Maura and Justin’s Classic June Wedding at Osage House
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMILY ROSS PHOTOGRAPHY
emilyrossphotography.com
After meeting at Camp Siloam at thirteen, Maura and Justin spent years moving in and out of each other’s orbit before a first date finally stuck. Their June wedding at Osage House brought the story home to Northwest Arkansas, with black-tie dressing, white roses, masses of ferns, and an exceptionally restrained palette of black, white, and green.
The Story Started at Camp Siloam
Maura and Justin first met during the summer of 2016, after finishing seventh grade, at Camp Siloam in Siloam Springs. Maura had attended the previous summer with Calvary Baptist Church, a week that already held enormous significance for her because it was there that she gave her life to Christ. When she returned with her sister, Madison, the following year, Justin was there too.
They were thirteen and shy enough that very little actually happened. Justin remembers thinking Maura was pretty and quiet; Maura thought he was cute. They became church-camp crushes, spent the week with their friends worshiping and making the sort of summer memories that would become much more significant later, then went home to different schools.
Maura attended Valley Springs. Justin was in Huntsville. They saw one another again at camp the following summer, and Justin’s mother, Brandy, was one of the counselors, but high school eventually carried them into separate lives. There were sports, friends, other relationships, and the occasional Instagram message from Justin.
After graduating in 2021, Justin went to work while Maura pursued college softball, eventually playing Division I at the University of Tulsa. Justin tried reaching out again in July 2022. Maura ghosted him.
He waited until the following May and tried once more.
This time, she answered.
Their first date was May 16, 2023, at Jamie’s Restaurant in Harrison. A second followed the next day, and by July 21 they were officially together. The relationship that followed was largely long-distance, with Maura in Tulsa and Justin working in Arkansas as a lineman for Ozark Electric Cooperative.
By February 2025, Justin had bought an engagement ring. He spoke with Maura’s father, Randy, that April, then spent the next several weeks planning a proposal that traced their history through a series of meaningful stops. On June 8, the scavenger hunt ended at Camp Siloam.
Nearly nine years after they first met there, Justin asked Maura to marry him in the same place where she had first known him as her shy church-camp crush.
Black, White, and a Great Deal of Green
For their June 19, 2026 wedding at Osage House in Cave Springs, Maura described the vision in two words: “classic and timeless.” The finished design was remarkably disciplined.
White formed the foundation of the day, from the linens and ceremony seating to the flowers and bridal fashion, while black appeared in the architecture, typography, tuxedos, and bridesmaids’ dresses. Greenery supplied nearly all of the color.
Ferns were used in abundance. In the ceremony space, they ran continuously along either side of the white aisle runner, leading toward a wall of black-framed windows overlooking the summer trees. More ferns appeared elevated on clear pedestals at the altar, allowing the landscape outside to remain visible through the glass. A large scripted monogram at the entrance of the aisle gave the otherwise pared-back setting a formal finish.
The reception continued the same visual vocabulary. Long tables dressed in white were edged with thick arrangements of greenery, while suspended ferns floated above the room and echoed the trees visible through Osage House’s soaring windows. Round tables were set with white linens, delicate floral arrangements and glassware, surrounded by white chairs. The effect was airy and architectural, with the greenery doing much of the decorative work.
Kindred Blooms created the hanging florals, with ferns supplied by the Valley Springs High School FFA. Rentals came from Alchemy Event Rentals and Kindred Provisions, while Modern Details NWA and Saving Greyce Designs handled signage and stationery.
The Bridal Details
The fashion followed the same classic palette. Maura wore white, of course, while her bridesmaids appeared in long black dresses in varying necklines and silhouettes. Justin and the groomsmen wore black tuxedos with crisp white shirts and bow ties, creating a wedding-party portrait that looked particularly sharp against Osage House’s pale stone exterior and oversized black-framed entrance.
Maura carried a compact bouquet of white blooms and wore her blonde hair down beneath a long veil. Her bridal wardrobe included gowns from Touch of Class Formals and Violet’s Bridal, while her earlier getting-ready look came from Show Me Your Mumu.
