Do you remember what the weather was like on January 21, 2017?
(I’d bet my last buttons the answer is ‘no’ – most people can’t remember what the weather was like yesterday, let alone on a specific day 8 years ago!)
You might take an “educated” guess and say: “Since it was the end of January, it was probably cold and maybe snowing?”
And on that – you’d be completely wrong.
January 21, 2017 dawned sunny, completely dry, and WARM (temps in the 60’s!)
Who cares?
Well, my sister Ellen and her husband Jonathan – because you see: January 21, 2017 was their wedding day.
And because they PLANNED a winter wedding, they were really hoping for SNOW.
In fact, they themed their entire wedding to snow: snowflake centerpieces, a snowflake cake topper, a snowflake guest book canvas, snowflake invitations, their flower girl (my daughter Braelynn) even tossed snowflakes down the aisle instead of flower petals.
But instead of snow, they got a beautifully, unseasonably warm, winter day.
Ever since they got married, my sister has had this idea that one day, one SNOWY day, she might put her wedding dress back on and get those snowy, winter wedding photos she and her husband had dreamed of having on their wedding day.
For 7 years, their anniversary came and went without so much as a snowflake (well, there might have been a few snowflakes one year, but not enough snowflakes).
Until we arrived in 2025 – and my sister finally saw snow in the forecast.
She sent me a text: “Want to take some anniversary pictures of Jonathan and I? I want to put my dress back on and surprise him.”
And so that’s exactly what we did!
On January 21, 2025, my sister and her husband FINALLY got the snowy winter wedding photos they had dreamed about. (Never mind that they also got the COLD – the wind chill was in the negatives when we took these photos!)
Believe it or not, my sister’s wedding dress actually fit her better in 2025 than it did in 2017 (now, how many people can say that?!) And she officially pulled off an epic surprise as her husband walked in the door and saw her standing there in her wedding dress.
(And then we ran outside and took about 10 minutes worth of photos before we all froze to icicles!)
