Bethany and Jordan Speidel Wedding Story

Wedding Theme

Natural, Romantic, Rustic

The Day We Said Yes

Saturday, September 23rd, 2017

Our Love Story

Our day started out mystical as there was a layer of fog that filled in the valleys and left just the tops of the pine and aspen trees visible from our view in the cabins above Sylvan Lake at Custer State Park. I imagine the morning was as typical as any wedding with the ladies getting their hair styled and makeup done while the gentlemen assisted with last-minute decorating and organizing before we took pictures. Just before our ceremony began on the Sylvan Lake Lawn, a light mist was in the air. It is every bride’s fear to be stuck in the rain on an outdoor wedding but for some reason I was unphazed. In that moment, my heart was so exuberant to finally (we had already been together 11 years) be marrying the man of my dreams. When I walked down that aisle, it was just like a movie: my eyes were fixated on my husband and everyone else just melted into the background. It was actually a very magical moment to look across the lake and see fog effortlessly rolling across the water and an equally romantic moment having my  husband hold an umbrella over me to keep my dress dry and my hair style intact. The *best* moment of the day was that first kiss because it was sensual and loving and it represented us moving forward as a couple to the next level of commitment and devotion. Following the ceremony, we had our reception in the Sylvan Lake Auditorium. The room had a floor to ceiling fireplace that was roaring when we entered the room. We had a fun social hour with plenty of drinks, hors d'oeuvres, and games. Following dinner, we had a evening of dancing. We started everything with the traditional father-daughter dance and the mother-son dance. However, my husband and I had taken dance lessons and choreographed the first part of our dance to Michael Buble's version of “Sway” and then busted into a Bollywood dance by Jhoon Barabar Jhoom. I know nobody was expecting the dance but it was fun, fresh, and different. At the end of the night, we blew up white LED balloons which was our twist on having an exit beneath sparklers. It was truly a lovely day spent with amazing family and friends!

How We Met

Our story began eleven years ago when we were both attending college at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. It was the classic romance novel premise where boy loves girl - girl rejects boy - girl eventually falls in love with boy. Our first encounter together was because my husband's dorm room was right above mine. They would play basketball and Dance Dance Revolution which was quite distracting when you're trying to study. I blazed up to his dorm room to tell him to please be quiet and immediately formed a dislike for him and his roommates. A year passed by and we slowly became friends as we both studied chemical engineering and had many classes together. Once school let out for the year, we each went home for the summer and didn't converse even one time. When the next school year started, we ran into each other and it dawned on me that I had missed him and that I didn't want another summer to ever pass where we weren't having fun together. We started dating and months turned into years.

Planning Our Day

My husband and I are both from South Dakota so choosing to get married in our beautiful home state was easy. Since I'm specifically from the Black Hills, I wanted to get married either at Custer State Park or near Spearfish Canyon. In the end, we chose Sylvan Lake because it is sentimental to us and also a very sacred place. We planned the entire wedding ourselves using an Excel spreadsheet to keep us on track. We had a different tab for various categories, and we put our ideas and our specific requests (like pictures we wanted the photographer to take) into the associated tab. We also itemized each expense we had and the day we paid for it so that we could stay on track with our budget.

Wedding Hint

My best advice would be to spend time/money/effort in the areas that you and your guests will enjoy the most. In my opinion, it is better to spend more money on entertainment and less money on decorations because years from now, nobody will remember the centerpieces or if you had uplighting or beautiful flowers but they will remember the fun and laughter at the reception!