Tyler Wright and Jaclyn Jirak were married in a September ceremony. (Photos by Adam Schaufenbuel Photography)
By Seth Boyes,
The couple’s wedding party consisted of Jirak’s sister Jennifer Peterson, who served as matron of honor, bridesmaids Christine McConnell and Emily Minearat, best man Brad Meng and groomsmen Jason Jirak, brother of the bride, and Eric Rassmussen. Goddaughter of the bride, Franceska Peterson served as flower girl. (Photos by Adam Schaufenbuel Photography)
It started with conversation.
Tyler Wright and Jaclyn Jirak met in passing years ago, while one of Wright’s friends was getting married. But it wasn’t until he made a point of sitting down for a meal at Rubaiyat in Decorah, that he and his future wife truly connected.
Jirak, the daughter of Jerry and Gayle Jirak, works at the local restaurant and recalled Wright, son of Greg and Shirley Wright, would often bring his laptop computer with him as he completed work for his business Wright Way Computers.
The two gradually developed a relationship before marrying in September of 2024.
“I don’t usually get too chatty, but we kind of struck up a conversation at one point, and I found out this is somebody I love to talk to,” Jirak said, adding she often looked forward to seeing Wright at the restaurant. “We always had— and still do have — really great conversations about everything and anything.”
Jirak described herself and her husband as straightforward, and both agreed they generally knew what they were looking for in a relationship going in — the couple recalled the concept of marriage coming up in conversation early in their relationship.
“We didn’t beat around the bush,” Wright said.
And once the couple decided they were meant for each other, they began looking at rings — deciding to shop locally at Holstrom’s Jewelers in Cresco. The ring for Wright arrived first, and Jirak took what she called a sneaky approach, surprising Wright with a proposal.
The two were on a walk near Siewers Spring in Decorah — one of Jirak’s favorite sites, she said. Jirak planned to tie the ring box to the collar of her German shepherd for Wright to find. She was eventually able to get ahead of her soon-to-be fiancé, and place the box on the collar before sending the dog to Wright.
Wright said, even though he considers himself something of a traditionalist when it comes to proposals, he found humor in the situation, and he was later able to blindside his fiancé with a second proposal after her ring arrived.
He knew Jirak, who graduated from Luther College in 2010 with an English degree, had an affinity for the written word. Wright wrote a letter to Jirak and placed the ring box in the Advent wreath which sat on the kitchen table. It was a surprise Jirak initially overlooked until Wright pointed it out.
“I got to the bottom of the letter, and he’s like ‘I picked up your ring today,’ and I just stopped and stared at him for a second,” she said.
Still, Jirak said she appreciated the melded symbolism of her ring being placed within the wreath, which is often associated with the concept of waiting.
The couple set a mid-September date for their wedding, later finding out the month is popular for weddings — they called almost a dozen photographers before finding one who was available. But they had an easier time booking their venues. They booked Good Times in Cresco as a rehearsal venue, and scheduled their ceremony at Notre Dame Catholic Church in Cresco with a reception at T-Bock’s Upstairs in Decorah.
The couple opted for an art deco color palette — consisting of teal, gold, wine and cobalt — and they also decided to highlight their family ties and friendships in several ways that day.
They were married on the same day Jirak’s grandparents celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary, and Father Jacob Rouse offered a special blessing to the elderly couple during the wedding ceremony.
“They were 96 at the time, and they had been pretty much home-bound since COVID, but they both managed to show up at the ceremony, which I was never expecting, so it was very cool,” Jirak said.
She and Wright also hired a pair of caricature artists Jirak had befriended while working summers in the Wisconsin Dells area to draw guests at the wedding reception.
“I had people talking about that for weeks after,” Jirak said. “It was really fun.”
Even the music at the reception was selected with the guests in mind.
“I wanted a conversational atmosphere for the whole reception,” Wright said. “So we hired a jazz band to play for the entire reception, rather than getting a DJ and having loud music. That way people could sit and talk to each other and visit, and people who don’t see each other can actually meet and get to know each other.”
In addition, rather than request any gifts, the couple asked those attending their wedding ceremony to write letters with special messages for the couple — sharing happy memories, recalling how they met the bride and groom or describing important facets of their friendships. Wright said he learned many things about the people in the couple’s life through their letters.
“People’s responses were fantastic,” Jirak said. “They were as diverse as the people we invited. People wrote hand-written letters and typed letters. Some people drew pictures. Some people just wrote poems. So we’re collecting all those and we’re going to put them into a book for us.”
Wright said, while much of his wedding day was a blur, many of his favorite memories from that day came while reading what the couple’s friends and family had to say.
“It’s just taking a long time to respond to them,” he said with a laugh.
Find more photos from the Wright wedding and more in week 3 of the ‘Driftless Wedding’ series.
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