Celebrate with us!

We were living 3 houses away from each other and didn't even know it! Dylan had just come home from FSU and was living back home with his parents, Stratton and Barb, and I was living with my Aunt Tracy and Uncle Tommy at the time while I was still in school. Barb used to be a kindergarten teacher and she would bring my cousins sweet treats from her classroom! One day as she was stopping by for her usual treat stop, she got into a conversation with my aunt about how they both had young adults in their 20s in their homes who could use a friend. Barb thought it would be great for her son to make a friend in the neighborhood and my Aunt Tracy thought the same about me. A few weeks later we all got together at Barb and Stratton's house for drinks and a bonfire, and that wonderful night created an everlasting spark! We had an instant connection and spent the entire evening talking and getting to know each other. One of the most beautiful things about the way we met is that neither one of us was able to form an opinion about the other person from what they found on social media; we met the the good ol' fashion way! After that first night that we met, we were inseparable! We went on our first "official" date a few days later and the rest is history :)

I had known for a long time that I wanted to propose to Paige, but I also knew that I wanted it to be perfect in both setting and timing. So when she decided to embark on a trip abroad through her university in the Summer of 2017, I saw an opening for something special! I arranged a trip to meet her in Ireland, on the tail end of her trip. She of course knew I was coming, but did not know about the little black box riding along in my pocket! I told her we absolutely NEEDED to see the Blarney Castle, as it is an Irish legend and tradition! So one misty morning, we got in our rental car and set out on the road. The forecast had plenty of rain, but I shrugged and simply thought, "It's Ireland. It rains every day." As we drove, I mapped out what I would say, when I would say it, where I would bend at knee. No place sounded more perfect to me than the top of the castle right where we would kiss the fabled "Blarney Stone!" It was raining pretty heavily and when we stepped out of the car, I saw that her mood matched the weather. "Ugggh this weather is terrible!" she griped. I told her to relax and that the rain would surely die down to a mist as it usually does. As we got closer to the castle, the rain got harder and her patience grew thinner. For some time, the castle was not visible behind the various other features of the grounds, but when it emerged, she said, "What is that?" I looked at her puzzled. "That's the castle, babe." She took a double take and said, "Is that even a castle? Doesn't look like a castle to me." From that moment on, I knew that my plan was not going to work. I was scrambling to text her mom, Shileen, who was expecting to congratulate her daughter within the hour, a message that read "It's not happening here, DON'T text her!" Once we returned to our cottage, I opened a bottle of wine, put on some music, and let the proposal happen more naturally and perfectly than I could have ever imagined!

Well, as you all know, we are gathering to celebrate our marriage that happened on December 7. You all know why we bumped the date but we figured we would fill you in on how our special day went. After Dylan and I processed that news that we were going to be parents, we knew we had to make a decision about our upcoming wedding, at that point we were planning on getting married in November. Together we decided that we wanted to have a small, intimate ceremony with our parents and plan a bigger reception where we could celebrate with our loved ones and where I could wear my wedding dress. We really weren’t sure where we would do this small ceremony but once I came accross the chapel online I knew it would be the peferct location. We found a small white chapel in Reddick, FL that we were able to rent for the afternoon, so we planned on getting married December 7. I would already be 6 months pregnant and I really, REALLY didn’t want to alter my wedding dress so that is why I chose to wear something completely different. December 7 quickly approached and our parents made sure that this day was just as special as it would have been if we were doing things as we had originally planned. Barb made me a beautiful bouquet and made Dylan a boutinierre. My mom bought decorations for the chapel and suprised us by decorating our car with “Just married” decorations. Our pastor from our church in Tampa at the time drove up to marry us. It was truly such a special and intimate day. We ended the evening with a nice dinner and headed out to Georgia the next morning to celebrate our “baby moon.” 2018 into the beginning of 2019 was an incredibly hard year for us. We gained our beautiful son, Logan, who has grown us in ways that we didn’t think were possible. We’ve grown in our relationship with God and with each other. We just can’t wait to finally celebrate our love with the people that have been there for us throughout this whole process.