Heidi + Ryan

Faith is a recurring theme for Heidi and Ryan — from their rst meeting, to what carried them through wedding planning during a pandemic.

Fargo native Heidi was involved in a campus ministry program called Chi Alpha while studying nursing at UND. Ryan’s brother Mark happened to be the head pastor for the ministry. Ryan, an NDSU graduate who was living and working as an engineer in Alabama at the time, attended a ministry sponsored church event while visiting his brother where he crossed paths with Heidi. A er a short conversation, Ryan knew he wanted to know more about her and the couple spent the next few months getting to know each other better long distance. When a new position brought Ryan back to Minnesota, the couple began meeting in person and eventually started dating.

Originally Heidi and Ryan planned for a wedding one year a er their engagement in May 2019. “In March, it became increasingly apparent that weddings were not going to happen in the near future, so we collaborated with our venue to check for alternative dates,” Heidi says. “With faith, we picked a new date of July 11, 2020.”

As the new wedding date approached, COVID-19 had more curveballs to throw at the couple. One week before the wedding, the vendors they had booked for their hair, ceremony music and the DJ all ended up contracting COVID-19. “God was faithful in providing great family and friends to take their place and it turned out better than we ever could have imagined,” Heidi says. “The biggest lesson we learned planning a wedding during the pandemic was that the only thing that truly mattered was the love and support of our family and friends.”

The church they originally chose was not available, so the ceremony and reception both took place at the Avalon Events Center. The Millennium Ballroom provided the backdrop to an aisle lined on either side with homemade wooden lanterns and greenery leading towards a wooden cross decorated with white roses. The same wooden lanterns illuminated the center of each table placed in socially distanced rows on either side of the aisle and twinkling lights lit the ballroom from above. “It ended up working out perfectly, where we were able to accommodate friends and family in a safe and socially distanced manner,” she says.

Heidi and Ryan exchanged vows in front of the wooden cross during the ceremony o ciated by Ryan’s brother, the pastor who had a hand in introducing the couple. In place of her wedding band which did not arrive in time, Heidi wore a favorite ring that had belonged to her grandmother who passed away a couple of years earlier. The couple also made sure their faith was included in the ceremony, with worship songs sung by everyone in attendance during which they took communion as a unity ceremony.

The traditional couple chose not to see each other before the ceremony. When asked what their favorite part of the day was, they replied “leaving the reception for a short time to take sunset pictures with our photographer, Alex. It was nice to step away from the party and get a chance to be together and soak in the present. When we returned to the dance, it was great watching all of our friends and family enjoying themselves accompanied by many smiles and sounds of laughter.” A sparkler send-o in front of the Avalon marked the end of the evening as the newlyweds shared one last kiss before saying goodnight to their guests.

Faith continues to guide their daily lives as they live and work in Rochester, Minnesota. “Our wedding day was peaceful, full of God’s love and presence, and was lled with joy as we got to see all of our friends and family together for the rst time in months,” Heidi remembers. “We are grateful for the pandemic teaching us that planning for the marriage is far more important than planning for the wedding.” [ aw ]