Poplar Hall

Wedding Day

Ceremony

Reception

Summer

Our Wedding

Mandy and Cory met because they both had great taste in friends. Despite going to the same college and living in the same city for 4 years, they never met. Fast forward to fall of 2020, Cory was in La Crosse on military orders to help with COVID testing and vaccinations. Cory was spending his spare time with his former college roommate, Brandon, who happened to be dating Sadie. Mandy had worked with Sadie and her sister, Tyler, as well as played bar volleyball together. Tyler and Sadie had a hunch that Cory and Mandy would hit it off, so they gave Cory Mandy's number. Turns out they were right.

How We Met

After texting back and forth, Cory and Mandy agreed to meet at La Crosse’s most romantic bar - Top Shots. About a month later, they decided to make it official on New Years Eve. Cory soon after got relocated to Madison, and so began the next year of distance, filled with weekend dates, fishing trips, and trips to Appleton to work on Cory’s fixer upper house. Spring of 2022, it was finally decided that Mandy would move to Appleton. It didn’t take long for Mandy to wear Cory down and finally get him to take the next step…. And get a puppy. Besides caring for Peanut, spare time was spent out on the boat, trying (and failing) to make par on the golf course, going to Packer games, binge watching Game of Thrones and Harry Potter, and going on vacations.

Everything was going perfectly, and Mandy and Cory had settled into their normal. For their 3rd anniversary, they decided to go stay with Brandon and Sadie in La Crosse to go out and celebrate New Years. That night, they got together with their La Crosse friends to go downtown and explore the rotary lights by the river. Mandy assumed this was the night Cory was going to propose, because everything was aligning…. But no. That night when they returned to the house after a night of drinking, Mandy decided to confirm for herself and go through Cory’s bag to see if there was a ring. Cory knew Mandy pretty well though, and had planned for her to do that, so he had hidden the ring as soon as they had arrived to Brandon and Sadie’s.

The next morning, Cory suggested taking a drive up the bluffs that overlook the city and the Mississippi River to see how frozen the river was to potentially come back for an ice fishing trip. On the way up, Mandy considered that there was a chance a proposal would still happen, but also a good chance this was truly to look at ice. With the view of their favorite city behind them, Cory and Mandy got engaged.

The Proposal

Our Story

Photos

Shelbey Puppe

Kayla Bloss

Kristin Boerst

Cali Schmidt

Lauren Burnett

Brittany Parr

Julia Whalen

Brandon Sondelski

Andrew Weich

Michael Abrahamson 

Frank Pivonka

Alan Jabas

Wedding Party

Q + A

The hotel is next door to the venue for convenience to anyone staying over! Check in is 3:00pm, check out is 12:00pm. Block rooms must be booked by April 16, 2025 to secure the block rate.

Courtyard Appleton Riverfront

Travel

Things to Do

Registry

Mandy & Cory

Mandy & Cory

Wedding Party