Seasons of Love: Summer

"I wanted our wedding to be different than everyone else’s,” says Jennalyn Jaeger. Summer weddings are common, so she sought to make it a personal and intimate celebration with close friends and family.

Jennalyn and Scott Barnes, who met on match.com, each had been married before. Plus, as she says, “I’m older, I’m wiser, and I wasn’t gonna go bankrupt. We just wanted it to be special to our family.”

Jennalyn and Scott married on July 26, 2008, in Baudette, Minnesota, on the Rainy River—west of International Falls. To play the odds for a spectacular Northern Minnesota summer day—“lush and smelling good”—a midsummer wedding was in order.

“We just love going up north,” she says. “My parents are still there, and my husband’s a real country boy—he likes to hunt and fish and snowmobile.

“I knew the pastor from high school and college,” Jennalyn says. The tiny country church we were married in was the same one I was confirmed in. It just fit.”

Her parents hosted a signature sendoff—what Jennalyn calls a “very German” party—for all comers the night before the wedding, essentially a rehearsal dinner, minus the rehearsal. It included a tent, twinkle lights, catered food, and a polka band. Bonfires and s’mores, pontoon rides, and fireworks also helped set the stage for a country wedding the next day.

Jennalyn walked into the church on her wedding day with her soon-to-be husband and their sons, Joseph and Brady. “We really tailored the ceremony to be what we wanted, so it felt very intimate and like we weren’t on display,” she says. That included a special focus on starting a new family life together, as they joined their boys as brothers.

“I can’t tell you one thing that didn’t turn out perfect,” she says. “I wanted to be there with friends and family. I got fabulous pictures and great memories. Now I have a nice home with a husband who adores me, two healthy little boys—what more could you ask for?”