Wedding bells and country songs

What Kendal Gaston thought would be a night out with friends turned out to be the night she met her future husband.

A friend had asked Gaston if she wanted to go listen to an Iowa guy who had been singing in Nashville for several years and recently returned, named Collin Gaston. She agreed, and after his set the two began talking and planned their first date. It only took one more date for her to know he was the one for her.

Getting to know you

'I knew after the second date,” she said with a smile. 'I just had this feeling ... I just knew.”

Collin was still living in Nashville while they were dating, but she said the distance did not scare her off because she was confident they could make it work. Not many others did, however.

After nine months of dating, the two were engaged on Sept. 29, 2017. At that point, Collin moved back to Iowa and began teaching third grade in Fairfield. Gaston works as a cosmetologist at Simply Spa.

Planning her whole life

Almost immediately after the engagement Gaston began planning the neuptuals. Well, she had been planning her wedding ever since she was a child, but once Collin dropped down to one knee, it became a reality and her childhood plans changed.

'I never did anything I thought I would, so it was crazy how things were different,” she said with a laugh.

Gaston had an entire Pinterest board dedicated to her wedding. But her desite for a simple black and white affair bloomed into a color pallet of maroon, gold and sparkles.

Saying yes to the dress

Much like her wedding colors, Gaston soon discovered her childhood dream of a Cinderella-style ballgown would no longer fit her taste. Instead, she opted for the complete opposite in a mermaid style dress, which she never thought she would like.

'I got it in 15 minutes,” she said. 'It was the very first dress I put on.”

Gaston had never really liked the mermaid style dress. Once at the salon, she decided to try one on first, just to get it out of the way. She fell in love as soon as it was on.

Her entourage at the bridal salon encouraged her to try on more dresses but she knew with certainty this was the one.

Venue and reception

The Gastons had their heart set on a September wedding, but with plans to invite 400 individuals to the wedding, they needed space that would fit everyone. That was the KC Hall.

'We really wanted a date in September, but it (the hall) was full so we just went with a date in October,” she said.

She said she wanted to get married in fall because she thought the weather would be just right. For the ceremony, the couple opted for the United Presbyterian Church because Gaston's sister was married there and she loved the look of the stained glass windows.

Decorating for the day

Gaston wanted the wedding to fit both her and Collin's style. In honor of her country crooner, the reception was Nashville themed. 'Since he did move here from Nashville, we did the entire bar Nashville themed,” she said.

They decorated with his guitar, sheet music, cowboy boots and custom signs. She said it was important to her to do something special with music for him because music is what brought them together. 'He had some ideas, but I didn't take all of them,” she said with a laugh about her then fiance's involvement with the planning and decorating.

Aside from Gaston's bouquet and Collin's boutonniere, the bride-to-be and family members created their own decorations.

Overall, the planning process was relatively smooth sailing for Gaston. 'I was very calm about it,” she said, of the decorating and planning process. 'I wanted to start planning for it little-by-little because we did all the decorating ourselves.”

Wedding bells

On the day of the wedding, Gaston woke up with no nerves but once she started to get ready, she felt that emotion shifting. Her groom, on the other hand, woke up with a stomach bug and was sick all through the wedding and reception.

'He couldn't eat anything during the reception; it was awful,” she said, shaking her head with a smile.

But as their vows stated, they enjoyed the day in sickness and in health.

While most couples wait to see each other at the altar, The Gastons opted to do a 'first-look” instead.

Collin was blindfolded and waiting outside for his bride-to-be, who came out in her dress to surprise him.

'He got very teary and it was a special moment,” she said. 'That was my favorite part of the day.”

The couple wed on Oct. 13, 2018, at the United Presbyterian Church in Washington in front of 400 guests with eight attendants on each side, two flower girls and two ring bearers. She cried as her dad and grandpa walked her down the aisle where her groom was waiting and already crying.

'It broke my heart in a good way,” she said of seeing him cry. 'I didn't even know how to react; my emotions got the best of me.”

During the ceremony, a friend of the couple sang and Kendal and Collin participated in a sand ceremony where they each poured a different color of sand into a jar to signify their lives merging together as one.

Advice for new brides

After just over three months of marriage, Kendal said that looking back, the only thing she would change would be to make the engagement shorter because she felt like she was constantly waiting for the day to arrive.

'I felt like I was constantly waiting, like when is the day going to be here,” she said. 'I would tell anybody that's engaged to take your time. Material things are not everything. Do not spend a lot of money because at the end of the day, nobody is going to be all about the decorations and the money you put into it, they're going to be there for you two.”

She said her biggest piece of advice to new brides is just to enjoy the day and savor the moments because they will be gone so fast.

'Take time and enjoy the day,” she said. 'Do not stress about the little things because no matter what, the day is going to happen.”