16 minute read
FOREVER AFTER
from (614) February 2022
Six glamorous Columbus weddings submitted by (614) readers.
By Jack McLaughlin
↑ Flowers from the wedding of Drew and Krista Stag
Photograph by Lauren Anne Photography
↑ Detail shot from the wedding of Drew and Krista Stag
Photograph by Lauren Anne Photography
It’s been tough for all of us during the pandemic, but couples looking to get married in the midst of COVID-19 have had a particularly difficult time. But the six Columbus couples we’re featuring in our wedding section this issue are here to show us all that you can still have the wedding of your dreams, even during a pandemic. You may need to shuffle dates or swap a vendor or two, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. So during the next few pages, take your mind off all the problems going on in the world right now, and get lost in a handful of wonderful Columbus weddings.→
I met Justin unexpectedly on November 24, 2019, through a neighbor, and found out very quickly that we were also neighbors in the Easton area. Justin at the time accepted a position as Assistant Program Director at Wamo 107.3 in Pittsburgh, and we were initially unsure if a long-distance relationship would work. We continued to travel to see each other every weekend until February of 2020 when the pandemic hit.→
Photographs by Julia Justice Photography Held at The Brookshire (Delaware, Ohio)
↑ Wedding parties beside the bride and groom
Justin Cochran during tosses the garter →
I moved to Pittsburgh for six months, worked and taught fitness classes remotely. Being together during the pandemic brought us closer, since we were able to work and live together for the first time. On October 31, 2020 Justin popped the question and I said "Yes!”. We continued to see each other every other week for another year until our wedding week (it took place on Oct. 24, 2021) when Justin finally moved back to Columbus.
↑ Alisha and Justin Cochran kiss during their wedding ceremony
In March 2021, I opened Swerve Dance and Fitness Complex in Worthington, and Justin is currently featured on WAMO 107.3 (Pittsburgh), 105.1 The Bounce (Detroit) and Loud 102.3 (Youngstown). We are looking forward to going into 2022 as a married couple!
Sam and I met in high school after a classmate invited me to sing with their band. Over the years we became closer friends through our love for music, but it was not until college that we finally decided to date. The best advice I could ever give anyone is to marry your best friend.→
Photographs by Hailey Lauren Photography Held at Our Lady of Victory Church (Columbus) and York Golf Club (Columbus)
Sam and Erin Colachis kiss at their wedding →
↑ Sam and Erin Colachis’ wedding cake
↓ Sam Colachis showers the wedding party with Champagne
Our original wedding date was October 3, 2020. Since I am a nurse and Sam works in the medical engineering field, we decided the best option would be to move the wedding date to a time when our family and friends could be better protected from the pandemic. Our new wedding date fell on July 10, 2021. Despite having to plan our honeymoon twice, our wedding twice, and a forecast full of rain, it was an absolutely perfect day that we will never forget. It was truly worth the wait.
Tom and I met online less than a month after I moved to Columbus! I hadn’t been in the dating world much in the last few years, and I decided when I moved here it was time to really put myself out there. Tom was my third date, and I knew immediately he was the one. →
Photographs by Asteria Photography Held at Columbus Museum of Art
← Faith Sherman Lin and Tom Lin share a kiss
↑ Faith Sherman Lin and Tom Lin inside a CMA installation
↑ Faith Sherman Lin and Tom Lin during their first dance
Y’all, I moved across the country during a pandemic and found the love of my life after only three dates! A little over a year later, on December 16, 2021 we promised to love each other forever, standing in the beautiful Derby Court at the Columbus Museum of Art, surrounded by a few family members and dear friends. It was a perfect day, and we are so happy to be married! We look forward to all the hills and valleys life will bring us, knowing that we’ll always be side by side, hand in hand.
Nic and I met at Southern Tier Brewery in Lakeview, New York. I was on a girls trip for the weekend. Nic was visiting for a bachelor party since his friend had a lake house in the area. Our groups started talking at the brewery although Nic was late (as usual) because he stopped in at the hospital to meet his best man's first son who was just born that morning. Once Nic got there we hit it off immediately! They invited us back to the lake house and we hung out all night. We realized that we had a friend in common – one of my close friends from high school in St. Louis was also a friend of his from college in Long Island. I called her at 2 a.m. and asked if Nic was safe to keep talking to and she approved! →
↑ Irina and Nic Miller during their first dance
We did long distance for a year, he moved to Columbus and the rest is history!
