Kayla + Jason's Wedding - Lisa Shelby Photography

Kayla and Jason’s wedding and reception was absolutely gorgeous! And of course Kayla and Jason looked amazing as well! Their reception was at DelMonaco Winery & Vineyards and was gorgeous!!! If you have not seen this venue, you should definitely check it out! It is beautiful! There were so many wonderful details, like having an area for guests to leave advice and notes for the couple that incorporated wine corks, which was a perfect touch since the reception was at a vineyard! Definitely check out the images below to see it! I have to say that this wedding was probably the most fun wedding we have been to in a while! Everyone was dancing!!! The mascot, Awesome Eagle, from Tennessee Tech even showed up to enjoy the reception and celebrate their marriage… and of course keep everyone dancing and having fun! There is a secret, but since the groom, Jason, just graduated from Tennessee Tech we have been given permission to share it… Jason was the Awesome Eagle!!! Besides, Awesome was part of the proposal when Jason proposed so of course he had to be invited! Everyone, including the bride and groom, had so much fun dancing with Awesome! The groom’s cake even had the Tennessee Tech mascot on it and the groom got the entire face as his piece! I still don’t know if he was able to eat it all or not, that was a HUGE piece! Seriously Kayla and Jason are so sweet and are lots of fun! We have enjoyed photographing them and getting to know them! We are so glad that Kayla found us at a bridal show earlier this year! Congratulations Kayla and Jason!!! Enjoy married life! It’s great!!!!

How did you first meet and what were your first thoughts/impressions of each other? Give us the details! 🙂

Kayla: Jason and I first met at the library at Tennessee Tech. He was there studying with a friend of mine and my best friend and I went to go bother our friend. I liked Jason from the moment I met him. I thought that he was cute, professional, smart, well-dressed, funny (I later found out most of those were only half true :)).

Jason: We first met at the library. I was helping a friend of mine named Alex (who was also a friend of Kayla’s) study for Chemistry. Kayla and Jordan, her best friend, stopped by to see what Alex was doing. At that moment Kayla fell head over heals in love with me. She thought that I was smart, good looking, and had my act together. I think she was right about two of those three initial assumptions. 🙂

Tell us about your first date!

Kayla: Jason and I were friends for about a year before we started dating, but we have always said that our first “date” was at Waffle House the day after we hung out one-on-one for the first time.

Jason: After first meeting we were casual friends and would hang out in a group setting. This lasted for about a year before we finally decided to start hanging out with just the two of us. This started by getting together and flying kites during dead and finals week, which was a good way to relieve stress! Eventually we decided to watch a movie with just the two of us. It really wasn’t considered a date because we were still just friends, but the next day I asked her to go to Waffle House with me for breakfast. At that point we knew that we wanted to be more than friends. We consider Waffle House to be our first date.

When did you first know he/she was the one?

Kayla: Jason and I spent the first three months of our relationship (plus another year or so off and on) in a long-distance relationship while Jason was working in Charleston, SC. There wasn’t anything specific, but that summer I knew he was the one. Since we didn’t get to actually hang out together or go on dates very often, we had to talk on Skype and on the phone all the time. This made us get to know each other really well and made it obvious to me that he was the one.

Jason: I knew Kayla was the one when she came to visit me in Charleston after we first started dating. We were celebrating her birthday and I was so excited to give her a diamond heart necklace. I knew that I could not be this excited about just anyone.

Tell us all about the proposal!

Kayla: When Jason and I first started dating, we used to fly kites together a lot and one time we were going to fly kites and he had bought me a new kite, so we went into a building near the park to put it together. When Jason proposed, he told me that we were going to go fly kites with two of our friends and he had bought me a new kite. When we got there, we started walking towards the same building and Jason stopped before we went in and said, “This is where I gave you the very first present and this is where I want to give you the most important present I’ll ever give you.” Then the doors opened beside us and Awesome Eagle (Tennessee Tech’s mascot) walked out and he was holding a sign that said “Marry Him?” and then Jason got down on one knee and asked me. When Awesome flipped over the sign, it was covered in little notes, flowers, ticket stubs that I had saved from the first two years of mine and Jason’s relationship.

I knew that the proposal was coming, but I didn’t know exactly when. I had a hunch that it might be that day, but then once it started happening I was completely surprised. I was very excited and learned that I apparently show my excitement by squealing. Our friends that were with us took pictures and a video, but Jason has promised me that no one will ever see the video.

Jason: I planned the proposal in the place where I gave Kayla her first present, which was a kite. We had been planning on getting together with our couple friends, Drew and Christina, to go the park and fly kites together. When we got to the Sherlock Park at Tech, Awesome Eagle came out with a heart shaped sign that had a lot of stuff glued to it from the past two years that we had been dating. Awesome flipped the sign around and it said, “Marry Him?” I then proceeded to tell Kayla that, “this is where I gave you the first gift that I ever got for you and this is where I want to give you the most important gift that I will ever give you.” Kayla was shocked and started making some really funny noises so I don’t think she even heard what I was saying… But she said “YES” after she calmed down.

What is the one thing you love most about each other?

Kayla: Jason has two sides to him: one side is very smart, professional, and well spoken, while the other side is crazy and really like having a 5-year-old child. (See the next question, there is nothing in between these two.) And Jason always knows which side is appropriate in different situations. But what I love, is that no matter which Jason I get each day, he always cares deeply about me. I know that Jason would stop anything on the drop of a hat to make me happy.

Jason: What I love most about Kayla is that she is a caring person and I know that she will always be there for me. There are not many people in the world who put others before themselves, and Kayla does that everyday. Additionally, Kayla has a personality that is different in so many ways to mine. While this lends itself to some issues, it is good to have a partner that can keep you in check. While I tend to go over the top on everything, Kayla is much more mild. We work well together to find a middle ground on most things that keep life entertaining but sensible at the same time. It is important to be well rounded in every aspect of life and while we have similarities, our differences (and respect for those differences) are what make us strong as a couple.

Share with us something silly or quirky that the other person does that is normally annoying and would drive you crazy, but makes you love them a bit more each time… Or you know you love them because when they do it, you don’t kill them! 🙂

Kayla: One quirky thing about Jason is that he is “all or nothing.” This applies to everything in his life: the way he drives, the way he cooks, the A/C in his car, our relationship, how he dresses, etc. There is no middle ground for Jason – he is all or nothing. It took me a little while to realize this about him, and it can be exhausting at times, but it also keeps me on my toes and makes me laugh.

Jason: Kayla is scared of everything from bugs to the dark to circuit boards. She is always saying something like, “I don’t like that. It is scary.” Sometimes I do think that it annoying, but most of the time I find it cute.

Besides getting married what is the one thing you are looking forward to on your wedding day?

Kayla: I am just looking forward to having mine and Jason’s families together and having a good time. With most of Jason’s family in Indiana and most of mine in Tennessee, it is rare that we can all get together, so it will be a lot of fun.

Jason: The wedding is great and all, but I am really looking forward to having the entire family together in one place. Kayla and I both have very large families and it is not often that they will all get to be together. The wedding is not going to magically change us in any way. It is just a method of publicly confessing our love and vowing something that we have already decided on, which is to help support each other for the rest of our lives. So for me, the wedding is less about myself and more about our families. In the future, it will be great to look back at the photos and videos, not just of us, but of everyone who was in attendance.

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