Valerie & Josh’s Wedding at The Loft at 132

Valerie and Josh crafted a gorgeous, elegant, and classic wedding day to celebrate their love at The Loft at 132. At their outdoor ceremony, surrounded by family and friends (and gorgeous florals), Josh and Valerie shared their personal vows as Josh’s dad looked on as the officiant. They signed the wedding license right then and there to make it officially official!

This was an absolutely beautiful day celebrating the love of two people who have traveled much of life together. Valerie and Josh met through mutual friends in high school at a track meet. Since they were both on the track team, they got to spend a good amount of time together. And after hanging out as friends, they started dating.

Their first date was at a movie theater. They bought a large popcorn at two slushies, which has now become a tradition for all of their movie dates. And when Valerie went off to college at UW-LaCrosse, Josh followed, both of them running for UWL on the track and cross-country teams.

(Fun fact: since John and I met at UW-LaCrosse, we were able to share our mutual love for the school and beautiful area with Valerie and Josh. We even did their engagement session there!)

The Proposal – Josh’s perspective

I first made a lame excuse to make it back to Madison. Here I secretly got a ring. Just a nice simple ring even though I knew Valerie would want something extra shiny. The following weekend Valerie was coming up to visit me in Green Bay. Throughout the week I went and scoped out some good locations around the area and settled on the Green Bay Botanical Garden.

The day before I went and spent an hour or two wandering around the garden looking for a good spot. It was early May so I needed to find an area that had a lot of flowers blooming.

When Valerie got up there, one of our mutual friends suggested going to the garden just for fun. (This is where the plan takes effect.)

We were wandering the garden on a Friday night with two of our friends taking pictures of each other. Once we got to the location (which all 3 of us knew – except Valerie, of course), I made her look the other way at a cool hobbit house that was built into the ground.

By the time she turned back around, I was already on one knee and had the ring open (obviously it all couldn’t go perfectly… The ring was upside down).

She had a dumbfounded look on her face and honestly, I don’t think I ever actually asked her if she would marry me (I was pretty nervous).

After she finally figured out it was not a joke she said yes and we celebrated. Early the next week we both went down to Madison to design Valerie’s perfect ring together!

The Proposal – Valerie’s Perspective

I was up in Green Bay to visit Josh and one of our mutual friends suggested we go to a botanical garden for a night out. I agreed as I thought it sounded fun.

We got there and Josh actually made me pay for both of our tickets. (I found out afterward that the lady selling tickets gave him his ticket the day before, and he didn’t want her to ask him why we came back again and spoil it).

We walked around and saw a beautiful arch with plants on it. Our good friend Kaitlyn suggested that we get a picture together and I agreed. Josh did as well (and I should have known something was fishy, as he usually says no to pictures).

We went to take the picture and Josh told me to look at something. I turned around to look, and when I looked back at him, he was down on one knee.

He had the ring upside down, but he didn’t say anything to me, so I was very confused. I honestly thought he was joking. I looked at him and asked him many times if he was joking. I also asked our two friends that came along if he was joking, and they laughed and said – no he is serious.

Josh then said, “Is this a yes?” And I said, “Oh yeah, it’s a yes!”

We went out to dinner to celebrate that night. On Monday, we went to a jeweler (where his mom got her ring designed) and designed a ring together.

The Vendors

A big shout out to these wonderful vendors for making Valerie & Josh’s elegant wedding at The Loft at 132 so beautiful. (Especially Valerie & Josh for their DIY hanging florals! They made those all by themselves and did an amazing job! AAAAND Valerie’s aunt for the MOST AMAZING CAKE I think I’ve ever seen… seriously, check it out!)

Venue: The Loft at 132
Bridal Boutique (ceremony dress): White Dress Bridal
Bridal Boutique (dancing dress): Premiere Couture VIP
Floral: Ovans Peony Farm
Dessert: Incredible cake by Valerie’s aunt, Kim St. Martin
DJ & Photobooth: Dream Day Entertainment
Hair Artist: Dobre Vlasy Salon
Makeup Artist: Skin & Out
Bridesmaid Wear: Azazie
Men’s Wear: Indochinno
String Quartet: Camerata String Quartet
Officiant: Josh’s dad, Lee
Photography & Films: The McNiels

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