Maddie and Caleb's Arizona Engagement and Double Ceremony Wedding

From the bride: We did all of the wedding planning ourselves, my mom and I planned the entire thing in the evenings and were details OBSESSED. We DIY'd quite a bit too. Not tacky DIY, but we made sure our projects looked as great as something we could have received from a vendor. We hand dyed the table runners, hand picked every colored glass centerpiece from antique stores on dates and with the help of family (there were 200ish), my mother-in-law baked and designed our cake, we built a flower wall, Cricut cut all of our signs, built our bars, baked our cookie favors, built the donut wall, put our invitations together, and hand selected every single possible detail we could without completely losing our minds.

Our wedding day was beautiful, we had a first look, it was sprinkling some but just perfectly overcast for pictures. But then in the 15 minutes before our ceremony was set to start a horrible storm began. Everything went wrong, some angry vendors, tornado warnings all around us, hail, power outages in the entire county, crazy winds, a broken down trolley that was a last minute add-on to transport our guests, our cake fell, all kinds of things. We tried to wait it out and 40 minutes later we were losing hope for our outdoor ceremony. So as the storm was happening our officiant came into the tent where me and my bridesmaids were and said "Maddie, your groom is out here in an umbrella and he said he'd love nothing more than to just marry his bride here in the storm" so we had an intimate ceremony with our bridal party, parents, and a few friends gathered close and married in the woods. After we ran down the hill to the pavilion where our guests had redesigned our reception to make the MOST BEAUTIFUL make-shift aisle and ceremony spot - we got married again! Caleb says his favorite part was walking up the aisle together for our second ceremony with everyone cheering us on. My favorite was our outdoor ceremony in the rain. We totally swapped the day of because he wanted to do a small elopement and I wanted a big wedding at the beginning of our engagement. It was definitely not planned for us to have two ceremonies, but it was just the best.

As I stood in front of all of our guests with my groom I couldn’t help but happy cry because it felt like one giant group hug. I had said early in planning I wanted 1/3 of our guests to stand during our ceremony, because it felt so much more intimate. We had a ton of guests standing all around and it was so cozy and happy. Our guests cheered throughout the ceremony and applauded and laughed out loud and it was the most intimate 330ish person wedding ever. As soon as we said our vows a second time the rain stopped for the evening and the sun came out. Many of our guests said it was because we were meant to be married in the rain.

It was so amazing to have over 300 people there showing us their support even when it was the worst case scenario for a wedding. They were all helping move chairs in the rain and redesigning our wedding as we trying to figure out what to do because they care for us so much and wanted our day to be beautiful. We had planned so many details and most of our details were thrown out the window once it rained, but our chaotic, crazy, disastrous day truly turned into a more perfect wedding day than I could have planned. We all ate build your own burritos/nachos/quesadillas/salad from a yummy food truck and drank and danced the night away. All of our guests had a blast and so did Caleb and I - so all of my wedding wishes came true. The day after our wedding we were living on a feeling of “did that seriously just happen??” It was chaos that turned beautiful and I could not ask for anything better as a bride and a wife starting out our marriage with such an unforgettable story.

Photography: Engagement - Kira Madison Photo / Wedding - Chandler Rose Photography | Videography: Chandler Rose Photography | Location: Engagement - Arizona / Wedding - Henryville, IN | Venue: EnJoy the Venue | Florals: State & Arrow | Caterer: Ramiro's Cantina | Cake: Groom’s Mother / Donuts: Jay-C Grocery | Rentals: Reliable Rentals | Music: HAY DJ | Hair: Collins Classic Creations | Makeup: J. Nicolle Salon & Spa| Bride’s Attire: Essence of Australia from Rebecca's Bridal; Jewelry - House of K Boutique | Groom’s Attire: Express | Credits: Bridesmaid’s Dresses - Bill Levkoff / Groomsmen Attire - JCPenney / Photobooth -Mirrored Imagery