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Real Wedding: Kailey and Jake

Kailey and Jake Howard were married in front of their friends and family on the afternoon of May 28th 2021. They had their ceremony and reception at the beautiful Ivy North venue. Continue reading to hear more about their love story! 
A little bit of our story:

Jake and Kailey both grew up in Roseville, MN and attended the same elementary school. Jake and Kailey then attended Roseville High School and kept in touch with Kailey sporadically from 9th-11th grade. In 2011, Kailey and Jake reconnected in their Wildlife Biology class! Soon the two were spending lots of time together during and outside of high school. Kailey danced on the fall Dance Team performing on the sidelines at football games, while Jake played on the Roseville Football Team. Kailey nervously asked Jake to the Sadie Hawkins dance and he said YES! Soon they were dating, going to prom and graduating.

In 2012, Kailey and Jake both attended the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks to pursue Biology and Athletic Training degrees. When they weren’t studying, they loved attending Fighting Sioux Hockey games. Kailey and Jake did long distance for four years after graduation. They recently bought their first house in White Bear Lake and have a handsome golden retriever named Buxton.

 

On March 15th, 2019 in front of their closest friends, Jake asked Kailey to marry him on the top of a mountain peak in Keystone, CO. It was a complete surprise and one of the happiest, most memorable moments of her life. She had to ski down the mountain worrying about the new ring on her finger!

Our wedding was originally planned for June 20th, 2020. When the pandemic started in March, we thought we were still in the clear for June, but soon we realized we would have to postpone for the safety of our family and friends. We rescheduled our wedding to September 6th, 2020 thinking we may have a chance to still get married in 2020, even if our guest list had to be shortened. As summer went on, we were less and less hopeful our wedding in September could go on because of the horrible pandemic. We decided to legally get married in September with our immediate family and friends. A friend of ours, who was in Colorado when we got engaged, officiated our wedding which was so amazing and special! Our venue owners were incredible to let us use our wedding venue for two hours to have a ceremony and take pictures.
My hair stylist did my hair, while my bridesmaids all did their own. We all did our own makeup, and everyone wore all their dresses and suits! It was the real deal! We had a truly unique wedding experience- nothing that I ever imagined, but what got me through three postponements was how lucky we were to be able to have TWO weddings. I got to wear my wedding dress twice! How incredible!? Everyone in the wedding got multiple uses out of their suits and dresses. I had two sets of professional photos….over 2,100+ wedding photos from two weddings! That’s crazy! Ultimately, we were so happy and glad with the way everything played out. Our family was so happy we could get married in September finally, after being together for so long (high school sweethearts). And we were thankful to have the absolute best vendors who were able to stick with us from Day 1. We wanted to have the wedding of our dreams, and postponing a final time to May 28th was the absolute best decision. 
 
Our wedding on May 28th, 2021 was everything we’d hoped it would be and so much more!! We had blue skies, sunny and a perfect 70 degree day with about 130 guests. The weather could not have been more perfect. We got our Golden Retriever puppy, Buxton, a month after our first wedding, so we knew we had to get wedding pictures with him! He loves to be held, so my husband picked up Buxton for some pretty sweet photos. He couldn’t have been any cuter; the most photogenic with his adorable bowtie.  
 
My favorite thing about the wedding was seeing all the little details come out after all the planning. I was most excited to see all the florals designed by Randi at Beezies Blooms. With an outdoor venue in Mora, MN, I wanted to go with a boho, farmhouse chic aesthetic. Beezies Blooms is a full-service wedding florist who sources all blooms and foliage from their own flower field or other flower farms in MN. Randi created a gorgeous fireplace display that was incredible, breathtaking bridal bouquets, and the coolest floral necklace for our Groomswoman! She also provided the edible flowers for our champagne toasts. 
 
I loved getting ready in the morning with my bridesmaids, while the guys drank beer and hung out on the back porch at the venue. One of the most memorable moments was when the whole dance floor was packed and everyone was singing every lyric to Mr. Brightside by the Killers. Our final song was Somebody to Love by Queen and it was just incredible to see all of our loved ones on the dancefloor, circling around us and singing as loud as they could! 
 
The funniest thing that I’m sure other Covid couples can relate to, is how we talk about our first and second weddings…to the same person. We also joke that we will celebrate our wedding with a party every year! We do plan, however, to celebrate our anniversary on September 6th.
Dress: Justin Alexander Style #88036
Venue: Ivory North
Photographers: Ivory North

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