Under an Autumn Tree

Under an Autumn Tree

ABBY & CRAWFORD

Crawford and I have been dating since the fall of 2017. We met while coaching sports at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. I was coaching softball, and he was coaching basketball. During our summer camps, we had a Kona Ice truck come to the softball field. The basketball staff came over to grab some ice cream, too, and the rest is history …

We love the outdoors. 

Crawford’s family has a place in Talladega, Alabama where we go to hike, fish, hunt, and spend our entire days outside. It is our favorite place to be, and we try to go every chance we get. On Friday, December 4, 2020, we were driving to Talladega for the weekend. (Little did I know Crawford had this entire weekend already planned out.) We stopped at a spot along the river where he had previously made a firepit and set up champagne and flowers on a picnic table. He proposed right then. And, my mom and sisters traveled from Indiana to Talladega to surprise me. 

It was a night I will never forget.

Crawford has been taking trips to Jackson, Wyoming for several years. I am from Indiana and had never been to Jackson. So when he brought me along in 2018, I immediately fell in love with the area. With COVID on the rise, we made the decision to have a small wedding. Once that decision was made, we knew we wanted Jackson to be the wedding spot.

We looked at several ceremony spots, but fell in love with The Wedding Tree, a National Forest venue in Kelly, Wyoming. I chose neutral colors and lots of greenery for our dinner table, and my flowers were red and pink. (Red House Flowers did an incredible job!) My bridal party (my sisters) wore rust color dresses to match the fall beauty around us, and Crawford wore his Grandfather’s jacket, in an olive green.

Our families spent an entire week in Jackson getting to know each other and enjoying all the breathtaking views. It was truly the best week of my life! Peter Lobozzo was an incredible photographer—I still look back at our photos and cannot believe it actually was my wedding!

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Advice for Couples 

If you are considering having a small wedding out west, do it! You will not regret it. Our wedding was intimate—everyone was able to spend time with each other and get to know one another. 

Also, September is a beautiful time in the Tetons, so you really don’t need a lot of decorations. Just take in the natural scenery around you.