We're Getting Married!

We met in 2021 while working at the sweetest spot in downtown Raleigh, Wye Hill. I had been there for a few months when, one late summer day, a new server walked up to me as I was setting up the patio for dinner. With the biggest smile on his face, he said, “Hi, I like your hair!” For the next few months, we shared quick exchanges during shifts and barely knew each other- though almost everyone at the restaurant was convinced Eric had a crush on me. Eventually, he asked me to grab lunch after work, and what was supposed to be a quick meal turned into hours of talking. By our third date, I knew it was something special because we had spent each one talking for 3+ hours over dinner, and the conversations never seemed to end. The rest, as they say, is history! In the three years of dating, we traveled to many new places, went through big job and life changes, and ate a lot of ice cream! Three and a half years later, Eric got down on one knee at our favorite walking spot in downtown Cary, and I had no idea it was coming! Through dating Eric, I learned so much about the world, myself, and what it means to build a healthy relationship based on love, kindness, and encouragement. Eric is truly the kindest man I have ever known, and he has never stopped encouraging me to be the best I can be every day. We are so excited to begin this next chapter together and can’t wait to celebrate with all of you in May!

Everyone at Wye Hill thought I had a thing for Ashley early on. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. But really, the service industry comes with a whole lot of noise, drama, and all different personalities — and I'm not excluding myself. Ashley stood out as the quiet, shy, almost mysterious girl among the rest. I walked into work at 3pm to set up the patio before service, and someone had started up Earl Sweatshirt Radio on Spotify. Ashley was the only other server there. Things started to make a bit more sense. If you don't know Earl Sweatshirt, he's an alternative, underground hip-hop artist — pretty dark, abstract, and definitely not the type of music you casually throw on in the car when someone passes you the aux. He's probably as far away from a mainstream sound as you can get. Being a hip-hop head, anyone familiar with Earl is someone I'd enjoy getting to know. Weeks later, I asked everyone to grab lunch on our midday break. Everyone bailed — except Ashley. Was this a setup? Either way, we walked over to State of Beer for sandwiches, where we ate and talked quietly and calmly. We knew each other from work already, so we dove into deeper conversations and it was easy, natural, and no stress involved. All in all, I was happy that I could prove to the quiet girl at work that I wasn't just the loud, over-the-top guy from NY looking for attention, which was definitely her previous assessment. One great date led to another until we were hanging out and watching the new Kanye West documentary, Jeen-Yuhs, which had just been released on Netflix. In these several years together, I've learned that Ashley and I are the classic case of opposites attract. I'll always find it ironic that the loud, stressed-out server yelling about this and that every shift ended up with the quiet, relaxed girl at Wye Hill. Go figure! We can't wait to share this beautiful day with all of you as we begin the next part of our journey together.