Leah and L.J.’s wedding was held at one of the most unique venues I have ever seen - their CrossFit gym! I love that they chose a location that was such a big part of their relationship. They spent a lot of thought and time transforming the gym into a beautiful reception venue complete with string lights hanging over the dance floor. For dinner guests could choose between two food trucks - Truck Meister and Hard Wood Cafe. They served an assortment of desserts including Nothing Bundt Cakes. It was a beautiful day and guests were able to easily move between inside and outside with the open garage door. I think it’s safe to say everyone was thoroughly impressed at what these two managed to do to the gym!

From the Bride:

How did you meet your spouse?

We actually love the story of how we met. I had mentioned to a coworker, Roger, that I had gone on a bad date recently. He told me that he was going to a networking event that night, and would do his best to find me a better guy. I definitely thought he was joking, and told him I liked guys with beards.

He would end up briefly meeting L.J. at the event. He even took a picture of L.J. while they were standing and talking together. When L.J. asked what the picture was all about, Roger told him that there was a girl in accounting that he was supposed to find a date for. L.J. replied with, “Well, then here’s my card.”

The next day I discovered that Roger was most definitely not kidding when he proudly presented me with the business card and photo he had taken of L.J. the night before. After a couple days, I texted L.J., whose immediate response was “oh, I thought he was kidding!” After a couple weeks of texting, we met in a Starbucks where we chatted with each other for nearly 8 hours.

Roger and his wife came to our wedding. We still keep in touch with them.

How would you describe the style of your wedding?

Classic but quirky! We tried to make decisions that wouldn’t age our wedding photos too much, but still make sure it felt very ‘us’.

What was the most difficult detail of your wedding to agree upon?

Colors! L.J. has a history in marketing and had very strong opinions about what he wanted. Specifically, he wanted navy for the groomsmen and burgundy for the bridesmaids. I was very concerned about going with this color pallet for a spring wedding, and suggested we go with navy and blush pink instead. We ended up compromising and incorporating both burgundy and pink.

Were there any unique details at your wedding that related specifically to you as couple?

Using our CrossFit gym as our reception venue. We didn’t meet at the gym, but joining it together definitely made our relationship stronger. When we would explain to people where our reception would be leading up to the wedding, we got such a range of reactions. I think most people pictured more of a traditional gym with machines. CrossFit is more of a giant, open warehouse. It was definitely unconventional, but we saw it as a blank canvas. Seeing it all come together during setup the day before was an incredible moment.

What did you find most surprising about planning your wedding?

That everyone, even people not invited to your wedding, will have very strong opinions about even the smallest details of your wedding. As the bride, I got a lot more of this than L.J. did. I was fortunate enough to have 2 of my bridesmaids that were also engaged. We all leaned on each other when this got overwhelming. We had a longer engagement, about a year and a half, so eventually we both learned not to care about the unsolicited ‘advice’.

What did you find the most challenging about planning your wedding?

Balancing quality while trying to stay in our budget. We horribly misjudged our original budget. The only 2 items that stayed within our original budget were my dress and our florals. We ended up adjusting our budget as we went by focusing on finding affordable but still quality options.

What’s your number one piece of advice you have for couples just starting to plan their wedding?

Create a list that ranks what is most important to each of you. That way, each person can be in charge of the things that are most important to them, and you can team up on things that are important to you both. This also helps with finding things that neither of you care about. I also recommend creating a timeline and adding specific target dates for each thing that will need to be done. Many guides use wording like “6-8 week before” and this kind of wording doesn’t put it into perspective as you get closer and closer to your date. Then, we tackled this checklist by having weekly meetings.

Tell us about the moment you saw your spouse for the first time on your wedding day.

We decided to do a first look. Something to know about us – we are very much an ‘opposites attract’ couple. L.J. is very confident and outgoing, and I tend to be more introverted and quiet. For our first look, it felt like we had completed switched. I was so confident in my dress and excited to see him that I could barely wait. I remember being able to feel L.J. trembling after he turned around and we held hands for the first time. It all felt very surreal, and I remember it being so quiet. We genuinely enjoyed having this moment to ourselves.

Which moment of your wedding was the most memorable for you?

We ended up over-planning how long our photos would take by quite a bit. Between our pictures and going to the chapel, our entire wedding party stopped at a bar and just hung out for a little while. Our photographer noticed the bus and we even got a few pictures of this moment. It was so spontaneous and fun.

In hindsight, is there anything you wish you had done differently?

We both loved our venue and how unique it was to have our wedding at a gym. In hindsight, though, it was so much more work the day before and the day after than we had anticipated. Even with the incredible people we had helping us, it created such an exhausting day before and day after for us. We wish that we would have considered how the uniqueness of our venue meant that we would have to do so much more work.

Describe newlywed life in 3 words.

It’s a tie between “much more relaxed” and “I’m not pregnant”. L.J. says “not that different”

Would you recommend Weddings With A Twist to other couples and if so, why?

Absolutely, 100% yes. Krista was such a comforting presence on our wedding day, and throughout the planning process. We had put so much effort into planning our day, we wanted to be sure that we would be able to truly enjoy the day we had been planning for so long. We knew that Krista was the perfect person for us when we first met her. We cannot recommend her highly enough!