes together, played in band together, and even started playing on the same junior high worship team. Things were looking great for us except for one small discrepancy: I was much more interested in grades than girls. In hindsight, I see this as one of the biggest blessings of my life, but it does lengthen and complicate our story on a few levels.&nbsp;	However, there were two people that believed in Lizzie and I during these awkward junior high years: our moms. Often behind our backs, our moms would take pictures of us and talk about how they KNEW we would get together one day. I am still amazed today at the kind of faith they had in us with my stubbornness and complete lack of outward interest. Of course, I had feelings for Lizzie but I was not willing to jump into a relationship and watch all of my grades and hard work go up in flames…&nbsp;	The first few years of high school weren’t too much different than middle school in terms of how Lizzie and I interacted. We still took classes together, attended youth group together, and were still serving together on worship teams, but I was still focused on anything but a relationship. With my passivity in this area, Lizzie decided to make a move. At some point (this may have been eighth grade – I’m not the one with the impeccable memory), Lizzie switched from playing clarinet in band to playing tenor saxophone, which conveniently happened to be the same instrument I played in band. In her mind, this was her way of sitting closer to me. But there was still a problem. There was another tenor sax player in between us. If I were the one trying to sit next to Lizzie, I would have given up all hope at this point seeing no solution, but Lizzie, in her great wisdom, switched spots with this person so that we could sit right next to each other. This was when I knew she liked me.&nbsp;	Jumping ahead to junior year, our school’s “prom”, junior-senior, was coming around. Things like this stressed me out with all of the uncertainty and publicity that comes with asking out a girl. But I had a plan that was sure to work. I was going to ask out Lizzie. By now, you may have suspected that this was not originally my plan. My ideal plan would be to go by myself and hang out with the guys but this simply wasn’t realistic. So, using our mom’s line of communication, I got the green light from Lizzie’s mom to go to jr. sr. with Lizzie. All I had to do was ask her. How hard could it be? For me, very hard. I made the mistake of waiting too long. Lizzie eventually got asked by another guy in my class, and then I was left with two choices: I could either not go or I could ask another girl. Neither of those things happened as the unthinkable happened. I was asked by a girl to go with her. I was greatly humbled by this experience, but looking back on it, I’m glad this happened because what ensued on that night of jr. sr. would never have happened if someone asked me to go with them. During the after party, I spent most of my time with Lizzie playing our favorite game at the arcade: Jurassic Park Arcade. This was the first time we had ever hung out one-on-one and I remember it being one of the best nights of my life. I think this is where our deeper friendship formed. However, we weren’t officially together at this point.&nbsp;&nbsp;	Fast forward to our senior year, I was eager to be with Lizzie but at the time, she was currently with another guy. That didn’t stop me though. On our first day of speech class together, I sat right next to her, and I remember thinking how I knew we would some how go to jr. sr. together in the spring. This type of thinking was very much unlike me, but it would take that ambitious type of thinking for me to get where I wanted to be.&nbsp;&nbsp;	Another big moment our senior year was when our friend group formed. It started when a small group of students at our homecoming dance decided to leave and instead have a more relaxed night doing something else. This group including myself, Lizzie, and our now close high school friends, went to my house for pizza and a campfire. We had a ton of fun hanging out and laughing. This wasn’t the last time this group would meet up. We met up several other times to hang out and play games including the ever-fateful uno dare game. And it was in this smaller friend group that Lizzie and I got to know each other better.&nbsp;&nbsp;	Later that year in February, I finally mustered up the guts to ask Lizzie to jr. sr.. She was no longer with that guy she was with at the start of the year so I knew this was my chance. I made a sign and bought her a coffee from Starbucks for the occasion. She said yes (thanks to the coffee) and I was overjoyed! My dream that I had at the start of the school year had come true. I believe it was that following weekend that we both went on the Kids’ Winter Getaway as kids’ leaders at our church. We grew even closer on this trip. Between leading worship together, trying not to drown in the pool with all of this kids, and the card she made me for my birthday, it was evident we shared mutual feelings for each other. A week or two later, early in the morning I picked her up to grab some coffee. I had one goal, to tell her I liked her, and it took me three hours of talking to get to that point. But I did get there, and she said the same thing. Things couldn’t have worked out better because that next day was the beginning of our week-long senior trip to Branson, MO. It was here where that friend group I mentioned earlier grew closer and Lizzie and I continued to grow closer. I remember the late-night games we would play in our rental house, the conversations we had in the hot tub, and the amazing golf cart tour we got to do through the Ozarks. It was such a great way for us to start off our relationship.