Kaitlin + Kurt by Nous Nous Photography - Together Journal

He pointed out some tracks along the mountainside, and I turned around to him on one knee – a moment no story, movie, song, or book could prepare you for.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We are Kaitlin and Kurt – Kaitlin is an artist and works as a brand + website designer for her business, Aurora Designed, while Kurt is a financial broker for his business, Point Financial Solutions.

Together, we live in an 1800s stone cottage in Bucks County, PA and fill our days planning our future garden in the backyard, sourcing antiques for our little home, cooking and dancing in our kitchen, hosting dinner parties with close friends, hopping around local breweries and wineries, exploring little river towns nearby, and pursuing the careers we started ourselves. We can both agree that we have built, and will forever be building, the life we always imagined for ourselves, and that is mostly due to the fact that we’re both very big dreamers. Neither of us has many “realist” characteristics, which can definitely explain why we have a ton of unfinished projects in our home and why we tend to bite off more than we can chew, but this is also why we both own our dream home, run our own businesses, and live life incredibly passionately. It’s why Kurt was able to run 100 miles in a Key West race and why Kaitlin was able to get back into dancing after being hit by a car as a pedestrian. We both have a strong drive and a pure love of life, and we truly enjoy every adventure we get to experience together each day.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We met on Hinge, actually (forever wishing we had a more romantic meet-cute), with our first date being in 2019 at a local brewery.

Kaitlin’s first impression: From what I knew of Kurt before our first date, he was a beach boy from the Jersey shore. He ended up being the complete opposite of what I initially envisioned – he was incredibly charming, had the biggest smile I had ever seen, and had such a calming nature to him that truly made me feel so at home.

Kurt’s first impression: Haha, Kaitlin was a jump-scare, in the absolute best way possible, with her bubbly personality. She had seen the movie Bohemian Rhapsody the night before our first date and so kindly shared her knowledge of the entire Queen soundtrack the whole way to the taproom. She was a ball of energy and so down-for-whatever (hence why she suggested Chili’s, of all places, for dinner after the brewery). She has kept me on my toes ever since.

When did you first realize that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

Kaitlin: While I can’t remember that defining moment of wanting to marry Kurt (I actually think that’s because it happened so naturally), I can remember the time I knew this would be something special: it was Valentine’s Day just a few weeks after we met for the first time and I hadn’t heard from him all day… I was living at home with my parents at the time and was feeling incredibly disappointed (I had high expectations!), assuming he was no longer interested when I got a phone call from him simply asking if I could “get that” – and the doorbell rang. There he was with flowers, chocolate, candy, and the biggest smile that would soon become my favourite thing about him. From then on, I kind of felt like this was it.

Kurt: Like Kait said this is a tough one! It was a slow process for me as well, after each date I saw more and more characteristics I wanted in a future wife until one day I just couldn’t picture my life without her. Her parents and brother (and my parents and siblings) also played a big role… they say when you marry a person, you marry their family too, and I was really grateful and excited to have so effortlessly blended into hers, and she so wonderfully into mine. (I am now a very proud member of their “family group chat”.)

Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

We got engaged in Colorado in March of 2021. Kurt knew how important my loved ones were to me so he planned the proposal during a trip out west that both of our parents would be on together. I had a tiny inkling (okay, large inkling – I packed some white dresses just in case) that it would happen while we were out there, and every time we got to the top of a mountain, I would be so scared he would pop the question and that I would need to ski the whole way down pretty much blacked out (I am a bunny slope gal while his family are all black-diamonds and I would not have fared well if I had to focus AND comprehend what just happened at the same time). Luckily, it was the end of our week-long trip when he asked me to go on a walk near a snow-covered lake nearby (thank goodness no skis were involved). He pointed out some tracks along the mountainside, and I turned around to him on one knee – a moment no story, movie, song, or book could prepare you for. We arrived back at the condo, and our parents decorated it; our brothers surprised us, and we celebrated the rest of the night. I truly couldn’t picture a sweeter day, especially because he filled it with things he knew were important to me.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding.

