Sissy is Emma’s mom Jan’s best friend from college. Emma grew up with her going on their family vacations, sending birthday cards, and just being around like an aunt would be. It wasn’t until high school that Emma realized they weren’t actually related. Sissy is REALLY Michael’s aunt. Now you get the joke! Sissy spent years trying to get us together. First in 2019, when Emma and her sister Jamie were driving a UHaul from St. Louis to Raleigh. They made a pit stop in Charleston for a late night dinner with Sissy “and some family!” Then in 2021 on Emma’s family beach vacation, Sissy brought up her very nice nephew once again. Joking about our arranged marriage became the game for the week. By the time everyone was heading home, our wedding was planned and our hypothetical kids had names. Sissy was persistent and convinced Emma and her mom to come to West Virginia later that summer to “see her farm and house”, but what Sissy really wanted was for us to meet again. We met at Michael’s mom Nonie’s house, and after some light joking we headed out to Live on the Levee, a live music event in Charleston. The comedy continued with Nonie, Sissy, and Jan making us ride next to each other, sit next to each other at the show, and go on the hunt for fair food together. As soon as we were out of earshot, we both looked at each other, gave a look of sympathy, and laughed at how hard Sissy was working to get us together. As we were standing in line for food, we finally had a chance to talk about this betrothal we found ourselves in. We both thought the other was perfectly pleasant, but neither of us were interested in a long distance relationship. We agreed to be friendly while Emma was in West Virginia, but we did not plan on anything beyond that. Come to find out, Sissy had other plans. On their last day in West Virginia, Sissy asked Emma if we exchanged phone numbers. Emma said no and thought that was the end of it. However, Sissy was not going to let her hard work go to waste. She did a little - let’s call it creative reinterpretation - of our conversations that left us in possession of each other’s phone numbers and with the impression that it was the other person’s idea. “It was all a conspiracy! I guess it worked out though, since we’re getting married and everything.” - Emma For the next several months, we texted sporadically and got to know one another as friends. We met up in Wilmington a couple times with the convenient excuse of visiting Michael’s brother Franklin. I mean, why not throw a brother in the mix with our moms and mutual aunt? After one visit Michael finally worked up the courage to ask Emma out on a real, unchaperoned date. We planned to meet for a hiking date at Pilot Mountain, but Emma cancelled a couple days before with the excuse that she had to drive her sister back to Washington, DC. Little did he know that it was a lie and she had gotten cold feet. On top of that, two days after we were set to meet, a forest fire decimated Pilot Mountain! We took it as a sign it wasn’t meant to be and took a break from talking. In May 2022, Emma went on her family beach vacation with Sissy, where she planted the idea of meeting up again. Michael and Nonie visited Franklin over Memorial Day weekend and Emma made the drive down to Wilmington. We spent the day taking the dogs to the lake, enjoying pizza and beer, and playing board games. For some reason, this time it clicked. “All the while, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Emma. She was HOTT!! She had this blue patterned shirt on that looked sooo good!” - Michael At the end of the night, Michael walked Emma out to her car and…Michael didn’t go in for the kiss. What a chicken! It only took us about ten minutes to realize our mistake, and over the next few days we made new plans to meet at Pilot Mountain for a second try at a day hike.

