One Couple's Beautiful Barn Wedding in Dallas, Texas

Shakira Hyatte and Travis Bolton had known each other since they were babies—their mothers' families were friends before the two were born—but since they grew up hundreds of miles apart, in Illinois and Wisconsin respectively, they didn't see each other very often. The two exchanged numbers and started talking on the phone after one of Travis' visits to his Illinois family when he and Shakira were freshmen in high school—but their budding romance was cut short. "I wasn't allowed to date, yet I managed to rack up a $300 phone bill due to our long-distance conversations. Needless to say, I got in trouble and we weren't able to further pursue a relationship," says Shakira.

Their paths diverged as they got older, until they ran into each other 13 years later at another family party on an evening cruise. "Throughout all the years that had passed, in the back of my mind I always thought about Shakira and had love for her," says Travis. He asked her to dance and, at the end of the night, "I asked her one serious question," he says: "If I was to ask you to marry me, what would you say?" Shakira responded, "I might say yes." They began dating officially a few weeks later, and in December 2014, Travis asked again, proposing to Shakira by the waterfall at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, where he had invited more than 30 people—including his daughter; Shakira's mom, sister, and grandmother; and the couple's friends—to meet them for the weekend.

Shakira and Travis planned their 170-guest wedding for June 10, 2016—exactly three years from the night they had reconnected, dancing together at the party on the boat—and built the color scheme around Shakira's go-to shade. "White is my favorite color, and the only color, besides black, that I don't get tired of," she says. "I thought it was fitting to have all-white day." Guests were invited to dress in the same color, giving the wedding a bright, cohesive feel with accents of springy green from the flower arrangements and natural wood tones inside the White Sparrow Barn, where the couple held the ceremony and reception. "I remember looking out of the bridal suite window at the flood of white entering the barn and being so grateful for all the people who travelled to be with us that day," says Shakira. "There was just so much love in that building. I still get overwhelmed when I think about it."