When Kristina and I met over coffee we talked about our lives, jobs, college, and men. We laughed over our similarities and questioned how our paths never crossed in our years at UWSP. We talked about her and Brandon’s fall wedding and their love for this time of year. As we chatted we knew we were the perfect fit, that we had to work together and that it was going to be totally awesome. Brandon and Kristina came to Johnson Creek for their engagement session and incorporated Brandon’s love for baseball in a super fun session. They are the kind of people you want in your life, laid back, hilariously fun, and incredibly thoughtful. This week I went to the mailbox to find a little card from Brandon and Kristina, in it was a Starbucks gift card for me to “fuel up” for the weekend… I mean, come on, what bride has time to think about sending a gift to their photographer during their wedding week… It’s the little things like this that show how truly thoughtful, kind, and awesome they are. I am so excited to spend their wedding day with them among many other UWSP alums and to celebrate their marriage in what is sure to be a great, great day! Now, everyone start doing some crazy rain dances so we can scare any storms away and give them some sunshine – they deserve it!
Name: Kristina Golden and Brandon Hemstead
Wedding Date: October 5
Wedding Venue: Ceremony at St. Johns in Little Chute with the Reception at Liberty Hall in Appleton.
How did you two meet? Well let me just say that it was NOT love at first sight and Brandon is lucky he has one heck of a sense of humor or I probably wouldn’t have given him a chance. We met our freshman year at UWSP outside of the quad (was that what it was called?). Brandon was volunteering with baseball teammates for the Salvation Army and I was walking back from class in a scuffle with my mom on the phone. As I walked back to the dorms, Brandon rang the bell in my face yelling “Oh, the old cell phone trick!” Needless, to say I did not have nice words to say back, and immediately called friends of mine on the baseball team to complain. It wasn’t until 2 months later I met Brandon again at a party where he apologized up and down and claims he was only ringing the bell towards me because I was “beautiful” (what a suck up). Whatever the case may be, he still won me over with his charm
How has your wedding planning experience been? Our experience has been tough. We have very opposite work schedules and I have also decided to go back to school — which takes up my free time. This summer is going to be the time where we will be able to get all of the details put together and make sure we are prepared before the big day arrives. I have awesome bridesmaids and mom that have been helping me out in any way possible!
What are you most looking forward to about your big day? First and foremost is that I am excited to finally marry my best friend after 8 years of being together. But one thing we are both excited for is to have all of our friends and family together under one roof. With our families living 2 hours apart from each other, it was always hard to choose where we wanted to spend our free time — whether it be up in Little Chute by my friends and family or head down to Madison where Brandon’s big group of friends and family live. To have one night where we are able to be surrounded by every person we love will be truly amazing.
What advice do you have for soon to be brides? My advice would be to plan the major details of the wedding first. For me, I knew I wanted a really good photographer and DJ so in order to not “settle” for the 2nd best, those were the 2 things I planned first. And I must say, I will have pictures to last a lifetime and more and a DJ that will keep my guests dancing!
What is the best advice you have gotten? I was told to not stress out over any planning. There will be some details that I may struggle over, but that I may be the only one who notices it. I was told to enjoy every moment of planning and go with my heart on decisions — this will be the only time I will experience this. And if I am ever on the verge of stressing out over something simple, I have been calling my Dad and he has been doing an amazing job keeping my grounded
What was your favorite thing about your engagement session or experience with Jenna? Jenna is absolutely amazing. I have asked Brandon multiple time “why did it take so long for me to have met Jenna!” He was lucky to have known her in college classes, but I guess she was hiding from me! Neither Brandon or I enjoy the sappy picture taking poses or being in the spotlight. Jenna made us feel incredibly comfortable in front of the camera. We never stopped talking during the entire session and she made our pictures feel so natural! We didn’t care what our background was (besides a baseball diamond, of course) because we knew that Jenna would make the pictures amazing. And on our way home from our session, I was getting messages from Jenna showing us a few pictures of what we had taken an hour earlier!
In a few sentences describe your wedding day vision or theme? We will be having a fall wedding because I love fall colors. We are adding in the peach and the orange with burlap and lace. It is going to be simple, but hope to still have the feeling of a rustic, fall day.
Make sure you are a fan of Photographs by Jenna Leigh on Facebook to see sneak peeks of this awesome pair!
