Wedding Date: December 21st, 2019
It was January, and Kelsey Epp was about to leave for Spain on a college study-abroad program that would last until summer. She and Brant Vermeer had been dating for about a year and a half, and she suspected he might propose when he came to visit her in Europe. Turns out, he didn’t want to wait. She was puzzled when he escorted her to a lovely apartment above his grandparents’ flower shop, then, surrounded by candles and flowers, he pulled off a surprise proposal. Much of the wedding planning was done long distance, with Kelsey in Spain for the first half of the year and Brant in Washington, D.C., for the second half. “The wedding symbolized the end of a hard year of being apart,” Kelsey says. Eucalyptus and pine accented with dusty rose and burgundy garden roses made for lovely florals; pink Depression-era china loaned by Kelsey’s grandma added a sweet touch, made sweeter with Dutch treats from a bakery in Brant’s hometown of Pella, Iowa. One of the most joyful moments of their snowy wedding day, Kelsey says, was as the newlyweds left the ceremony, guests showering them with confetti.