We (Emma, Michael, and his dog Molly) met at Pilot Mountain on a beautiful Sunday morning. We first hiked around the Pinnacle then visited the gift shop. Next, we came back down the mountain to find some longer hikes along the river and in the woods. To get to the lower trailhead, we had to go out an old forest road and cross a creek three times. Emma wasn’t so keen on water crossings in her sedan, so she parked at the outer parking lot and piled in with Michael and Molly. We hiked along the river and let Molly swim a little, then came back to the car for a picnic lunch on the tailgate. After lunch we found a longer hike through the forest, Michael was really enjoying the fresh air and quiet. Emma was waiting impatiently for Michael to finally kiss her. Eventually - with a little encouragement (“are you ever going to kiss me bro?”) - he finally did! We finished our hike and got back to Michael’s car. Remember that series of unfortunate events? Well, buckle up because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. He got in the driver’s seat, turned the key, and… nothing happened. The engine didn’t start, the AC didn’t start blowing, and the dashboard was dark. The battery was definitely dead. Michael got out the jumper cables and, with the help of another friendly couple, tried to start the car. Ten long minutes later and still nothing. Michael did his best to play it cool.. He just had to call roadside assistance, right? He made the call (from the one spot in the forest where he could get a single bar of cell service) and arranged for both a tow truck and a mechanic to bring a new battery. We went with both options so we had a backup plan. An hour passed with no sign of a tow truck or a mechanic. Another hour passed and still nothing. Three hours in, the sun was low in the sky, and we started to get worried. It turns out that tow companies kept cancelling our call because they worried their trucks couldn’t make a water crossing. The nice couple that tried to jump our battery had come back to check on us and informed us that the park gates would be closed at dusk. Now we started to get seriously worried. Finally, after about five hours of waiting, we got word that the tow truck was on its way! It was dark and we were out of snacks and water by the time we made it back to Emma’s car in the outer parking lot. The three of us piled in and set out to find a dog-friendly hotel. A thirty minute drive to Winston Salem later, we were all checked in and ready for food and a shower. We picked up the essentials from Walmart - toothbrushes, clean underwear, and a bottle of wine - and a romantic dinner for two from Taco Bell, then crashed for the night. The next morning Michael called the car shop and explained the situation, and we both let our bosses know we wouldn’t be making it into work that day. We spent the rest of that Monday looking for a good spot to play ball with Molly and figuring out what we would do if Michael’s car wasn’t fixed by the end of the day. Michael ended up calling his mom and asking her to drive down to Winston Salem to pick him and Molly up so Emma would feel ok about going home. Just as she was arriving in town, the car shop called to say the car was ready - new battery and all! It turns out we needed a chaperone after all. We met up with Nonie, said our goodbyes, and finally made our separate ways home. Our “meet for a day-hike” date turned into a 28-hour marathon of sweat, dust, car trouble, and dog hair. But within the week, we made plans for Emma to drive up to Charleston for the upcoming Fourth of July weekend. We were officially a couple!

Long distance dating wasn’t easy, but it gave us the opportunity to visit just about every town between Raleigh and Charleston. Over the next year we met up for weekend adventures in Roanoke, Staunton, Hillsville, Lexington, Lynchburg, and Mount Airy. We toured the NC State Arboretum in Asheville and went furniture shopping in High Point. We tasted beer and wine, went on hikes, and tried local food, picking up commemorative stickers and magnets along the way. We survived getting Covid on a family vacation and a rainy camping trip with a leaky tent and a thrown-out back. Emma visited Michael in Charleston and met every member of his very large extended family. Michael hung out with Emma and her sister Jamie in Raleigh and spent Thanksgiving in Spring Hope with Emma’s family. A little over a year after their first date, Emma took the plunge and moved in with Michael in Charleston. It turns out it wasn’t too hard to transition from spending occasional weekends together to seeing each other every day. Living together as two adults set in their own ways was a different story. We learned how to communicate, compromise, and focus on what was really important to each of us. We’ve loved building a home where we can host anything from weekend breakfast on the Blackstone for an out-of-town friend to a big family Thanksgiving. Now that we’re permanently in the same place, our adventures have expanded beyond the western Virginia interstate. We took an amazing fall road trip in New England where we crossed through ten states in ten days. We spent a weekend in Philadelphia with Emma’s best college girlfriends (and their husbands). Our first flight together was a joint birthday trip to Las Vegas where we enjoyed an ATV tour in the desert and an amazing meal at the top of the Strat! In March 2025, Emma got the flu and was down and out for a full week. Michael took excellent care of her while also keeping his distance to keep from getting sick himself. It may seem a little silly, but the hardest part was being in the same house but not really being together. It was this experience that made us both realize what great partners we were and that we were ready to commit to it for life! Ring shopping commenced, followed by anxious waiting on Emma’s part. At the end of May, we planned to go out to dinner in downtown Charleston for date night. Emma wasn’t sure if this was the night, as Michael had taken to completely stonewalling all of her annoying questions about when he would propose. After our meal, Michael suggested a walk down by the river. We ended up at the Levee, the site of our very first chaperoned date, just as the sun was setting. Michael got down on one knee and popped the question - and Emma said yes! When we started planning the wedding, we wanted to have it in a place that was meaningful to us. What better place than Pilot Mountain, where our story started! For us, it represents the halfway point between our families and the place where we came together. It’s also a reminder to us that when everything is going wrong, we can get through it as long as we have our partner by our side. We can’t wait to share it with you!