Reception Details

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Wedding Day

Ceremony

B-29 Doc Hangar, Education & Visitors Center

Reception

Our Wedding

From Joe's Perspective: I had gone to Wichita in April of 2022 to get my commercial pilot's license at a flight school in the area. I had a friend from the University of Wyoming that lived out there for his job, and he had invited me to play volleyball on Wednesday nights with a young adult group in the Catholic community. So I went to an old gym not expecting anything more than to hang out with my buddy and have some fun when I saw Liz. She was sitting on the bleachers, and drinking a coffee at 7:30 pm. If you know anything about Liz, it's that she loves her coffee. I walked over to where she was sitting and sat down right in front of her, turned around, and introduced myself. I was definitely trying to lay on the charm. After talking to each other, and a few more rounds of volleyball, a smaller group of people wanted to go out afterwards, and Liz and I both joined in on that group. As we were all sharing a few drinks and having a good night, I ended up asking her for her number and if she'd like to get a coffee together sometime, and she said yes. Our first date started off by me choosing a coffee shop that ended up being closed, so we went to another one down by the river. Of course I chose the place that was closed, what a way to start a date. Well, funny enough, about 30 minutes into it, she ended up leaving just because she wasn't completely convinced she actually liked me! Haha, look at us now. I texted her later on in the day telling her how much I enjoyed our time, albeit our short time, and asked if we could meet again. We ended up meeting each other multiple more times to go get coffee and study together, and we found that we actually really enjoyed being in each other's company and that we got along really well. We had some deep talks, shared some laughs, and started having feelings for each other. Unfortunately, our time in Wichita was coming to a close, I had to leave to go to warrant officer candidate school before leaving to go to flight school... In Alabama. We talked about what all this meant, and we didn't know exactly what the future would look like, our lives were going different directions and were in different places. Fast forward 6 weeks. I get back to Wyoming after not having my phone for a month and a half, save a 30 minute phone call about once a week that I used to talk to her. She and I begin facetiming every day, all day long. We started growing close to one another from a distance and we eventually decided that we liked each other enough for us to travel to see each other, to try a romantic date rather than just a coffee date. I bought a plane ticket to OKC for the weekend after the 4th of July to go see her. Well, that just wasn't soon enough for us. She flew to Denver to come visit me on the 4th. I picked her up at the airport, and I was so excited. I hadn't seen her in two months. When I watched her walk out of the doors to the pickup area, it felt like the most natural thing in the world and a smile jumped onto my face. We drove up to Laramie, extremely content to be with one another, and picked up some fireworks and food along the way. We headed into the mountains to a small town called Centennial Wyoming where we met my friends and spent the evening shooting off fireworks, having some drinks, and enjoying the beautiful weather. As the fireworks were exploding directly above our heads, Liz and I stood there with our arms around each other. We looked at each other and then looked away, just to look back again. We both know what the other person was feeling, and I asked her if she wanted to be my girlfriend right then and there. We hadn't really talked about that too much, but it was in both of our minds. She said yes. The rest of that trip went by so fast. She met my parents, and I showed her all the sights of where I had grown up. It was amazing being with my new girlfriend. But then it was time to leave, for her to go back to OKC. We said goodbye at the airport, and knowing that we'd see each other in a few short days when I would travel to her, we went our own ways. Then I traveled to OKC and she showed me around her new town. We crammed so much into a few short days. Then I flew back into Denver. This was our new reality. Waiting weeks at a time to see each other for a few days before we headed back to our own lives in different states. We were a long distance couple. I moved to Alabama for flight school at the end of July, and neither of us knew what our relationship was going to look like, what this long distance was going to be like. We ended up taking 28 trips over the course of a year to visit each other. Even though we were long distance, we couldn't see enough of each other. Plane tickets were bought, miles were put on our cars, hours and hours of facetiming happened. We made it work, despite the difficulties of school and military life. We lived for 3 day weekends or holiday breaks. Both of us know Atlanta's airport like the back of our hands. We made the impossible possible. Even if it was just a two day trip, we would buy that plane ticket. I added up all the days, and we saw each other 38.5% of the time. "Long distance". We killed it. We are so excited to begin our lives together, especially when we aren't living 882 miles away from each other. We spent 444 days of dating long distance, and even more than that knowing each other long distance. It has finally come to an end, and now in a few short months we will be getting married (unless you are reading this in December, then it is a few short weeks)! We want to thank you all for being a part of our journey, and to say how excited we are to have you at our wedding! We are so happy to have been able to share our story with you.

