Amanda and Erick’s wedding professionals:

PREMIER HEARTLAND WEDDING IDEAS VENDORS:
Ceremony & Reception Venue and Catering Rollins Mansion
Event Planning White Willow Events

Photographer & Videographer Mae Small Photography | Floral Boesen the Florist | Dessert Molly’s Cupcakes | Hair & Makeup Salon Spa W | Nails Art of Nails | Facials & Skin Treatment J MISKO | Wedding and Bridesmaid Dresses BHLDN | Menswear Suit Supply, Ties: The Tie Bar | Jewelry M&M Jewelers (On Etsy) | Stationery by Stacia Weiss | Officiant Pastor Mark Schol | Hotel Marriott Downtown | Resources The Big Wedding Planning Podcast — Michelle and Christy were amazing resource for the couple, with video and phone meetings to help them through it all.

See all the vendors we LUST for, that can help you with your big day!

A photoshoot proposal.

Hiring photographer capture your proposal, secretly or not.

It was something Amanda had mentioned in passing that sparked Erick’s idea for how he’d propose. “Wouldn’t it be fun if we had a photographer following us around to take pictures while we were on vacation?!” Amanda told him. (Ummm, YES! We agree.) And so did Erick. What a great way to capture fun photos of them together AND his proposal. So while in Washington D.C. for the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run, Erick had decided it was a perfect time to hire paparazzi. He let her in on the idea so she could pack appropriately, and she was so excited. It would be an ideal time to capture photos with all the cherry blossoms. The morning before the race, they met the photographer they hired through Flytography to capture them walking through the monuments and memorials. At their last stop, Erick dropped to one knee and proposed!

Planning a wedding from a far

With so much online, you can plan your wedding from another city.

From the beginning of planning, Amanda knew she wanted to add special vintage touches, with things like floral dinner and dessert plates, vintage gold candlesticks, unique frames, and skeleton keys on escort cards. When she and Erick found the Rollins Mansion, they knew it would bring everything together. The unique space and grounds were the perfect backdrop for their big day, to feel intimate with a vintage vibe.

The couple decided early on that they would only have two big splurges, one was for great photography, the other was a live band. Amanda knew right away, her pick for photography was going to be Mae Small. She had been a part of a friend’s wedding, and she loved her style. Erick’s job was to find their live band, and the couple could not recommend KC FLO enough. The entire night the dance floor was packed. And, since the couple was planning all of this from Chicago, when they discovered Molly’s Cupcakes (who has a location in Chicago) was also in Des Moines, they knew that would be their pick for their cake. While it was hard to not get to meet so many of their wedding vendors in person, it was all doable virtually. Amanda’s career has been working in the social media industry, so planning using Instagram, Pinterest, and online magazines (Heartland included!) was second nature.

Learning about each other.

Wedding planning can help couples discover more about each other.

Something Amanda and Erick didn’t expect out of the planning process, was that the stress of planning a wedding remotely, really helped them problem-solve together and come up with creative ideas. “I really think it helped us lay the foundation for a strong marriage,” Amanda told us.