Pere Marquette Wedding Photos – Rewind with Diane and Ryan

Another wedding repost to replace blogs lost in the Great Website Hack of 2023. This was a wedding we shot at St. Francis Xavier Church in Jerseyville (not to be confused with St. Francis Xavier College Church in St. Louis) and with photos of the wedding party on the grounds of Pere Marquette, which is always one of our favorite places. Here’s their love story, in their own words:

Ryan and I met at in Carbondale, IL. My brother Andrew and Ryan were in the same fraternity and attended Southern Illinois University. I attended college at Illinois State University, but went down south for the weekend to visit my brother. That weekend I met Ryan, and he took quite the liking to me. At first I was not very interested in him. He was very persistent, and since my College was not far from his hometown, he asked me to go on a date when he was home for the weekend. The date went well and we continued to talk and see each other when he came home on the weekends….4 years later we are still together and getting married! A long way from not interested!

Ryan and I had a very busy summer this past year from attending weddings, going to New York City, and remodeling our home. The one weekend we had free to refresh and relax, Ryan had different plans. It was a Friday night and we were sitting out in the swing in our front yard (that we bought for our 4 year anniversary) and were watching the sunset. We decided to talk a walk down our lane like we sometimes do in the evening, but once we turned around and headed back towards the house, I felt the conversation get a little deeper than normal. He said numerous compliments about me, and shared some ideas and plans he had for the future. All the while I was thinking in mind head, this is getting deep, why isn’t he saving this for his “proposal speech” not realizing that he was in the middle of it. Once we returned to the swing I went to sit down again but Ryan continued to stand in front of me and said “Diane I want to continue to watch the sunset in this swing with you for the rest of my life…gets down on one knee….will you marry me”? Of course I said yes, and our relaxing weekend turned into traveling from one end of the state to other to share the good news with our parents and family.