Austin & Brittany // Christian Life Church Wedding in Trafford, PA

Brittany & Austin have quite the story to tell surrounding their wedding day. But, we’ll get to that in just a bit.

Brittany & Austin met on a dating app. Austin had only been on the app one time & Brittany had, on a whim, just downloaded it. Each was the first (and only) person the other talked to on the app.

About a week into chatting with one another, they decided to meet up, in real life, to go out on a date. Austin pulled up to Brittany’s house, got out of his truck, took a few steps up the walk, then turned around & jumped back in his truck. Brittany and her family were watching & were left flabbergasted – what was this guy doing?

A few minutes passed and he got out of his truck again. Back up the walk (the entire way this time) and Brittany met him at the door. He was visibly shaking he was so nervous. Brittany introduced him to her family & when she introduced him to her Mom, she further split his nerves by asking Austin if she could see his driver’s license.

Over the course of the next 18 months, Brittany & Austin dated. And it was pretty obvious, to themselves & everyone around them, that a proposal & marriage were coming in the near future.

Austin is from California, so he took Brittany on a trip to meet his family & show her where he is from. Brittany suspected that something (like a proposal?) might happen on this trip, but Austin kept shooting down any of her questions & assuring her that nothing would be happening while they were away.

One night, while in California, Austin & his family took Brittany out to a fancy dinner. Afterward, he asked her if she would like to go for a walk and she agreed. As they walked, they neared a large suspended bridge. Brittany, being terrified of heights, refused to even go near the bridge, let alone out onto it. Austin coaxed her along and before she realized it, she was in the middle of this high, slightly-swaying bridge. Brittany looked up & noticed Austin’s brother was standing on the opposite side of the bridge, with his phone out. Confused, she turned back to Austin and watched as he got down on one knee.

He apologized for lying to her, professed his undying love for her, and asked her if she would marry him. Shocked and completely surprised, Brittany finally said yes!

So, the plans were set in motion for Brittany & Austin’s wedding day. Together, they planned an outdoor rustic DIY wedding on a family friend’s property, filled with personal touches & little secret surprises for each other.

However, due to an unfortunate set of unforeseeable circumstances, about 36 hours before their wedding was set to take place, all of their plans had to completely change. With the property that they had already begun setting things up on now unavailable for their wedding, they were sent into panic mode.

Thankfully, Brittany’s Uncle pulled some strings with his church & with 24 hours to go, the wedding ceremony & reception were both moved from their original location to the Christian Life Church in Trafford, PA. Brittany & Austin’s friends & family all chipped in & worked their butts off to transform the church into the wedding location that Brittany & Austin had literally never dreamed of. Guests & vendors were called and on Saturday afternoon, if you hadn’t known better, you would have guessed that the wedding was always supposed to take place at this church.

Brittany & Austin: I know the road of wedding-planning was not an easy one. In fact, the last 36 hours before your wedding were probably some of the hardest & most challenging times you’ve ever had to face. Here’s the real deal though: if the two of you can make it through changing the entire location of your wedding with only 24 hours to spare, I’m confident that you can make it through anything life decides to throw your way. Life is never easy, but I can guarantee that looking back, other molehills & mountains you will face as a couple will almost seem easy in comparison to the gigantic amount of work that was moving your wedding ceremony & reception locations. If you guys could make it through that, I’m sure that you can make it through anything! I wish you both all the best as you move down to Texas & start your lives together as husband & wife!

I know Brittany & Austin had planned & envisioned an outdoor ceremony, but if you had to change everything & move to an indoor ceremony – this is a pretty fantastic sanctuary to get married in!

These little flower girls totally stole the show! Can you believe that both of their names are Sophia?

Another reason that it seemed to really work out to move the ceremony & reception indoors was that the weather-forecasters were predicting rain all afternoon on Saturday. A 90% chance of rain. Even as I checked the radar during the wedding day, rain was still predicted from about 3pm on. You can imagine my shock then when Brittany & Austin’s ceremony ended around 4pm and we looked outside to see it was still sunny!

Can you believe that all of these wooden tables were made specifically for Brittany & Austin’s wedding, by hand? What an amazing work of love!

I always love listening to the maid of honor & the best man giving their toasts, but I really have to hand it to Austin’s best man (his older brother) – he had one of the very best speeches I have ever heard!

..complete with a “poem” during which he played a short clip of a bunch of videos of Austin as a little kid dancing (everyone was literally rolling on the floor laughing)..

..and then he proceeded to ask all of Austin’s old girlfriends (if there were any in attendance) to please bring up their keys to Austin’s house as he is now a married man. About 30 ladies (including immediate family members of the bride) came up to lay keys at Austin’s place. It was absolutely hysterical!

Huge shout-out and thank you to the amazing team of vendors, as well as friends & family, who helped make Austin & Brittany’s wedding day absolutely perfect!

Ceremony & Reception Venue: Christian Life Church in Trafford, PA
Catering, Cake, & Cookies: Family & Friends
Bridal Gown Retailer: David’s Bridal
Bridal Gown Alterations: Chris & Kadi’s Country Closet in Irwin, PA
Hair & Makeup Artist: Devyn
Groom & Groomsmen Attire: Men’s Wearhouse
Florist: Greensburg Floral in Greensburg, PA
Photographer: Kara Abbey Photography in Irwin, PA