MATT LOVE STORY: MORGAN AND

Morgan & Ken By Karen Bryant Photography by Kayce Stork Photography & Films

Southern boho bliss

Couple designed special day to feel like ‘a comfortable Sunday afternoon’

Morgan Busbea, 33, met Ken Faucher, 36, in 2015 when both were working for a casino in Bay St. Louis.

“Ken would regularly end his evenings with a stop by my area to catch up and laugh about the day’s events with his friend Denise, my coworker,” Morgan recalls. It wasn’t long, though, before Denise noticed that Morgan had captured Ken’s attentions. He asked for Morgan’s number, and the two began dating.

They enjoyed each other’s company, but as sometimes happens with love stories, their path had its twists. In 2016, Morgan left the casino to manage a retail chain. She moved to Harrison County, and the two decided to take a break.

But when love has a hold, separations don’t last long.

“By 2018, we had decided that being apart was impossible and committed to starting a new life together in Bay St. Louis,” Morgan says. She was drawn to her beau’s outlook on life, saying, “There is no dream of mine that he would not give his very last to help me achieve.” And he built a loving bond with Morgan’s son, Layne.

So, it was an easy decision when Ken proposed on Dec. 19, 2019. He’d invited her to have brunch with him and his mother, who was visiting from Florida. Afterward, he suggested a walk through Bay St. Louis’s Old Town to show his mom the sights, particularly Morgan’s family’s business, McDonald’s Lumber.

“I was telling the story of how we had the business in the family for over 100 years when I looked in the window and saw a huge sign that read, ‘Morgan, I love you so much. You are my world. Will you marry me?’” Morgan says. He then took her hand and walked her up the front steps, where he got on one knee and gave her the ring as his mom captured the moment in pictures.

“Nothing could have been more special to me than having my proposal happen where so many of my happiest memories from childhood happened,” she says.

The two were married on Oct. 4, 2020, at The Balcony, which has since closed. They both wanted a small, intimate wedding, which worked well since the ceremony was taking place amid the pandemic. “Every part of our wedding day was planned with little touches that were personal and focused on making the day precious to us as a couple and as a newly blended family,” Morgan recalls. “We agreed as people of faith that we wanted the person who married us to not only have a relationship with us, but also a relationship with the Lord. We agreed that my father, Dennis Lundberg, was the only choice.”

They directed her father to include some things in the ceremony, then asked him to conduct some parts from his heart.

“This made the ceremony one of kind and endlessly special,” Morgan says.

She also holds dear the memory of her son walking

her down the aisle and giving her hand to Ken. After the vows, a soloist, Kaitlin Jewell, sang the hymn “Come Thou

Fount,” while Morgan’s dad led them in a private prayer.

“For the prayer, we joined hands with our parents, siblings and the bridal party,” Morgan recalls. “As I heard my father’s words, praying for our future, and

Katlyn singing ‘I am bound for the Kingdom, won’t you come with me?’ I was overtaken with emotion.” Other meaningful memories include paying tribute to her late grandmother by wearing her grandmother’s earrings, and the attendance of Ken’s 91-year-old grandmother. Morgan describes her ceremony style as Southern boho. “I tried to make our day feel like a comfortable Sunday afternoon,” recalls Morgan. “We took the idea of a normal,

Sunday brunch in the South and added some extra flair. We served brunch favorites like crab meat biscuits and gravy, shrimp and grits, ham and asparagus frittata, fruit-andyogurt parfaits and salmon-filled deviled eggs — and we even a giant charcuterie table.”

They forwent a wedding cake and instead served different flavors of petit fours. She also incorporated a

60

custom floral backdrop that she designed with her florist. She and Ken were whisked away afterward via a golf cart amid a sparkler send-off.

Today, the couple lives in Bay St. Louis with their teenage son, Layne. Ken works offshore, and Morgan left retail to earn a degree in human services, focusing on addiction. She plans to open a woman’s recovery home.

“The home will be called Higher Ground Recovery Center,” she says. “Higher Ground was the name my grandmother had given to her dream home, and it holds deep sentimental and biblical meaning to me.”

Speaking of the future, Morgan says, “We still have so many wonderful years left in our relationship, but we also had some great time to develop as individuals. I believe our bond is so special because we love freely like teenagers and have all the hope and ambition of a new couple in their 20s, so we are just excited to keep embracing the future together.”

VENDORS Wedding planner: The Wedding Collection, Kerri Pellegrin, Bay St. Louis Caterer: Almost Home, Michelle Nichols, Kiln Hair/Makeup: Ashley Mills, Beauty by Ashley Petit Fours: Whipped LLC, Julie Vignes, Waveland Florist: Beth Cranford Florals, Waveland Photographer: Kayce Stork, Kayce Stork Wedding Photography, Biloxi Beverage Catering: 200 North Beach Restaurant, Bay St. Louis Wedding Soloist: Kaitlin Jewell Reception Servers: Almost Home Catering, Michelle Nichols