It’s been three years and countless experiences since Cole and Elizabeth Donelson’s 2013 wedding. A little over a year ago, they quit their Kansas City jobs and embarked on a year-long expedition across the country—and across the world—to see each of the National Park Service’s 59...
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT On a steamy November day in 2012, University of Missouri — St. Louis Honors College recruiter Ashley Budde, 29, was so focused on the heat that she didn’t notice UMSL psychology professor Matt Taylor, 42, gazing at her from across the room...
THE STOLEN PROPOSAL Brittany Plufka and Ryan Atkinson had known each other for seven years before Ryan proposed in December 2014. They were high school sweethearts turned college couple turned lifelong friends. After Brittany and Ryan’s wedding, they went to Forest Park on an innocent mission...
COME RAIN OR SHINE Every bride’s nightmare: it was raining on the day of Brad and Erin Whitcomb’s outdoor wedding. The backyard outdoor wedding turned into an indoors affair. The weather waffled between rain and sunshine, but when it came time to walk from the...
THE DRESS “I almost cried,” Alex Taylor told me. There was a long pause. Finally, he admitted it. “...
DOWNHILL FAST “It’s kind of an embarrassing story for him,” Sara Hahn said, describing the story of her first date with her now-fiancé Logan Duncan. It all started out well enough. They were college freshmen and classes were canceled for snow—the perfect opportunity for Logan to...
THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM First dates. You’re trying to impress the person across the table in the most nerve-racking of circumstances. This might include (if you’re like me) attempting not to drop stray red-sauce-coated noodles onto your white blouse while noshing on the spaghetti you...
The couple in the middle of the room moved as one. Gathered in a scattered and imperfect circle, the crowd watched in awe as they floated across the hardwood, hardly seeming to touch the ground. Her spins were as fluid as the Champagne in the...