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In an old barn, two high school sweethearts
started a new adult life borrowing
four cornhole boards while dressed with
blue stock flowers.
The timeless wedding rhyme of
“Something old, something new, something
borrowed and something blue,” complemented
20-year-old Teygan Hiemstra and 19-year-old
Makya Harding on their special day, Saturday,
Oct. 7, 2023, south of Alton. Although the
couple originally planned the wedding for the
spring of 2024, a push for simplicity brought
wedding vows sooner.
“Just simple and rustic,” Makya said. “I don’t
know, just more fun. We didn’t have a dance or
anything, but we did have yard games outside.”
Teygan and Makya met as students at MOC-
Floyd Valley High School in Orange City. It was
not until their senior year in 2022 that they grew
close through overlapping friend circles.
“My first impression was he was very quiet,
but confident,” Makya said. “He knew what he
wanted.”
Makya knew what she wanted too. She made
the first move and texted Teygan if he would
accompany her to senior prom. He said, ‘Yes.’
Little did they know over a year later, Teygan
would pop the big question.
However, a smaller question came first.
One week before the end of their senior year,
Teygan asked Makya if she would go on a date
with him hitting the green.
The young couple golfed in Sioux Center on
May 14, 2022, what Teygan recalls as a really
breezy day. Still, something more than the wind
swept up his attention early in the relationship.
“I thought she was very beautiful, and she’s
very respectful,” Teygan said. “She just seemed
like the right one.”
As the summer progressed, Teygan and Makya
spent more time together, knowing their relationship
would soon be challenged by distance.
Makya left Orange City to attend the College
of the Ozarks in the fall in Point Lookout, MO,
while Teygan made plans to attend Northwest
Iowa Community College in Sheldon. Quickly,
each discovered their respective colleges didn’t
fit as nicely as they’d hoped.
Teygan began working for Hiemstra Lawn
Care in Orange City while Makya was in her
first semester of college. Come Christmas, she
did not return to Missouri for the remainder of
the academic year. Instead, Makya took up a job
at Woudstra Meat Market in Orange City, where
she still enjoys working.
Life settled into a comfortable routine. Teygan
and Makya continued deepening their relationship
and talked about a future marriage and
family of their own.
Then came the annual Hiemstra family vacation
to the Black Hills.
A vacation with the Hiemstras is no small venture.
On July 23, 2023, almost 30 aunts, uncles,
grandparents and grandkids filled a rental home
in Powder House Pass.
“We like to ride four-wheelers and ATVs out
there and then sometimes go to Mount Rushmore
and some other little things,” Teygan said.
Makya had been on this vacation before, but
knew something felt different, even as Teygan’s
mom, Becky, was king photos as she usually
does.
“So, she was taking pictures of both of us, because
we did that the year before,” Makya said.
“I knew he was going to propose.”
Teygan’s mother, his father, Eric and his little
sister, Ameyah, watched as Teygan got down on
one knee in the long summer grass of Lead, SD,
on July 26.
This time, it was Makya’s turn to say, “Yes.”
“We went back to the house, showed all
24 BRIDES & BOUQUETS | SPRING 2024