The smaller accessories added personality without interrupting the simplicity of the overall look. Her details were photographed against deep olive-green satin: white lace pointed-toe shoes, a pearl-covered evening bag, delicate jewelry, rings, a single white rose, and the couple’s ceremony stationery, finished with a black tassel and scripted monogram.
The morning itself remains one of Maura’s favorite parts of the wedding. She got ready with her bridesmaids before meeting Justin for their first look, a moment she still names alongside the ceremony when asked what she remembers most clearly.
An Osage House Ceremony
Osage House’s ceremony room needed very little intervention. The steep white ceiling, exposed beams and enormous black-framed windows already provided a strong architectural backdrop, and the couple’s decision to keep the installation low along the aisle preserved the scale of the room.
The ceremony began at five in the evening, with Dana Lynn Bailey providing the music. Maura walked an aisle framed almost entirely in green, with the trees outside filling the windows beyond the altar.
For a wedding with years of history behind it, Maura’s description of the actual day is refreshingly uncomplicated:
“All of it was just so perfect and amazing.”
There was no logistical mishap that became family lore and no weather crisis to work around. The day unfolded as planned, which left Maura and Justin free to spend it with the people they had most wanted around them.
That sense of intentionality was, for Maura, what made the wedding feel most like them.
Dinner, Dancing, and a Vintage Getaway
After the ceremony, guests moved into the reception at Osage House, where The Sous Chef Co. handled catering and Mint2Mix tended the bar. The restrained tablescape allowed the room itself to remain visible: white tables gathered beneath the venue’s tall windows, ferns cascading from the perimeter and overhead, with a white dance floor positioned at the center of the celebration.
Music continued throughout the evening, including a saxophone performance by Cello by Austin before Ozark Mix DJ took over for dancing and the photo booth. Savannah Vil painted the celebration live from her easel, capturing the interior of Osage House as the reception unfolded around her.
The couple served a wedding cake from Sam’s Club and a groom’s cake from Rick’s Bakery Weddings, and guests contributed to an Artifact Uprising guest book.
Their departure brought one final black-and-white detail: a cream vintage roadster from NWA Roadsters, finished with a “Just Married” sign and long white ribbons trailing from the back.
Emily Ross Photography documented the wedding, joined by Cashio Photo + Film and Love That Social.
Nearly a Decade in the Making
Maura’s advice to future brides is practical after a day she felt passed almost immediately:
“Make sure you eat! And enjoy every moment. The day flies by so, so fast.”
For Maura and Justin, June 19 came after years of almosts: the childhood crush, the occasional messages, the one she never answered, the one she finally did. Their wedding brought together pieces of a relationship that had been forming since they were thirteen, with the people who had watched much of it happen gathered in one room.
Camp Siloam had given them their first introduction. Nine summers later, it became the site of their engagement. A year after that, they were married at Osage House.
The Vendor Team
Venue: Osage House
Coordinator: Coordinated by Lauren
Photography: Emily Ross Photography
Videography: Cashio Photo + Film
Content Creator: Love That Social
Hanging Florals: Kindred Blooms
Ferns: Valley Springs High School FFA
Catering: The Sous Chef Co.
Wedding Cake: Sam’s Club
Groom’s Cake: Rick’s Bakery Weddings
Ceremony Music: Dana Lynn Bailey
Saxophone: Cello by Austin
DJ & Photo Booth: Ozark Mix DJ
Car: NWA Roadsters
Signage: Modern Details NWA
Stationery: Saving Greyce Designs
Details: Chaelann Trammell
Aisle Runner: Original Runners
Rentals: Alchemy Event Rentals and Kindred Provisions
Bartenders: Mint2Mix
Live Painter: Savannah Vil
Wedding Dress: Touch of Class Formals
Ceremony Dress: Violet’s Bridal
Bridesmaid Dresses: Azazie
Tuxedos: Men’s Wearhouse
Guest Book: Artifact Uprising
Getting-Ready Dress: Show Me Your Mumu
Getting-Ready Shoes: Miu Miu
Bridesmaid Pajamas: Target
Getting-Ready Location: OZ Haus
Makeup: Makeup by McKenna and MU by Madie
Hair: Mel Tram and Hair by Kera Leigh
