WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!

CHRIS'S STORY: It was a grab-a-date party so I had to have a date for the party. The girl I asked days before to be my date was running so late and didn't reply to my texts. After waiting and waiting, I figured she wasn't coming. I was the only guy without a date. I searched around to see if there was a girl that didn't have a date. Not a single girl was without a date. Then I remember looking at the front door. Two brunette girls walked in. One of them was so stunning, so gorgeous, her smile was so bright. She immediately caught my attention. At the very second my eyes locked with hers, I felt a massive explosion, like something out of this world, in a different universe, happening in my heart. It felt as though time had stopped and nothing else existed. At this exact moment, nothing else existed besides her and I. Moments later, we spoke to each other and on the first conversation we said the same phrase, "what's meant to be will be." The week prior to this night, she got her first, and only, tattoo on her shoulder. It says, "What's meant to be will be." I thought I was asking this really gorgeous girl to be my date for the night but there was something different about this girl, Rachael. The feelings, the smooth conversation, the realness of the moment. Something was very different about Rachael. It wasn't just feeling, I could envision my future with this girl. These things had never happened to me before. As weird as it sounds, it felt like the nature or the universe told me I was meeting my soulmate. We talked for over an hour or two. Then a bunch of us went outside. Moments later, the other girl I originally asked to be my date showed up. Rachael and I were sitting on a truck bed when the other girl hastily walked up to me, kissed me and sarcastically said, "I had a great time being your date".... I turned to Rachael and I thought to myself "oh no...this is not good." I was so apologetic, I figured she was going to leave too but she was laughing. Feeling confused, I started laughing with her. She looked at me, smiled and said "What's meant to be will be." The rest is history and I love her more than the first day we met. RACHAEL'S STORY: We first met at a fraternity party by accident. Neither one of us thought much of it. When I arrived to the party I didn't have a date so I tagged along with my friend Samantha. Sam was the one who told me about the party. She was going with the President of the fraternity and he said he didn't think anyone needed a date but that I could still come. Walking in, I remember seeing everyone with a date, except for one guy; my soon-to-be soulmate. He was SO handsome. I had instant butterflies! Christopher approached me and asked me to be his date for the evening. What could I say?! YES! We had instant chemistry and talked half the night. All was perfect...until....his original no-show date came up and gave him a huge kiss! I laughed and shrugged it off, thinking 'you snooze you lose.' ;) I just smiled to him and said "What's meant to be will be." I knew from that moment that he was the man I wanted to marry. He was kind, generous, smart, caring and fun. I also knew he was a "hot commodity" and that I did not want to spend a day without him. From that moment on, we were glued to one another. Thank you to ECU for bringing Christopher into my life.

"Starting from scratch"; CFCC to UNCW; After Chris recovered from his heart operations and regained his strength and ability to live independently without heart monitoring, we decided to continue where we left off and go back to school to get our degrees. This time, we started at CFCC, taking classes to graduate and eventually transfer to UNCW to earn our Bachelor's degrees. We found a small apartment and settled in for a few years. We were going to school full-time and working, so marriage was not on our minds at the time. However, as we lived together, we still maintained that strong connection and desire for one another. We always knew we had to start out small and grow from there, so everything we planned seemed to work out. A year after we moved here, we bought a German Shepherd/Lab mix and named her Luna. For those of you who know us well, she has become a "doghter" to us. I don't know how we raised her to be the sweetest and most loving dog, but she is perfect for us. She helped create a stronger bridge of love between both Chris and me.

Chris proposed to me at Topsail Beach with Luna at my favorite spot. While we were out on the beach, Chris ran back to the car, came back with a dress shirt on and proposed! We had locals taking pictures and congratulating us. WHAT A SPECIAL DAY!