Welcome to our wedding website. We cannot wait to share our special day with you - especially after our date change. We're sharing this website as a convenient and easy way to interact with all of the details that lead up to our wedding. You can read each of our perspectives on how we met, get to know our bridal party, and find some of our favorite things to do in the Jacksonville area. We hope you enjoy looking through all of the information! We want to thank you for your love and support. We are so incredibly excited to share this day with you and look forward to celebrating you!

Let her start by saying she prayed diligently and continuously for God to show her who He wanted for her partner for life. God answered this prayer in an unpredictable way. On August 25, 2015 after reading a great book from her Atlanta pastor, Andy Stanley. She decided to take a year off dating to discover God's plan. During this time, she felt God asking her to leave her family and friends, her job, and her life in Atlanta for a brave, new adventure to be a middle school science teacher for two years with Teach for America in Jacksonville. She trusted and took the leap of faith to do just that! August 26, 2016, her dating-free year was complete! (She still has the calendar reminder in her phone as proof!) Knowing no one outside of her TFA JAX family, she was ready to meet new people. She opened her computer after school on August 29 and joined Match.com. Less than 48 hours later, she received a brief but polite message from Matt. She played it cool and responded after Labor Day asking him about his long weekend. He quickly talked about FSU football (hoping she wasn't a Gator fan). She said she doesn't have a favorite collegiate team, but her heart lies with the Falcons (PRAYING he wasn't a Saints fan). After the deal-breaker questions were asked and adequately answered, the messages flowed naturally. They had their first date at Flying Iguana in Atlantic Beach. They met outside the restaurant, and she thought Matt was really cute and charming. Their conversations were easy and engaging - helps when the guacamole is handmade at the table. Laurel could tell that Matt was really nervous. He thought the Falcons were playing the Saints on a Wednesday and even tried to take a drink from his glass after he already put his napkin in it. :D Laurel knew that his ability to laugh at himself is a quality that she really admired, and she knew a second date was a must. From there, it has been the road to happily ever after!

He'll never forget that first date and wondering what she must have thought... "football on a Wednesday?!" Man, you blew that one! And why was he so nervous? But she agreed to meet up again at Aardwolf for a beer and BBQ at the Bearded Pig the following week. It went much smoother, thankfully (although he was uncharacteristically late because of traffic, and he was worried she might think he was going to stand her up). Surely, if he got a third date, he better tighten up. But, before he could even schedule a third date, Hurricane Michael, a Category 4-5 hurricane, was coming straight for Jacksonville. They both evacuated separately to the Tampa/St. Pete area, where he had lived before moving back to Jacksonville. He convinced her to meet him in Ybor City for a real Cuban sandwich as they wondered what things were like back in Jacksonville. When they came home, fortunately the only damage either had to their homes was a fence down in his backyard. She immediately came to help, throwing on a tool belt and holding the fence while handing him screws to very roughly patch the fence back together. And that fence is still roughly patched. Every time he looks at it he remembers laughing with her as they inspected their terrible work. From that point on, he knew she was the one.