The wedding theme was A Night Under the Stars. The goal was to keep it romantic, simple, intimate and most importantly a reflection of Nic and I. Nic was born in Hawaii so I walked down the aisle to the Israel Kamakawiwo’ole version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” played on a ukulele. He is also a huge Buffalo Bills fan so I opted out of a traditional wedding cake and surprised him with a Bills themed one. I am Russian and Jewish so we made sure the bar was stocked with vodka, and we taught the guests a bit about Russian traditions like the Hora. In general all the guests said it was the best wedding they had been to in a long time!
↓ Irinia and Nic Miller share an intimate moment
My husband, Drew and I, actually met back in college. He went to Walsh University, where a lot of my friends from back home went, and I became a Buckeye at The Ohio State University. When I would head back home to hang with friends, I met Drew. →
Photographs by Lauren Anne Photography Held at Magnolia Hill Farm (Centerburg, Ohio)
↑ Wedding cake, by Carrie's Sugar Buzz
After we both graduated college, I stayed in Columbus and he moved here as well. We would run into each other all the time when we were out downtown. We never exchanged phone numbers, just Facebook messages.
Several years went by and we finally exchanged numbers. In 2018, someone sent me a random photo of Drew and I from a Halloween we ran into each other at Brothers. We laughed and chatted back and forth until he finally asked me to get a drink. The rest is truly history.
We got married in July of 2021 at Magnolia Hill Farm in Centerburg, Ohio, and it was truly magical. The day was absolutely perfect! I got to marry my best friend and celebrate with the best family and friends anyone could ask for.
↑ The bride and groom alongside their wedding party
My now husband, Dean, and I met through an app called Bumble. What started as a simple coffee date turned into a loving marriage. We are both members of the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus. →
Photographs by Amy Ann Photography Held at COSI Planetarium and The Boat House at Confluence Park (Columbus)
I proposed in May of 2020 while we were quarantined. Our wedding was on September 25, 2021. The ceremony was at the COSI Planetarium. It had the stars set for how they were the night Dean and I met, and when we kissed, the Planetarium lit up with a rainbow.
↑ Tim and Dean Allenmang take a carriage from wedding ceremony to reception
After the ceremony we were whisked away on a unicorn-drawn carriage to The Boat House at Confluence Park for our cocktail hour and reception. We had a KJ [karaoke DJ] for our reception who allowed us the opportunity to Rick Roll our entire wedding reception party.
A spotlight on Columbus pets, told by their owners.
When Robin McLaughlin was a child, she looked forward to holding the piglets when visiting her great uncle Wendell’s Ohio farm.
“When I was little, my grandparents would let me hold the baby pigs and I absolutely loved it,” she said.
Then came the mini-pig boom of the 2010s, when everyone from George Clooney to Paris Hilton had one. As tiny “teacup” pigs were popping up everywhere, McLaughlin seized the opportunity to make her childhood dream of becoming a pig owner a reality.
After researching the Juliana pig (also referred to as the miniature painted pig), applying with a reputable breeder and waiting a year, along came Wendell, McLaughlin’s very own Juliana pig named after her great uncle who introduced her to the beautiful beasts.
“He’s an amazing boy and I love him,” McLaughlin said of her pet. But mini pigs are not for everyone, she also noted.
Although Wendell gets along with his canine and feline siblings, some mini pigs (just like dogs and cats) do not cohabitate well with other pets.
“Wendell is obstinate, and I have another boy who wants to dominate,” McLaughlin said. “The only real problem the dogs have with him is that his hooves hurt when he walks on them. But mostly they just love to cuddle by the fire together.”
Mini pigs live a lazy lifestyle, the highlights of each day being sleeping up to 16 hours, moving minimally and eating anything they can get their snouts on. So while the mini might not be an ideal jogging partner, they’re generally easygoing companions. “He’s super chill. He loves to get scratched and he’s an easy pet,” said McLaughlin.
By Melissa Braithwaite Photos by Maddie Schroeder
Neighborhood strolls aren’t the same as with a dog, she noted, because Wendell’s instinct is to eat the grass wherever he goes. This is why McLaughlin restricts him to her chemical-free yard, where he can freely graze.
In fact, pigs will literally eat just about anything, which makes them highly trainable, according to McLaughlin. This is unfortunately also the same reason she doesn’t keep pork in the house. “He’s a living piece of pork, and sadly, he would probably eat it,” she said.
