We’re getting married!

The summer before her senior year of high school, Kari was working for the second year in a row as a lifeguard at a local pool. Knowing the summer season would be coming to a close, Kari decided to apply for a second job at the Chick-Fil-A down the road from her lifeguarding job. She was quickly hired and began working as a cashier where she met a cute co-worker named Austin who worked in the kitchen. She was pleased to discover they went to the same high school and had a few mutual friends. After a few months of getting to know each other and harmless flirting, a supervisor began making jokes about the two secretly dating because of how well they got along. The two were quickly embarassed by this rumor as they weren’t actually dating, but denying it only seemed to make it more awkward for the two. Instead, the two decided to play into the joke and started calling each other “babe” when they worked together. Since they had different schedules, Kari quickly found herself volunteering to stay late when Austin was working, or trying to switch shifts with other co-workers so they could work together. After a few months of texting everyday, hanging out together outside of work, and jokingly calling each other babe, the two decided to make their relationship official.

Shortly after the couple began dating in 2013, Kari began taking classes at the local community college where she planned to attend for two years before transferring to Longwood University. During this time, Austin was a senior in high school and was planning to attend Hampden-Sydney college in the fall of 2014 after high school graduation. The couple decided they would maintain a long-distance relationship during Kari’s second year at community college and Austin’s first year at Sydney. Kari then transferred to Longwood Univeristy and the two continued dating throughout college and they both graduated in May of 2018. Following graduation, both Austin and Kari accepted full time jobs and moved into their first apartment together in Norfolk, VA.

As probably assumed, Austin and Kari had already been discussing their future together and when they wanted to get engaged, married, etc. The couple found out they would be moving to Nashville, TN for Austin to attend Vanderbilt Univeristy for his masters degree. With the big move coming up in July, Austin had already decided he wanted to ask Kari to marry him before that happened. Unfortunately, this was during the height of the pandemic and the majority of places remained closed for COVID. Thankfully, this didn’t stop Austin from being creative and he was able to convince Kari that his employer was offering different “quarantine activities” for some fun outdoor things to do in the area. Austin explained one of those activities was for tickets to the Norfolk Botanical Garden. The couple then picked a warm Saturday, packed some champagne to enjoy while they walked the gardens, and they headed on their way. Austin had decided he would pop the question in the Japanse Forest, but after arriving at the gardens, he was dissapointed to see the number of people in that area. The couple both prefer more intimate settings and instead they decided to head to the Enchanted Forest exhibit located in the back of gardens where they could enjoy the moment alone. After walking through the majority of the forest, the couple stopped at a more seculded bench near the water to take in the view. Kari sat down to enjoy the view and Austin decided the timing and location was perfect, and got down on one knee and popped the question!! Kari obviously quickly said yes and the couple took in the moment before they finished walking the gardens blissfully prior to calling their family and friends to tell them the good news!!

Since the couple began dating in June of 2013, they decided that was also when they wanted to get married. We are so excited for all of our friends and family to come and celebrate our unity together so soon. We have been waiting for this day for a long time and it brings us so much joy to know that day is almost here!!