Courtship: When Joe Klein first met Erin Turk in the gym at the University of Evansville, he picked her first for his team in a game of pickup basketball. At the time, Erin was a freshman and Joe was in his first year of graduate school for physical therapy. A few days later, they ran into each other in the university social hall, and Erin invited him to her dorm room to hang out with her friends—unconcerned by Joe’s (understandable) reservations about spending the evening with a bunch of freshmen girls. “He added me on Facebook,” Erin says, “and messaged me that he couldn’t make it, but he did slip his number in there.”
The two got to talking via text messages, and a couple days later, Joe asked Erin if she’d like to go ice skating with him. “That was our first official date,” Joe says, “but it turned out that was also kid’s day at the ice skating rink, so we were surrounded by young children the whole time.” Despite the circumstances, things went well, and Joe asked Erin on a second date the very next day.
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Proposal: After Joe finished his physical therapy program in 2015, he moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Erin followed after her graduation a year later. In October of last year, the two decided to go for a hike in Greenway Farm, a large park in Hixson with several hiking trails. “We’d hiked there before,” Erin says, “but I remember we were going this time because all the trees had just changed colors for fall.” When they got to the top of their hike, Erin noticed a photographer taking headshots, and stopped to tell the subject that she looked great.
Little did she know, Joe had actually hired this guy to take their pictures when he proposed. He’d asked the photographer to pretend to photograph someone else while they approached—so Erin wouldn’t suspect anything before his big moment. The couple continued walking, and Joe slowed down a bit so Erin could get ahead. “I told her to wait up for me,” he says, “so she turned around, and by then, I was down on one knee.” As planned by Joe, Erin was entirely unsuspecting. “At least I was wearing cute clothes,” she says, “because we’d decided to go out for dinner afterward. Otherwise I would have been in a pullover and leggings,” she says, laughing.
Ceremony & Reception: Erin and Joe got married on June 3, 2017 with a ceremony at O’Fallon First United Methodist Church (which Erin grew up attending) and a reception on a family friend’s property in O’Fallon—a large sod farm backing up to a wooded area. “It’s got tons of open green space, which is where we set up a tent,” Erin says, “as well as a small pond with a fountain and a barn that we used as our bar.” Not a fan of bright colors, Erin chose to decorate with pastel flowers, lots of greenery, and dusty blue accent pieces.
“I wanted laid-back and comfortable with some rustic touches, so we had wooden trays and planter boxes and used an oak wine barrel as our cake table,” Erin says. At the reception, she and Joe had planned to serve three kinds of beers, but on the day of the wedding, they couldn’t get the tap on the Heineken keg to work. “But my dad grew up in Germany, and he’s one of seven siblings,” Erin says, “so we had to have Heineken.” In the end, two of her uncles went to all the gas stations in town and bought their full stock; they made it back just in time to save the day.
The Details:
Ceremony venue: O’Fallon First United Methodist Church
Reception venue: Private property
Photography: Zoe Life Photography
Catering: Roy-el Catering
Cake: Joan Bowman (friend of the bride)
Flowers: Sam’s Club, Fifty Flowers, The Garland Guy (Etsy), and Blooms by the Box
Ceremony garland: Bloominous
DJ: Nighthawk DJ
Hair & makeup: Mane Attraction Hair Studio
Dress: Lace Bridal (Etsy)
Jewelry: From groom
Shoes: Jack Rogers
Tux: JC Penney
Bridesmaid dresses: Lulu’s
Stationery: Basic Invite
Tent, tables, chairs: Premier Rentals
Linens, wine barrels, dance floor: Grand Rental Station
Wooden farm tables: The Aries Company