Pigs get a bad reputation for frequently “making a pigsty,” but McLaughlin maintained that, of all her pets, Wendell’s the cleanest and least expensive to feed and care for. He prefers to go to the bathroom outside, unless it’s very cold or snowing, in which case he uses an indoor litter box.
Wendell’s skin, which McLaughlin says is similar to human skin, can be dry and sensitive and requires some extra attention throughout the dry winters and scorching summers.
In July, Wendell “blows his coat,” which is just what you imagine it is: a big, hairy mess. He remains bald for the summer and requires sunscreen when outdoors until his hair returns.
If you’re interested in adopting a mini pig, McLaughin suggested first considering that they can grow to be upwards of 150 pounds, live 1820 years and possess the intelligence of a 3- to 4-year old child.
“Wendell was 8 pounds when we got him at 10 months; now he’s 60 pounds,” she said. “They are ‘mini’ because they are not a regular 200 pound farm hog—but they do not stay small forever.”
For potential pig owners, McLaughin also recalls the time Wendell escaped the property and was disrupting traffic down the street, and the night he got into the flour and tracked it throughout her entire house
“He’s certainly a special little animal,” she said.
By Melinda Green Photos by Maddie Schroeder
She enjoys playing with Emma’s family’s dogs, although she occasionally fights for control of everyone’s favorite: the pizza toy. In their backyard, all the puppy energy comes out as she gallops figure-eights around and around and around …and around.
Nola frequently spends her day at the 614 offices. She loves to visit Editor-in-Chief Jack McLaughlin, and if she doesn’t think it’s time for a potty break, she won’t go. “She’ll fight me until I carry her down the stairs,” Emma admitted. Nola prefers short walks, returning quickly to the office to be with her growing fan club or laying down if the walk takes her too far away.
Will Nola still be one of the cutest dogs around when she’s fully grown? Undoubtedly. That boop-able nose isn’t going anywhere, nor are the ear patches or snuggles. She’s sure to charm everyone she meets for years to come.
For more of Nola, follow @nola_quinn_ on Instagram!
614 Media Group Creative Designer Emma Quinn ended last year with a love story of a different sort: A new puppy that might just be the cutest we’ve ever seen.
In late fall, Emma happened to see a picture of a shelter puppy and fell in love. But by the time she was approved for adoption, the puppy had been adopted. Emma was heartbroken.
“At that point, I was so ready to have a dog,” she recalled. “I was so sad, and I wanted to find the perfect dog that was meant for me.” She began scouring the internet.
“It was a Sunday night, and I think I had sent my dad 40 pictures of dogs I had found,” she said, laughing. The last was an adorable white puppy named Bailey, the only breeder-owned puppy among dozens of shelter dogs. Bailey, the runt of a litter of ten mini sheepadoodles (a sheepdog/poodle mix), had escaped the interest of buyers and was a full 16 weeks old.
“I told my dad ‘I already reached out to them,’ and he was like ‘You need to be a little bit more patient,’” Emma said. But, almost immediately, the breeder confirmed that Bailey was still available.
Later that week, Emma and her father visited the breeder. The puppy ran to them, wagging her tail and licking Emma’s face. “My dad was choking up,” Emma recalled. “He realized this was a good fit.”
Bailey became Magnolia (Nola for short), and, looking at her white coat, it's easy to see why. She’s as white as a new magnolia flower, and probably smells as sweet.
It's hard to decide what the most adorable thing about Nola is. Is it her scruffy, brilliantwhite coat? Is it the unexpected jet-black patch on her rump or the light gray patches on her ears? Is it the floppy snuggles or the big-girl paws? Is it the black button nose?
Yep, that's it. It's her nose. Her round eyes and button nose make her look like a reallife stuffed animal. It's a nose that begs to be booped, over and over and over.
And we get it: crossing poodles with other breeds to get "Doodles" is polarizing. "They're nothing but mutts," some say. "They’re awesome and don’t aggravate allergies!" others say. But, whichever side you fall on, you have to admit one thing: the word "sheepadoodle" is extraordinarily adorable. Say it out loud and try not to giggle. We bet you can't.
“Nola’s definitely a people dog, pretty quiet and chill,” Emma said. She loves to be picked up and cuddled, not really caring about finding the perfect position. And she’s a firstclass bed hog.