From Liz's Perspective: Our story is kind-of all over the place (and all over the United States). Joe and I met early 2022 in my hometown of Wichita, Kansas. I moved there from Kansas City as a transition-period before moving to Oklahoma City for graduate school, not expecting nor seeking to meet anybody romantically. I heard about the Catholic young adult group in the area and decided to get involved. Much to my dismay, a main activity that everyone partook in was volleyball on Wednesdays. If you know me, you know I hate volleyball. I cannot play it to save my life, and I also had a hand brace on due to an injury - so I just went to sit in the bleachers and support my friends. During the third week of volleyball, a new guy walked in, and he immediately caught my eye (aka Joe).&nbsp; Sitting in the stands, I remember seeing Joe sit down in the front row. He was cute, athletic, tall, and was honestly kicking butt on the volleyball court. I wanted him to sit next to me on the bleachers, but obviously I played it cool and didn’t give myself away. I made a little joke and peered over at him to see if he’d notice me, and he did. He even laughed at my terrible and quirky joke; that was a sign in itself, honestly. After he played a very competitive match of volleyball (and showed off a little bit), he sat next to me, introduced himself, and we hit it off immediately.&nbsp; After volleyball, a group of friends went out and I eagerly invited Joe to come. Thankfully he said yes. The group hung out and ordered some drinks, followed by Joe asking me out to coffee at a cute little cafe downtown. I said yes, and we arranged it for the following week. Unfortunately it was closed, so we caravanned to a different coffee shop right on the river. It was a pretty generic, drive-thru coffee shop, but it worked. Well maybe it didn’t, because I left 30 min into the coffee date because I wasn’t feeling it - and he never lets me forget that. :D&nbsp; Regardless of our short date, Joe wasn’t thrown and remained persistent. He was super intentional, offered consistent company and friendship whenever I needed it, remained patient, and was always so much fun to be around. As we grew closer, we realized we had so much in common. We enjoyed fun events with our friends such as karaoke, daily Mass, Mario Kart, and movie nights. We even survived a massive tornado in April before we parted ways. We frequently met up at coffee shops to study, and quickly our conversations continued to deepen as we grew closer.&nbsp; At the end of April, we began to pack up our things to leave Wichita and travel to different areas of the country. The day before leaving, Joe drove to my apartment and&nbsp;communicated that he wanted to try dating, even if it meant after I finished my graduate program and he finished his military training. He expressed that he had found the relationship he was looking for, which melted me. Even though we were growing closer, I was always against long distance and the idea of trying to make it work through our rigorous programs was too daunting. We decided to remain friends.&nbsp; Fast forward a month, I move to Oklahoma City and he moves to Alabama for warrant officer candidate school for 5 weeks. We were only able to keep in contact through letters and occasional phone calls, but these were short and scarce. Not being able to communicate with him every day made me realize how much I missed him. I started to realize that I had developed feelings for Joe that I hadn’t yet admitted to myself.&nbsp; After his warrant officer candidate school finished, Joe moved back to Wyoming and we were able to talk frequently again, calling and FaceTiming every single day for hours at a time. Finally, during a phone call in June, Joe conveyed what he wanted in terms of us being together, and I realized I wanted the same things. I agreed to go on a *real* date with Joe. I hopped on a spontaneous flight to Denver, Colorado to meet him for the 4th of July. I remember worrying if our trip would be awkward and uncomfortable. After all, we hadn’t seen each other since April. However, all my fears were dismissed as soon as I saw Joe in the airport. Every conversation was effortless, and I was in total bliss the entire trip. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to be with him. That night he asked me to be his girlfriend :) Honestly, it was the cheesiest, sweetest, (slightly cringey), most Hallmark movie-like moment. Fireworks were literally exploding behind us as he asked me and as I said yes. We've been doing long distance ever since: Oklahoma City, OK to Enterprise, AL (but you can hardly call it long distance, since we've seen each other about 40% of our relationship).&nbsp; All it took was letting go, letting God, and taking that initial step into our relationship. Once we started dating, we knew fairly quickly that we were going to get married. It was just a matter of waiting for the right timing, which was a proposal in March of 2023. After many, many flights to visit each other and extensive ups and downs throughout our relationship, we are now living in the same city. All the traveling, waiting, and immense patience was entirely worth it. While our relationship had its major challenges, it has taught us discernment, patience, sacrifice, communication, and love. We are so excited to grow in these aspects and many more as we share this holy sacrament of marriage with you all on January 6.

Our Story

Photos

Marie Zarse

Clare Watson

Wedding Party

Q + A

Guests are encouraged to book through our private hotel block at the Double Tree by Hilton, linked below. Deadline to book is December 10th! Only a 2-minute drive or a 12-minute walk from our reception venue, B29 Doc Hangar!

Please join us in the Double Tree’s main lobby on Friday night at 9 PM for a welcome party for all guests traveling in! Hors d'oeuvres and drinks provided.

https://www.hilton.com/en/attend-my-event/ictardt-hmw-ba04897a-75be-4d22-8acc-404cc4f1a82b/

Elizabeth & Joseph

Elizabeth & Joseph

Registry