We got married, now celebrate our one-year with us!

Both of our families were spending New Year’s Eve in Helen, Georgia (his from Tuscaloosa and mine from Newnan) and my family ran into Zach’s parents earlier that evening. We all started talking about the celebration the town was having that night at the Helen Festhalle and decided we’d meet up again later that night and spend it together. Zach’s parents got back to their cabin and told the kids the plan and mentioned the family had a cute daughter (a.k.a. me) and Zach was sold. Both of our families met up and spent the evening celebrating the new year. Zach and I took a spin out on the dance floor and we all watched the Edelweiss drop at midnight then went our separate ways after. The next time I saw any of the Boykins was shortly after I started school in the fall of 2014 at the University of Alabama when we all went to church together. Zach and I never spent much time together, it was mostly me and his sister Emili having lunch and church dates through the years to keep in touch. Then, out of the blue, on September 15, 2017, Zach asked me if I wanted to go out sometime (took him long enough, right?) and I was more than happy to accept. It’s safe to say the first date was a success and there were many more to come. We officially started our relationship on Decemeber 9th, 2017 and, well, you know the rest!

Weeks in advance, I started planning the proposal to Keely with the help of my sister, family and Keely’s family. It was hard to keep everything a secret and our stories straight, but we pulled it off.  The day before her graduation I spent the morning getting a haircut to “look good for graduation” and then spent a few hours with Keely while she got ready for a graduate celebration at the President’s mansion on campus. She would already be looking nice for this so it worked out great. I left her after lunch and headed to “work” when I was actually picking up a new shirt for that night and freshening up. With the help of my family, we finished setting up everything for an engagement party we planned and then I headed to the proposal site with my sister Emili and my aunt Worth later that afternoon. During this time I kept texting Keely telling her how work was going to try and throw her off.  Her family got ready and somehow got Keely to decide on Cypress Inn (the proposal site) for dinner. Little did Keely know, Cypress Inn was closed, and there were roses and a card for her on my car when she pulled up. She read my letter to her and came around the corner, following several roses left for her that lead down to the spot along the river where I was waiting. We made eye contact. She was tearing up and calling me a liar because I was obviously not at work. I met her at the bottom of the pathway and we walked over to a spot that was scattered with rose petals. I began telling her how much she meant to me and that I wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Once the nerves were calmed, I got on my knee and asked her to marry me. She was able to squeak out a “yes!” through all the tears and emotions. We left there and headed to the engagement party, that she also had no idea about, with tons of friends and family waiting to celebrate.

From the time Covid-19 initially became a big issue around February 2020, we were determined our wedding was going to go through. We heard of many different states implementing certain restrictions and people rescheduling or cancelling their weddings, and we told ourselves we would fight tooth and nail to keep ours afloat and work with the situation the best we could. After stumbling into obstacle after obstacle, a lot of our friends and family unable to make it due to health concerns or travel restrictions, and trying to persevere through it all, it eventually came to the point where we would only be allowed 10 people at our venue and it wouldn't even be worth it to try to have our day as planned if we couldn't have 80% of our guests there. It was at that point we decided to stop forcing our big day to come to fruition and realized we'd have to change the plans. Because we were determined to get married and didn't know if or when anything would be back to normal, we decided a week before our wedding date to postpone the whole event, but still get married on our date and just use our postponed event as a vow renewal/reception after our 1st anniversary. During that week we, along with our immediate families and Keely's Matron of Honor, planned out and decided on getting married down in Point Clear, Alabama right on Mobile Bay. We stayed and had the wedding at The Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa and had our own respective bachelor/bachelorette events the night before. Our florist was able to make some arrangements that we brought down with us to make it that much better, and our moms were like little worker bees getting a cake last minute that morning and getting lunch catered as well. Zach's father was already our officiant so that was a bonus, and his sister Emili found a last minute notary to come meet us to get the marriage certificate completed. It was all a group effort to have everything come together and it turned out to be an absolutely perfect day!