Sarah and Brandon met 7 years ago when they were both training to be EMTs - he is a firefighter and she is a Paramedic. As they finally prepared to celebrate their marriage, COVID-19 hit and put a wrench in all of their plans. They were forced to cut down their guest list from 200 of their loved ones down to 20 and lost several vendors. Then 2 weeks before their wedding, their venue notified them that they were unable to host their wedding due to the state’s restrictions. The week of their wedding, despite every single day being sunny and 70 degrees, the forecast suddenly changed their wedding day Saturday to “rainy”. Despite all of these challenges, you would have never known behind the bride’s glowing smile and the way the groom looked at her bursting with love. In their vows to each other, Sarah mentioned that at one point during their wedding planning, she thought “is this the universe telling us not to get married?” and Brandon responded with “No, this is the universe telling us we can get through anything together.”

With one week until their wedding and no venue, they found The Historic Farmhouse 14, a hidden gem of a venue located in the Puyallup valley, nestled at the base of Mount Rainier. The venue had a reputation for “rescuing” weddings that had faced challenges with their original venue and because of that, the venue owners (Amy and Derrick) put their heart and soul into helping couples make their wedding vision a reality. In one week, they were able to help Sarah and Brandon pull together a gorgeous wedding that encompassed the rustic, backyard BBQ vibe that they always dreamt of.

The couple said their vows in front of 20 of their closest friends and family on the front lawn of the farmhouse and celebrated over pizza and beers in the side yard of the Historic Farmhouse. The reception felt perfectly “full” but still intimate and there was no shortage of custom hand sanitizers! The groomsmen brought little touches of their firefighter life and Sarah threw in a few little firefighter-related surprises for Brandon throughout the day, including a surprise firetruck entrance by her ring bearer nephew. Their beloved fur baby, Josie also made an appearance. The couple closed out the night by slicing up a piece of freshly-cooked French Toast as their “wedding cake”, something they’ve done on every single anniversary since their first date where they shared french toast together.

I am excited to share this beautiful wedding and love story with you and your readers, not only because of the beautiful details of the day, but also because of this couple's amazing and inspirational story.