As a designer, bringing our love story to life through wedding details was magical. We felt like our love resembled both Italian and countryside romance (passionate and free-spirited mixed with sweet and intentional), and that is exactly what we wanted our wedding to feel like. To have a balance of both, we went back and forth between artful, romantic, old-world, Italian-inspired pieces mixed with more countryside, soft, and home-grown-styled elements. A few examples are… overgrown florals and fruit-layered styling paired with Battenburg-cotton tablecloths for our escort card table/bridesmaids dressed in satin, Italian-inspired gowns with flower girls in more countryside-esque, eyelet cotton dresses / old-world inspired menu booklets tied with collected, vintage-sourced recipe cards / french farmers market welcome bags tied with handkerchiefs then filled with Italian goodies / table-numbers written on old postcards and then placed on artful florentine trays, mix-matched blue and white dinner plates topped with artistic, patterned napkins… each element dancing back and forth between Italian romance and countryside charm.

A big factor in bringing this style to life was sourcing vintage when we could, first because we loved details that came from love stories before us but also because we felt like those types of elements really tied into that old-world, lived-in, intentional charm of our wedding vision. A few favorites were; the cake topper from my grandmother’s wedding cake, the girls’ vintage getting ready robes, our flat lay infused with pieces of other loved ones’ weddings, vintage tablecloths, our bride and groom stemware, and our vintage getaway car.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

I think we all underestimated just how much weddings and vendors could cost (which I completely respect, as they are all artists charging for their work), and with that being said, Kurt and I feel so blessed to be able to say we had all of our dreams come true with each and every aspect of our day. While I’m not sure I can think of one big-ticket item/vendor that would be considered a “splurge” above the rest (as most were indeed investments!), a costly add-on item that I’d say definitely wasn’t a need, but a want (even if only used for an hour), was our vintage Saab getaway car. I always pictured leaving my wedding ceremony squished in the tiny back seat with the fluffy wedding dress and my husband, just like my parents did. We even had the cute “just married” sign and soup cans hanging off the back. That half-hour drive back to the reception space after saying, “I do”, might be one of my favourite parts of the whole day – getting that time immediately after our ceremony to spend with just each other before rushing into the excitement of the rest of the evening. Our sweet driver, Bruce, gave us the most memorable piece of wedding advice during that ride: “Marriage is like a mountain; the upward climbs can and will be tough, but the view will always be worth it when you get to the top”.

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

As cliche as it sounds, we truly have no regrets about our wedding. We feel so blessed to say that, from what we know, nothing went astray during the timeline or day… our planner, Bethany, was an absolute gem in managing and keeping everything on schedule (none of us lifted a finger or had to worry about a thing). The only thing we have all laughed about from a “going wrong” standpoint is the shower situation that morning. The hot water in my bathroom and the shower head in my parent’s bathroom were both not working (no hate for the venue at all; it was a beautiful yet very old, preserved estate). So, our sweet day began with all the boys rushing to fix my parents’ shower head that was spurting water in every direction while my mom stood there in a towel, and me, the bride, taking the coldest shower of my life on my wedding morning.

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

Kurt is a (beautifully) simple man, he knew he wanted a black tux – but that is as far as it goes for having a vision for his wedding-day look.

I, on the other hand, had a very specific vision when it came to my bridal looks. Starting with the morning, my girls and I all got ready in vintage robes – me in my “something blue” Christian Dior and them in various Italian-satin and countryside-cotton ones that matched each of their dress colours. This was a special collection I had curated for months and one I was so excited to gift to them (along with vintage beaded purses that also matched their dress colors that they could wear later that day). Moving on to my wedding gown – I spent most of my dress journey at Danielle Frankel, where I found that the designs were a poetic mixture of nostalgic old-world charm and a modern artful elegance (much like our wedding vision). My hope was to feel like a whimsical yet poetic and artistic bride, and Danielle’s Annalise gown gave me that exact feeling – I fell in love with the pinned-up tulle, the organza, the lace appliques cascading off the hips, and the dancing hemline along the bottom. The romantic lace neck-tie completed the look and would blow in the wind, which I just loved. A little fun fact – I ended up sleeping in my gown on our wedding night because the thought of taking it off made me so sad!