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Jenn & Zach

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Jennifer (McKeighan) Barger and Zachary Barger met in college in 2004, but lost touch for a few years after that. But they clearly mark June 16, 2012, as the day that  they reconnected.

Jenn was in Omaha visiting family after a death in the family. She ran into Zach in downtown Omaha on that day, and both believe that it was fate, the fact that someone was watching over them, that put made them run into each other that day. They fell in love within a few months, and Zach’s proposal followed shortly. Jenn and Zach drove to Steamboat Springs on December 8, 2012 to spend a few days together. “We were driving in the scariest snow storm we have both ever witnessed,” Jenn remembers. “When we arrived in our hotel room we got ready for dinner and right before we were about to go to dinner Zach said he had an early Christmas present for me. I opened an empty box and when I looked up in confusion, Zach got down on one knee and told me how much he loved me and how he knew from the moment we reconnected that I was the one. He asked me to be his wife and of course I said ‘Yes!’”

The blissful couple tied the knot on September 6, 2014, in a lovely outdoor ceremony at Granby Ranch, on a spot with the mountains as a backdrop. Jenn’s attendants were Carissa Petersen, Erin Salazar, Alex Barger, Shauna Carruthers, Nickol Valdez and Carissa Lyle. Standing with Zach were Josh Wilken, Daniel McKeighan, Josh Worley, Daniel Wilkerson, Ross Rosenquist and Lane Fattig. The bride and bridesmaids carried bouquets of sunflowers, and the groom’s and groomsmen’s boutonnières and ties echoed the late summer color theme.

“Zach’s mother passed away a few months before the wedding,” Jenn reveals. “Of course we were so sad she wasn’t able to be at our wedding, but she made her presence known that day. The morning of the wedding the weather report said 80 percent chance of rain right at the time of the wedding and everyone was worried. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect that day, and the way the clouds shifted while we were confessing our love was nothing short of amazing. Julie Barger made her presence known by making sure the weather was perfect and shifting the clouds during the ceremony. It’s evident to us from the photos.” Family and friends celebrated the couple as they reflected and remembered their missing loved one.

Zach and Jenn honeymooned on a cruise of the Greek Isles in May of this year with friends, three other couples who were married around the time they were. It was an idyllic and relaxing vacation for everyone!