The Daily Wedding

I find it very millennial of us to have met through a dating app. But, when you're both from a small town, don't get out much and/or work all the time (I'll admit--I'm the former, he's the latter), how else are you to meet someone? His pictures had him laughing with his daughter in his lap, another with his son. I was 24 at the time, and maybe a single father with two kids isn't ideal to most young adults my age, but it was the first thing that really snagged my attention with "maybe this one will be different." I remember that, on my dating app profile, if we matched I asked the person to guess my favorite Pokemon (sorry not sorry). He was the only person to guess correctly (spoiler: it's Chansey). Our first date was an escape room and hibachi dinner, and he asked for my permission to kiss me. They say chivalry is dead, but I suppose that's a farce.

Most people get introduced to family members after an amount of time, say like six months when you figure out if they're "meet the parents" material. I met his parents AND his kids in the span of 48 hours, only a week after our first date. Unfortunately, the circumstances revolving around why I met them so soon aren't necessarily the best, but that's not what is important. What is, I think, is that I met those significant parts of his family in a whirlwind of events, and I'll never forget meeting his kids for the first time and having them in my lap reading them book after book within 30 minutes of meeting me.

I believe what led up to this day was Aaron and I hadn't been on a nice "date" in some time. Sure, we would go out to the bar and drink and talk, but not a nice dinner date. He took me to this Greek & Italian restaurant called The Parthenon. Beautiful place, awesome atmosphere, nice wooden tables and tea light candles. Instead of having just a dessert menu, they have a dessert tray where they bring out one of everything and let you see it for yourself. I ordered the cheesecake for us to split, and Aaron had said, "I'm surprised you didn't pick the Greek fortune cookie." I asked what on earth was he talking about, and he pulled a little white box from his coat pocket and set it in the middle of the table. If you ask me, pretty unique and memorable (and adorable).

I'm sure there's more than one person who sees the save the date and wonder, "Why so far away? Why a saloon?" The first time I met Aaron's grandparents, his grandmother, Freda, told me to have Aaron bring me down to Tuscumbia, Alabama to The Rattlesnake Saloon. Now when I thought "saloon", I honestly thought old spaghetti Western meets Coyote Ugly. Except that's not what it is at all. The Rattlesnake Saloon is a beautiful place, situated under a bluff in the mouth of a cave, located on acreage with plenty of space, cabins, and even horseback riding. Aaron's grandmother knew the owners since they were young (she actually taught one of them in grade school), and it felt right to have the joining of our families take place somewhere that his grandmother, who somehow adored me from the start, suggested for me to visit.