By Savanah Mandeville • Photos by Jeremy Klefeker
Last year, thousands of couples were forced to postpone their weddings amid COVID-19 concerns.
Butch and Jordan Flick of Miami, Oklahoma, were one of those couples.
“Our original date was going to be April 18, but because of COVID-19, we had to make the very hard decision to postpone it,” Jordan said.
After so much planning and excitement, rescheduling was understandably disappointing, but the Flicks were able to take it in stride and even found a beautiful silver lining.
“When we called our venue to postpone and asked what the next open date was, we learned it was the last available day of the season: October 24. That date also happens to be my mom’s birthday,” Butch said. “So, we had a conversation with Mom, and she said she would be honored and happy to share the day with us. It seemed meant to be.”
What’s more, Butch’s mother, Kim, played a pivotal role in Jordan’s life as her mentor growing up. Even after graduation, Jordan and Kim remained close, so sharing the wedding day with her birthday was even more special.
Jordan and Butch first met growing up in the same church, First United Methodist in Miami. In winter 2017, Jordan reached out to Butch on Facebook to share study abroad stories from college. Jordan studied in Switzerland in 2015, and Butch spent a year in New Zealand. For the first time in years, the two friends were back in their hometown at the same time.
“I had recently bought a fixer-upper for pennies and was working on it, so I invited him to come over and help work on the house with me,” Jordan recalled. “We were pretty much inseparable after that.”
Inseparable except for one thing — Butch’s job as a professional fishing guide took him to Alaska for four months at a time.
“A month into dating, he gave me a promise ring and a promise to come back to me,” Jordan said.
“It was tough at times,” Butch said. “We were having to write letters back and forth because I was in a remote spot in Alaska. When I asked her to marry me, she was like, ‘Yeah, if you quit leaving me and going to Alaska!’”
True to his word, Butch started looking into other work in his field and landed a dream job: Charter captain in Punta Gorda, Florida.
The couple tied the knot legally November 18, 2019, at the Ottawa County Courthouse just before moving to Florida in January 2020. Nearly a year later, they finally got to have their wedding day with family and friends.
Although it was in October instead of April, there was no shortage of beautiful scenery.
“We both love fall, and the colors were peaking during the weekend of our wedding,” Jordan said. “To keep it classy and simple, we went with a black-and-white color scheme and let the landscape take the lead with the rest of the colors.”
For social distancing, they moved the ceremony from their childhood church to an outdoor ceremony at Greenwood Springs with fall leaves as a natural backdrop.
They used antique amber bottles and ferns in their decor.
“My Mimi, her name is Marsha, and I collected all of the amber bottles we used as decorations by checking out every antique store and thrift shop in the Four-State Area,” Jordan said. “The ferns were because, no matter the time of year, my Mimi has ferns. I even have a tattoo behind my right ear of a fern because of her. Funny enough, the national flag for New Zealand has a giant fern on it, and New Zealand is close to the Flick family.”
In another special moment, the couple chose to have a salt-mixing ceremony to signify their union. The reason they used salt instead of sand was based on a ritual created by Butch’s mother when they were kids.
“Before we would leave for any big event or a big test or to play a game in a sporting event, she would meet us at the door and would have salt in her hand,” Butch said. “She would make us put our hand out and she would rub it into our hands and say, ‘Be the salt of the Earth today and go out and be like Jesus.’ Jordan wanted to continue that in some way, and that is our wedding memento now that sits inside our home.”
“We plan to take from the jar when we have kids and do the same ‘salt of the Earth’ ritual for them,” Jordan added. “So, the idea was really meaningful for us.”
Kids aren’t on the agenda for the couple just yet, but they do have a dog, Gracie, and about 40 plant babies in their mid-century home, which they are busy remodeling. They also started a YouTube vlog, “Flick’s Flix,” as a way to keep up with family back home and document their new adventures. And, while they haven’t taken a honeymoon yet due to travel restrictions, living in tropical Florida means every day is like a honeymoon.
“A lot of times, our days off are spent on the boat, and we get to putt around, and I get to fish with my wife now, which is pretty awesome,” Butch said. “And if she gets sick of fishing, we lay on the beach and sun tan for a couple hours.”
Life is pretty sweet for the Flicks, but they did have to overcome their first marital obstacle just two weeks after the wedding.
“Two weeks after we got home from the wedding, our house flooded because we are on the river,” Jordan said. “People say your marriage will have lots of ups and downs. A lot of people would call that a down, and, yes, it was challenging, but the way Butch and I worked as a team, I’m not intimidated by these challenges. I have this deep-seated confidence in our relationship, so I wasn’t fazed.”
Butch agreed.
“Even though it was a difficult time, I think it was a good first opportunity to lean on each other in a moment of need and feel the comfort that I think marriage and union brings.”
Weddings are beautiful, but isn’t that what love is really all about?
Venue: Greenwood Springs Event Center
Photographer: Jeremy Klefeker
Butch and Jordan’s Youtube Channel: Flick’s Flix