Their Wedding Day: Bear Brook Valley, Fredon Township, NJ

Nothing can stop these two, let me tell you! Not only did they push through and choose to have an intimate wedding on their original wedding date at Bear Brook Valley through a pandemic, but then they were thrown some crazy rainy weather, and guess what? I never once saw Heather and Bryan stop smiling! October 16th was their dream day, and they made it happen so beautifully surrounded by their closest loved ones. What I loved was that Heather and Bryan still went all out with their decor, hair and makeup, wedding attire, vows, and more – just because they had they had to downsize didn’t mean they had to lose out on the vision they had for their day! I was so grateful they chose to have me be a part of their intimate wedding day and that we get to celebrate again next year at Rock Island Lake Club. RILC and Bear Brook Valley are sister venues – it was so awesome that they let Heather and Bryan use the other venue for this year to keep each day unique and special in its own way!

Their Love Story

Bryan and Heather met through their mutual interest in running. They started off running together and there was an instant connection – they could talk for what felt like hours. They initially started talking about running, races, training, etc. and then their mutual love of dogs. Heather said, “Once we started talking about dogs, I began falling for him hard. Before I knew it, one day he said “Hey what are you doing right now? Do you want to go get a drink?” I didn’t even process what was said, before I knew it I had already said yes.” She had pretty much spent every day since that night with him and she still feels the warm fuzzies that she thought were just in books and movies. From very early on, Heather knew Bryan was her person. They moved in together and realized just how easy life was when they were doing it together. They said that their relationship has always been so easy, it has never felt like work. Bryan had always said he never wanted to get married, and Heather embraced and accepted that fully. They talked about children and buying a house and set up their life plan, but marriage wasn’t on her radar!

A few years ago now, Bryan kept asking Heather about taking the dogs hiking, but it would always rain and he would cancel their plans. She said, “Then one week he asked me how I felt about doing an Easter egg hunt. This honestly had me so excited. My cousins and I were so upset when my grandfather thought we were too old for this and stopped doing it. I told everyone at work that Bryan was doing this (he told me he was hiding one of my favorite foods – dark chocolate nonpareils) and someone told me I should do an “adult” Easter egg hunt and hide beer. Bryan loves beer (another reason we loooove Rock Island- have you seen those bars??? I LOVE their style and thirty beers on tap!) so I decided to “one-up” his idea and hide craft beer around the house. Well we woke up on Easter morning and we started hunting for our presents and I didn’t think much of what I was looking for. I remember sitting down to eat one and he handed me a different one. When I opened it, there was a ring inside. I just remember saying no a lot (in disbelief) and then saying well obviously yes, but are you sure? I know he got down on one knee, but I couldn’t stop staring at the ring. I swear to you, I had no clue this was ever one Bryan’s mind. It was on all of our friends and family’s but I literally was like this is never happening. And then while Bryan was putting the ring on, our foster dog peed on the floor due to all the excitement. So the first thing I did with my new gift was clean up dog pee – how fitting! I was so glad we were at home by ourselves with our furbabies.” How sweet it that?!

Heather loves that Bryan is so genuine. She said, “He never tries to be anything other than himself and he never asks me to be anything but myself. He supports me in everything I have tried to accomplish in my life and accepts me for who I am. He makes life easy and fun.” Bryan adores “how supportive she is. Whatever decisions I am making, she completely supports me.”

Heather and Bryan,

I’m so immensely proud to know you two and call you friends – it has been such a dream getting to enjoy this journey with you two from our engagement session with the pups to your minimony this year and all the planning and details in between! I can’t wait to do BIG again next year! <3 Wishing you two all the happiness in the world! Love you both so much!! xo