Apr 16, 2019 3 min read

Katie Anderson and Jacob Tierney both worked for the student newspaper at Buffalo State College in New York, with Jacob graduating a year ahead of Katie. So, after her graduation when she was looking for a job in the journalism world, he was comfortable enough with her skill set and background to let her know that the newspaper where he worked was hiring. She got hired at the Watertown Daily Times in June and they became fast friends, bonding over their shared home-schooled backgrounds and similar family dynamics. By August, they were dating.

Eventually, he took at job with Trib Total Media and moved to Western Pennsylvania. She secured a job with the Observer-Reporter, and moved to be closer to her beau in 2016.

Fast forward to August of 2017, when they celebrated their four-year dating anniversary with a trip to The 1,000 Islands. “I knew he was going to propose because he is the least subtle person I’ve ever met. He packed the ring box in the front pocket of his bag, and had me carry the bag,” she says.

So, she being fun and lighthearted, decided to joke with him the entire trip. As he carried the ring box in his front pocket, she would say things like, “You’re not going to do it now, right? You’re not going to do it here, are you?”

Finally, during a tour of Bolt Castle on Heart Island, Jacob popped the question.

Their nuptials the following August took them back home to Buffalo at Samuel’s Grand Manor, where they opted to have both the ceremony and reception. The bride’s father and the groom actually did a lot of the planning. “I would have been fine with pizza and beer at a fire hall, but my family and my husband are a lot classier than I am,” Katie laughs. “It was gorgeous – much better than anything I would have expected.”

Since both Jacob and Katie are newspaper reporters, they carried the theme throughout the wedding, with reporter’s notebooks as favors, table numbers that looked like newspapers with the headline “Ethically-comprised journalists report on their own wedding,” and even roses made of newspaper in the bouquets – which Katie’s crafty sister constructed.

Jacob’s father officiated the ceremony, which was short and sweet. Jacob has two siblings and Katie has five, and for her, having everyone in one place was the best part of the day. “I don’t see my family all the time, so to have everyone in one place was really nice,” she says.

“Perhaps the most memorable moment of our wedding was the first look. It was supposed to be a romantic moment, where I would turn around and see my beautiful bride-to-be in her wedding dress for her first time. Instead, in typical Katie fashion, my beautiful bride-to-be snuck up behind me and gave me a wet willie,” Jacob says. “Other than an uncomfortably wet ear, the wedding was everything a wedding should be – a day of celebration with the people we like most.”

The couple honeymooned in Iceland, London and Paris, and now make their home in Washington, Pa.

The Details

Guest book: In lieu of a traditional guestbook, the couple provided Jenga blocks for guests to sign 

Bridesmaid dresses: Katie gave her attendants the option of any knee-length dresses of their choosing in hues of either olive, hunter or sage green

Dessert: Baked Alaska and wedding cake

Wedding dress alterations: Laurel Sewing Shoppe, Bethel Park