Tommy Astrup and Abby Sekus had been dating for about a year when he proposed to her on the Stone Arch Bridge one snowy night a couple of days before Christmas in 2021.
Kelli & Brandon: Orchestra Hall Wedding Celebration with Powder Blue Details
Wedding: May 20, 2017
Ceremony & reception: Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
Honeymoon: Jamaica
They say rain is good luck. On Kelli Corcoran and Brandon Nussbaum's wedding day in May, “buckets of water” poured from the sky, as they describe it. But the unexpected weather created their favorite part of the day. When the couple entered the Orchestra Hall atrium for their first dance, they found the sky outside dark, rain streaming down floor-to-ceiling windows; with only candles lighting the space, the moment was strikingly beautiful. For décor, the couple kept it minimal, focusing largely on the venue’s grand architecture. That’s not to say they didn’t add a bit of whimsy—Kelli and her dad painted toy animals gold to add to their décor, and instead of a multi-tiered wedding cake, the couple opted for Nothing Bundt Cakes, the same dessert that a neighbor brought over to welcome them to their brand-new home. An atypical dessert also called for an extraordinary cake-cutting, so Kelli and Brandon literally set off fireworks, using sparklers as cake toppers. It was a fitting celebration for a marriage born from a rock-solid friendship. With similar backgrounds—both grew up in small towns and went to Iowa State before meeting in Minneapolis—the two were close friends long before they fell in love. On their wedding day, Kelli and Brandon recapped their story, writing love letters to each other and reading them back to back, before turning around for their touching first look.