Julie Holt has a flair for turning ordinary circumstances into extraordinary situations.

A second-grade teacher by trade, Holt is a self-professed “funmeister.”

“That’s my job,” Holt said with a laugh. “If it’s at all down, or not going to work out, I will turn it into a game, or a show if possible.”

Holt was in her element when it came time to put together an impromptu bridal shower for her future daughter-in-law, Jessica Trout.

“We were sitting around a campfire, we invited her family over, and I had the cards that I was going to hang on the trees the next morning in my sweatshirt,” Holt said. “I told her we figured there weren’t going to be that many people coming, and I know we had to cancel the original plans, but you’re getting a shower. One by one, I pulled out the signs and tell her she’s going to have the first-ever drive-thru wedding shower.

“She was shocked. It was the sweetest thing. And it was so special for my son, too. He wasn’t going to be at the shower, but to see both of them there, and have him experience that with her was really sweet. It was a really special moment.”

Homecoming

Trout, who is set to marry Caleb Holt on April 24, had initially planned a wedding with roughly 120 guests in Lancaster. But those plans changed amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“Caleb and I actually moved out to Pittsburgh in November,” said Trout, who is from Saylorsburg. “I’m a nurse here at a hospital, and he’s a worship leader at a church. Obviously, everything changed. The bridal shower was canceled, and I’ve just been coming to terms with it, and trying to be OK with everything, even though we’re still upset.

“We were not going to come home, but I think we both just kind of needed it. He asked his mom to just kind of plan something special, like a family dinner, and she could open the gifts they got for us.”

Trout and her fiancé were able to get away for a few days on the weekend at the end of March, and enjoyed the spontaneous get-together.

“They have a nice U-shaped driveway that you can come in one end and go out the other,” Trout said of Holt’s property. “And they just dropped off gifts for us. It was a rainy day, so people just came out in their cars and handed us gifts through the window and we just talked for a little bit. It was really special.”

Coming together

Not only did Trout get to enjoy the event with her fiancé and immediate family, the unique circumstances also allowed for more friends and relatives to attend than what would have originally been possible.

“We had friends driving from probably over a half-hour just to come and drive through the driveway and maybe talk for five minutes, not even,” Trout said. “It was raining in their car windows, but it was just so nice to see them, and just their willingness to come out and drive a half-hour or an hour for a five-minute conversation.”

Given lemons, Holt made lemonade.

“She made hundreds of feet of garland out of a shower curtain because she knew it was going to rain, and it went all the way around the driveway,” Trout said. “She had the tent decorated with our names, and flowers, and everything.

“She just really went all-out and blessed us. We were so shocked. We were expecting a family dinner, and we would have been happy with that. But it was just so over-the-top and fun. We would sit inside because it was raining, and each time a car came up we all went running with our umbrellas out to the tent. It was almost like Christmas morning running outside.”

‘Full circle’

With her original wedding plans set aside, Trout will now have a ceremony with just her immediate family in her parents’ barn.

But the small, intimate gathering likely won’t be unlike what she has experienced so far if Holt has a say.

“We’re trying to think of ways to make it special,” said Holt. “But they got engaged on our property, too. My husband and I worked like mad to turn our back deck kind of into a wonderland; we built the structure with lights, and rose petals, and flowers and pictures. Her family was sitting there, and our family was sitting there, and Caleb walked her up the stairs of the back deck and we watched the whole thing happen.

“It’s just kind of funny that it all came full circle, that she got engaged on our property. Caleb wanted his family close, and her family to be there for that moment. And that makes it even more special. So we got to do the back deck for her engagement, and the front lawn for the shower, so it’s just really special.”

In a world that’s been pulled apart, Holt found a way to bring her family together.

“It was just such a sweet experience, and kind of what my heart needed,” said Trout. “I didn’t know I needed it, but I really did just to come home and have something special happen.”