I was born in Charlotte, and as I grew up, the farthest I ever moved was less than an hour away. On the other hand, Dryden was born in California, moved to Washington state, then started ninth grade at the Marine Military Academy in Texas. When his family moved to Waxhaw in 2013, he visited on holidays and for summer break. During his time in Waxhaw, he decided to join a local boxing and jiu-jitsu gym, where I happened to be a member. The gym owner, Ben Corpuz (who will be at the wedding), somehow knew we would be perfect together. He continued to urge Dryden to ask me out. After a lot of encouragement, one day in 2016, Dryden finally took his advice. It wasn't a formal date. He didn't take me to dinner or to see a movie. No, that is too mundane for Dryden. He decided to take me shooting. That's when I knew this guy was crazy and unapologetically himself. Then, he went back to college in Vermont, and I continued with high school, both of us one friend richer. Even over 950 miles, we couldn't help but talk to each other every day. We got to know each other from a distance. Texts turned into phone calls, and phone calls into hours on facetime. Five months later, he came home for Spring Break. He took me out to dinner, then surprised me with Frank Sinatra and moonlit dancing in an empty parking lot (from bullets to dance shoes, this boys got it all). Not long after, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend, and since then, 1665 days have passed, and I have never regretted saying yes. I couldn't imagine my life without him even before we started dating. When we were first talking, I knew I was talking to my future husband. I even told Paula that after Dryden and I had only been dating for a couple of months. She had the correct response of slow the heck down, and I told her I wasn't in a hurry. I just knew.

It was perfect and a total surprise. We were on the beach, and he told me that he found an area with a lot of shark's teeth and shells. I followed him, and we walked and talked our way to a stretch of sand where no one parked their chairs. Then, we started looking for shark's teeth. All of a sudden, he said, "Look over here. I think I found a nice one." I turned around, and he was on one knee.

We are blessed to have found each other and have the opportunity to gather with friends and family to celebrate our love.