We're Getting Married!

Parker and I both went to Georgia College & State University. So, yes, the short story is that we met in college, but the details are what make our story my favorite one to tell. We both lived at Magnolia Park Apartments sophomore through senior year. His apartment was where the orange is on the map and mine was where the heart is. Yep, right across from each other. For three whole years. We even had mutual friends through the dance team I was on, but we didn’t know each other. Speaking of the dance team, my teammate and sweet friend, Lizzie, told me she wanted me to meet one of her friends. She thought we had a lot in common and could see us getting along. This was early junior year and I was not interested in dating anyone at the time so I never took her up on it. Flash forward to March of senior year, Lizzie invited me to hangout with some friends at the apartment building across from mine. When I walked in, I immediately asked Lizzie who the beautiful human making drinks for everyone was. She said, “THAT’S THE GUY I WAS TELLING YOU ABOUT LAST YEAR!” So, Lizzie introduced us and we quickly realized that we did, in fact, have a lot in common. Two of those things being Lord Huron and hard root beer. We started dating in April with only two weeks left before graduation. Parker took me to Bartram Forest where we Enoed, I taught him a few swing dancing moves and we escaped a rattlesnake on our hike back through the brush. We hung out at Buffingtons, a bar downtown where local bands played and we discovered our mutual love for live music. Parker drove me to Atlanta from Milledgeville to eat at a vegan restaurant and to watch stand up comedy at The Laughing Skull. We took turns queuing songs we wanted to share with each other on the drive to and from Atlanta. I got to go to Parker’s last band concert and see him play the trombone next to Jeff Coffin from Dave Matthews Band, Parker’s all-time favorite. We went to the chalk mines, our apartment’s pool and graduation parties together. It still amazes me how much fun we were able to fit in such a short amount of time, but of course, graduation day eventually came. Parker had landed a four month long internship in Idaho and had to leave for it a few days after graduation. The night before he left, he picked me up from my sister’s house, got to meet my family and gave the huskies toys he had made for them. He took me to the famous Jackson Street Bridge in Atlanta followed by pizza and bubble tea. At the end of the night, in the bubble tea place’s parking lot, we talked about how crazy it all was. We both knew we had something special, but he was about to go to Idaho for his internship and I was going to London for mine. Where would we go from there? Parker proceeded to give me the sweetest, most thoughtful gift. He gave me lavender envelopes and showed me some orange ones he got as well. If you know me, you know my love for lavender and if you know Parker, you know his love for orange. The colored envelopes were so that we could write letters to each other that summer. I would know it was from him when I saw orange and he would know it was from me when he saw lavender. No labels, just communication through phones, different time zones and old school snail mail. -Hey siri, play ‘May I Have This Dance? by Francis and the Lights.’ Before I had even left for my internship, we planned a cross country roadtrip together. I would fly out to Idaho and we’d spend 10 days driving back to Atlanta, stopping at national parks along the way. We got to share so many songs with each other, including 'May I Have This Dance?' We even got to discover a few new ones, too. The roadtrip was absolutely incredible, to say the least. Parker and I learned so much about life and each other. We’ve been enjoying the ride together ever since and are so excited to spend forever discovering life’s little treasures and songs along the way. We hope you’ll join us for our secret garden wedding celebration!