As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic and out of an abundance of caution, we have decided that it is best to postpone our celebration until next year. Instead, we'll be holding a small ceremony and reception on our original date with our wedding party and immediate family this year and will plan to celebrate with you all in 2021. Once we have finalized our new reception date for next year, we'll send out change of dates to you all. While we are saddened by the fact that we cannot have everyone there, we are overjoyed by the love and support you each have shown us and cannot wait to celebrate with you all soon! Love, Lauren and Bradley

It certainly wasn’t love at first sight. Lauren and Bradley met playing the role of “wing man” on their best friends first date in 2009. The date was about as awkward as it could have been. They were both nervous and shy, sitting on opposite sides of the room and hardly speaking to each other the entire time. Needless to say, neither had any intention of setting up a second date and Bradley, being the young and immature 16-year-old boy that he was, never texted Lauren back. That was the status quo, until a week after school started when Lauren, being the self-assured woman that she is, decided to change the situation. Lauren decided to directly sit behind Bradley at the first home football game of the season, with another guy, to torment Bradley and later that evening sent Bradley a text asking, “what the (you know what*) are we?” And the rest was history…

I chose to propose on May 25th during Memorial Day weekend in our hometown of Morganton. I had sent Lauren to get her nails done and decided that Saturday we'd go on a hike at our favorite spot knowing that the suspense (or rather anxiety) would only build for Lauren all the way up the mountain. But after being together for 10 years, I knew that I wanted the moment to signify to both of us how far we had come and wanted the moment I asked to be a special location in our history together. So rather than proposing to Lauren on top of the mountain, I allowed the anxiety (for both of us) to build all the way down the mountain. Instead, that evening, we went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants downtown and I chose to ask Lauren on the town square across the street from the location of our very first date over 9 years before.