Kristin & Matt {Wedding Elopement Photography in Kansas City}

I am paranoid about missing phone calls. I hate seeing an unknown number show up on my phone and not answer it. I know that 99% of the time it's going to be a solicitor. And 99% of the time I am somehow disappointed when the call actually does turn out to be a solicitor. But when the 1% of the time happens it is like MAGIC. One afternoon I answered a D.C. area phone number expecting to just ask to be removed form the call list, when the sweetest voice starts talking on the other end. She is coming to Kansas City in three days. Her fiancé is stationed here. And oh by the way, they've decided to get married. In three days. But only if they can pull off something awesome. If they can't, they'll bag the idea and wait for the full wedding next year.I'm pretty sure at this point my jaw was completely on the floor. But I was so excited!!! Kristin's ideas sounded sweet but lovely. The only thing I can add to her amazing narrative below, is that it really was just as fun as it looked. Enjoy!

From our bride, Kristin:

"Wedding details:

Matt is an Army Officer at the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Kristin is an Army Officer Candidate at Officer Candidate School in Ft. Benning, Georgia. Our schedules only line up to see each other once a month, and we never quite know when we will have time off until a few days before. We had been privately discussing marriage for a few months but had no solid plans. We both are working and studying up to 16 hours a day, even planning a future wedding would have been nearly impossible. One day it hit me like a lightning bolt that I really did want to marry Matt and I honestly didn't feel like waiting until we have the time to plan a wedding in order to do it. That's when I made the first call (to you, Deanna!!). Having a photographer and a beautiful dress were the two 'must haves' from me. If we couldn't have those, I didn't want to do the wedding because I didn't want it to feel like a let-down from what I had always imagined.

Favorite Moment of the Day:

I loved saying our vows outside the church. We wrote our own and included personal details like inside jokes and references to Matt's three daughters and their place in our lives. Because there was very little pomp and circumstance and no guests, it really felt like we were the only two people in the word. I also loved the anticipation and finally seeing one another outside the hotel. We spent the morning together running wedding errands and just being near each other. Time together is so rare for us that there was no way we would give any of that up. So we were really only apart for less than an hour while we were changing. But still that moment when we saw each other the first time was wonderful. One very unexpected thing that ended up being really cool was how the general public got involved with the wedding. So many people came and told us their own love stories as we made our way through Kansas City that night. It was like we were a magnet for love and happiness.

Inspiration for the wedding:

I never liked the idea of an overly formal wedding or spending a ton of money on a celebration that would be over in a few hours. I had always wanted a pop-up or "guerrilla" wedding where you just show up at a venue or restaurant and get married on the spot to the surprise of all the other patrons, but I also have a very classic style. I never chose a theme for the wedding, but I chose things I loved and what ended up happening with my fitted dress and the vintage Rolls Royce fit perfectly -- it was stylish and timeless but spontaneous and not at all overdone. The wedding that we had was almost exactly what I pictured, except of course I thought a handful of my closest friends and family would be there and in the end it was just the two of us, the chaplain, and the witnesses (who happened to be good friends of Matt's). There was no stress of having to make a ton of wedding decisions - we really just picked a few details that were very important (such as the cute stone walls of Pilgrim Chapel and Kristin's desire to have South Africa's national flower in the bouquet) went with the vendors that were close and had time to work with us!

Advice to brides planning in the future:

There are so many small decisions that will absolutely consume you, and soon the wedding will have a life of its own. Forget about the things that you 'have' to do like wedding favors, bridesmaids, garters... only keep the things in the wedding that really have meaning to you. And understand that every decision takes a toll on you mentally and emotionally. Decide and move on. The more simple you keep things, the more you and your husband will enjoy the day."