&nbsp;&nbsp;	About a week or two after we got back from senior trip, I decided to talk to Phil and asked if I could date Lizzie. He told me I couldn’t “date” her but rather that I could “court” her. It was at this moment that if things worked out with Lizzie and I, Phil would be an incredible future father-in-law. It was after this conversation that I asked Lizzie to be my girlfriend on April 23, 2022. This is when the late nights of conversations and movies at both of our houses began. I always had good intentions about being home on time, but as my parents can testify, those intentions were no better than my intention to stay single through high school. Now, it’s worth mentioning here that I never thought I would be in a relationship in high school, but here I was, doing the very things I swore I would never do. It’s also worth mentioning that my grades did not suffer from starting this relationship as I originally thought they would. In fact, I would argue that my relationship with Lizzie for that last month of high school was the reason I was valedictorian at graduation.&nbsp;	So, Lizzie and I graduated high school in hopes of being high school sweethearts, but things would not be as easy as we thought. I had plans of going to Northwestern College in Orange City, IA and Lizzie had plans of staying back and continuing to work at Porchlight Coffeehouse (where we had expressed mutual love for one another). That first year of long distance was incredibly difficult. We would try to see each other as much as possible on breaks and on free weekends, but in the end, we probably saw each other once every three or so weeks. We would do our best to face time every night and fill each other in on what was happening in our lives, but I think it’s safe to say that our relationship was hanging on by a thread by the end of that year. I’m incredibly thankful for the support I had from friends up at school (including Brayden Dirks and Luke Gardner) during this difficult time. A ray of sunshine throughout that experience was when Lizzie decided about halfway through our long distance that she wanted to be a student up at Northwestern that next year. Knowing that our long distance would be done soon made those last few months a bit more bearable. When summer finally arrived, we were relieved and excited to be done with long distance (or so we thought).&nbsp;&nbsp;	That next school year came with its own difficulties with Lizzie transitioning to college life, but we eventually found a rhythm in the craziness of different schedules and involvements. It was during this year of our college experience that we learned the most about each other and grew the most as a couple. We learned how to work through conflict and become better communicators (something that requires a lot of growth on my part). We even developed our own friend group up at college while still maintaining connections with our high school friends back home. That following summer, we realized that we would have to do long distance again with Lizzie going up to Cedar Falls for an internship and me staying in the Des Moines area for an internship at our home church. Although we were used to long distance at this point, it didn’t make the summer any easier. We saw each other about every other weekend and made the most of those short couple days we would spend together.&nbsp;&nbsp;	As the end of the summer came into view, I knew I wanted to propose. I had gotten the ring earlier in the summer and I knew I couldn’t keep it forever. Lizzie came back a couple weeks before I had to go back to school early for RA training, so I had a small window to get rid of that ring. On August 9, 2024, I took Lizzie out to eat and then brought her out to Big Creek State Park in Polk City, IA. We had a picnic out on a little peninsula where we have gone before for other dates. I handed her a letter, got down on one knee, and then asked her to marry me. She said yes and the rest is history.&nbsp;	Lizzie and I are so excited for the future God has planned for us. We know marriage won’t be easy, but we do know it will be an incredible blessing and opportunity to exemplify Christ’s love for His Church. Please be praying for us as we prepare for our big day on May 30th and more importantly our new life to follow!&nbsp;

Braeden and Elizabeth

Braeden and Elizabeth

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