How’s this for a meet-cute: Jorden and his best friend Ricky decided to head out for a wine tasting one afternoon. They stopped into a tasting room in Solvang, a Danish village near Santa Barbara. There they met Kathryn, who was working at the tasting room while finishing up grad school. She served them wine, they all shared a few laughs, and on the way out, Jorden left her his e-mail address in the guest book.
It was a risk.
She could have had a boyfriend, or simply not been interested. But lucky for Jorden, neither was the case. Kathryn e-mailed him the next day. And they rest, as they say, is history.
Now, with a story like that, you’d think they must have had an epically romantic proposal. Not so much… As Kathryn tells it, they simply decided after 7 years together that it was probably time to get married. They had just moved to Santa Fe, so they called Kathryn’s mom, dad, aunts and uncles to meet them at the probate court where they made it official. Afterwards, the whole group went out for BBQ.
Obviously, that wasn’t the end of the story.
These two wanted a traditional wedding as well, and Kathryn specifically wanted a romantic, classic wedding. They opted for Safari Park as the venue, which also helped to establish the theme, as Kathryn decided she wanted to incorporate the animals. So, she went for an antique, garden tea party feel, using vintage animal postcards as table markers and clay animals as seating cardholders.
A DIY bride, Kathryn knew she wanted to make as many of the decorations as possible herself so the wedding would have a personal feel. And because she had 8 relatives flying in from Korea, she also wanted to incorporate some of her Korean culture. To accomplish that, they utilized a set of wooden Korean wedding ducks and served traditional Korean wedding pastries.
For Kathryn, some of the most memorable moments from the day included walking into the wedding and seeing friends she hadn’t seen in years, as well as hearing the beautiful toasts from the maid of honor, best man, and her father. There was also a photo booth to enjoy, and the first dance to “When You Wish Upon a Star” was perfect—mostly because Disneyland is this couple’s special place.
Because they got married at the zoo, there were obviously plenty of people around who weren’t with the wedding. As a result, Kathryn had a lot of mothers walking up to her asking if their tiny daughters could come see her dress—which was a lot of fun! The cheetahs also made a special appearance by lingering in the background stalking all the wedding guests from behind their cages, as if they were sizing up their prey.
Now that Kathryn and Jorden have gotten married for the second time, what do they plan on doing with their newly wedded status? Well, head to Disneyworld, of course. For as much as this couple loves Disneyland, neither of them has ever been to Disneyworld. So it should be a magical honeymoon in the magic kingdom for them both!