Just the Two of Us: This Lesbian Couple Built, Decorated Their Own Wedding

Though some prefer to have teams and teams of people preparing their nuptials, Mrs. and Mrs. Whitney Erickson and Heidi Carls, who tied the knot on 10/10/2020 in the backyard of their new home in Victoria, Minnesota, decided to do things (mostly) on their own proving that where there's a will, there's a way.

Carls proposed to Erickson after nine years of being together. The two had already known shortly after they started dating that they wanted to get married, but focused on getting their feet on solid ground first. That meant almost a year of long distance after college and grad school, moving across the country together twice, and finally, settling back in Minnesota together so that Erickson could work while Carls returned to Nursing School. Carls finally popped the question last fall, in Lisbon, Portugal, during a trip Erickson won through work.

The couple originally planned their wedding for about 150 guests. But once the ongoing global pandemic hit, they had to re-imagine the entire day.

"The number 1 thing we knew was that we still wanted to get married on our original wedding date of 10/10/2020," Erickson tells Out. "We have officially been together for 10 years this year and didn't want to wait any longer to tie the knot."

With that one plan in place, the pair set about deciding on everything else. The marriage would happen in their new backyard, having moved in to a home on September 15. That gave them just under a month to pull it all together, meaning they had to be savvy. So, they did it all themselves, preparing and creating all of the decorations. Carls even created their wedding arch by hand. It wasn't until about a week before that they finalized it all.

"It meant everything to us to get married and we feel so fortunate to live in a country that recognizes same-sex marriage as a human right," Erickson says. "We deserve to have the same benefits as others who marry, and are hopeful our marriage continues to be protected and that those benefits and rights are not taken from us during this time in America."

All photos by Emily Theisen of Lite Creatives.

All photos by Emily Theisen of Lite Creatives.