Whitetail Lodge And Banquet Hall

Wedding Day

Ceremony

Cocktail Hour

Reception

Spring

Our Wedding

It was back in 2019 when Taylor and I (Jess) had our initial conversations. We stumbled upon one another on an online dating app and we both happened to swipe right on each others profile. We matched! Never in a million years did I think I would find the love of my life on an online dating app but I took a gamble and boy did I hit the jackpot! But believe it or not, this is not where the magic happens… While Taylor and I did talk back and forth pretty frequently, and we did add each other on other social media platforms, our conversations eventually died down. Taylor was eager to meet in person but at that time we lived over an hour apart from each other and our work schedules didn’t line up well. I was working 12 hour days on the weekend shift at my factory job and he was working 2nd shift at his factory job. So we didn’t have a lot of available time to actually set plans to meet but when we DID, I’ll be honest here, I was very nervous and always bailed. Taylor got pretty tired of me always canceling and soon our conversations became less and less until they became none at all. So how did we end up engaged then??… Although our conversations disappeared we still kept one another on social media after all this time. Liking and laughing at each others posts here and there, never actually keeping in touch but never actually saying goodbye either. I’ll be honest, I usually don’t keep people I don’t associate with frequently on my friends list but he was WAY too cute to get rid of. I thought “He’s cute so I’ll keep him here… just in case!” Lol. But we both went on to live our lives and even date other people. That’s until 2021 where we reconnected on Facebook. I was at work when I had gotten a random notification from Taylor who had tagged me in a post. I thought “hmm that’s odd, I haven’t spoke to him in awhile.” I checked to see it was one of those posts that say “You get $8M to live in this house with your first @ (tagged), can you do it?” and he had tagged me in a comment that said “we splitting this 8 mill or what? 😂😂” I replied “If I can bring my kid then yea! If not then no lol.” To which he replied “Well duh! Lol” and just like that, we were back on track! Taylor and I spent lots of time texting back and forth to catch up, and eventually had our first phone call. He called me and I was so nervous that I sat and watched the phone ring till just the very end, I picked up and he said “Took you long enough! I thought you were going to ignore me!” Which I replied “Well, I thought about it. Hahaha!” Our chemistry had been better than it ever had been before. It wasn’t long before Taylor had said “We should hang out! Or are you too scared?” I was still pretty nervous but I agreed. We both had mutual days off work for once so just a few days before Christmas we planned to see the new Spider-Man movie (I love Spider-Man) and have dinner. It was a DATE! Our first official date! Since we still lived over an hour apart, me living in Carey and Taylor living in Sidney, we met at middle ground which was a movie theater in Lima. We planned for 2:30 but just before I left my car started acting up. Great, he’s gonna think I’m bailing again! I asked to push back to the 4:30 showing so I could get everything back in order and he agreed. It didn’t take me as long as I thought and I told him I was on my way and we could just hang out until the next showing began. I pulled in and parked right beside him and then texted him “I’m here.” We texted back and forth for a bit and then he said “Okay but are you coming to get in my car or what? Lol” I got out of my car and into his and he pulled out the most beautiful bouquet of flowers from his backseat, handed them to me and said “I got these for you. You’re pretty cute!” And THATS where the magic happened! I knew I was in for the long haul since that very night and before we knew it we were making an hour+ long drive 2-3 times a week just to see each other. 4 months go by and Taylor finally asks me to be his girlfriend officially. Thank god because I was starting to get impatient hahaha. Between then and now we’ve had many good moments. This story, our story, is already pretty lengthy- so “ can we skip to the good part? *ah, AH-Ah-ah* “ (there are lots of good parts but this is the -newest- good part.) Our engagement!!! Just a week before he proposed, Taylor had gotten a package in the mail that required a signature for delivery. I told the mail man to just put it in the box and I’d grab it later since our daughter was fussy I didn’t have time to bring it in at the moment. A few hours later I get a call from Taylor at work. He’s frantic, and asks “did a package come today??” I said yes shoot, I forgot to bring it in.” He followed with “DONT TOUCH IT!! DONT TOUCH IT! I’ll grab it when I get home, don’t touch it!!” I was pretty confused but I left it there. I was thinking it was just another late Christmas present, no big deal. Meanwhile I had actually signed for my own engagement ring and I hadn’t had a clue!! Taylor had planned a few different ways to ask me to be his wife. First was while seeing the Christmas lights at the zoo with some friends and all of our kiddos but the ring hadn’t came in yet. Next was at a rock concert! The day before our engagement Taylor had taken me to see my favorite band while they were on tour! If you know anything at all about Taylor and I then you know that we are literally never on time. Ever lol. Taylor planned to ask me that night but in the midst of getting the kids and ourselves around he forgot the ring at home. Whoops haha! So the next day we were getting around to go pickup our girls. We were both excited to wear our new band shirts we had just got but Taylor mentioned “Hey, we might go out to eat somewhere nice so if you want to change now would be the time to do it.” Debating back and forth, he didn’t change out of his band shirt so neither did I haha. Off we went to my brother and sister in laws house to pickup our girls. We hung out for a bit when our daughter Lacy and our niece Paisley walked up to me and said “Taylor has to ask you a question.” Confused, I got up to go look for him, thinking maybe he just needed help with something in the other room. And when I turned the corner there he was, down on one knee. “Will you marry me?” To which I replied “You’re F-ing kidding me!!” I know, great response right hahaha. Taylor had the biggest smile on his face, and was shaking from nervousness and I then said “Yes!” A rock concert would’ve been super cool, but being surrounded by the most important people in my life made it that much better! I’ve been dreaming of this moment for so long and I’m so excited for this next chapter of our lives together. So this is our story. They say if you love something to let it go, and if it comes back to you it was meant to be. This was definitely the case for us! I’m so ready to be a Riedlinger!

The Perfect Match!

Our Story

Photos

Lexi Gibson

Lisa Foos

Sister In-law of the bride. Girlfriend to groomsman- Brian.

Kami Boney

Avah Riedlinger

Friend of the bride and groom. Wife to best man- Freddy.

Chris Hughes

Friend of the bride and groom. Wife of Best Man- Chad.

Janell Feitshans

Childhood friend of the groom. Husband of bridesmaid- Chris.

Freddy Hughes

Friend of the bride and groom. Husband of bridesmaid- Janell.

Chad Feitshans

Brother of the bride. Boyfriend to bridesmaid- Kami.

Brian Fast

Charlie Vondenhuevel

Austin Lear

Marco Garcia

Wedding Party

Q + A

Travel

Things to Do

Registry

. Black Tie: Black tie attire is a formal dress code typically worn for evening events, suggesting men to wear a suit and tie and women to wear a floor-length gown. It's a step above formal wear, with a focus on sophistication and elegance..Please Note: While the name suggests black- the bride has specifically requested for all women attending to AVOID A BLACK DRESS. Please wear other dark colors in formal fabrics like velvet, chiffon, silk, or satin to name a few. Regular casual, and semi-casual/formal attire will NOT be permitted!

Jess & Taylor

Jess & Taylor

J&T