A look back: Remembering a beautiful bride and a beautiful wedding

I was heartbroken to learn of the devastatingly untimely passing of one of our beautiful brides, Holly Kensicki Lind on March 1, 2011. We planned and designed Holly and Keith's wedding in September 2007 just as Holly was recovering from a series of surgeries and treatments to fight the cancer with which she was diagnosed shortly before her engagement to her grade school sweetheart Keith. It was a pleasure to work with her and her lovely family and I always marveled at her strength, fortitude and positivity throughout the planning process. On her wedding day, Holly was beaming, healthy and strong and my team and I loved being part of an amazing celebration.

I am so lucky that part of my job is to get to know my clients intimately and personally, to know their families and their stories, to share a time of excitement and joy and to be a partner in creating one of the most significant days in their lives. As much relief as I feel when we have successfully completed a beautiful wedding, I truly miss the daily interactions with my brides and grooms. They are as much a part of my life as I am a part of theirs.

In the years since Holly and Keith's wedding, I have shown examples of their menus, programs, flowers, cake and lighting to dozens of clients. I have told the story of how Holly's sister's invitation was tampered with somewhere in the post office and instead of receiving the beautiful invite inside, she received an envelope full of magazine clippings and fraudulent credit cards. I have altered the way I order chocolate covered pretzels for a candy station since the 8 pounds of pretzels we ordered for their wedding was so much that it came in a garbage bag!

I remember their wedding, and all of my clients' weddings, much like I remember my own - a blur of excitement, a whirlwind of activity, a rush of joy and, when it is over, a satisfying sigh of relief. I remember Holly as a beautiful bride on her first day of being someone's wife, as she basked in the glow of her own happiness and the happiness of others. I wanted to share these photos with you so that you, too, can know her [or remember her] just the same.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Keith and to their daughter Avery.












Thanks to Sarah Merians for retrieving these photos from her archives for this post.