Jacob L. Loose Park is known and loved in Kansas City for things like its rose garden and its ducks and all the fun new dogs you get to meet. Personally, I love it because it’s got my favorite tree.

Ryan and Zakila married under one of the gorgeous weeping willows with all their favorite people cheering them on in the background. Zakila and I met working for Cerner what feels like eons and eons ago. We were fast friends and that goes for two of her bridesmaids as well.

Zakila is one of the funniest most independent women I’ve ever met, and when I found she’d met a man who was her match – I was over the moon. We talked about an elopement at Kauffman Memorial with a larger wedding/reception in May.

A few weeks later, I got an e-mail that I’ve been receiving more and more these days. Namely, “wedding planning is more stressful and costly than we imagined, we think we just want to keep it intimate. Oh yeah, and Kauffman has an event our date.”

So we pivoted plans. The Rose Garden isn’t the most beautiful thing in the winter so plan B (really, my plan A) went off without a hitch. Zakila’s daughter stood with them as their unofficial “flower girl” as they prayed and were married. Then we headed off to the Nelson for their wedding party photos.

Solange, who? (You’ll know it when you get there)