We eloped and it’s time to celebrate!

Mattie and Logan met through Hope Community Church youth group, 10 years ago. The two had always been close friends, but in 2019 their friendship began to grow even more. The first date that Mattie and Logan went on, neither considered it a date. Their friends were all out of town at the time and Mattie wanted to see a movie that had just come out so she asked Logan if he wanted to go with her. He said yes and the two went out to eat where they discussed who they could set each other up with. They got coffee after dinner and Mattie realized at that point that Logan had paid for both dinner and now coffee. She thought to herself, “if he pays for the movie too then he’s going to think this is a date…and I don’t think this is a date” so she frantically went online and tried paying ahead of time for their movie tickets so that it seemed “even” and less like a date. After that night, A LOT of people heard about their evening and it soon became apparent to the two that they had in fact, been on a date. The two continued to talk daily and they hung out as much as they could with Logan’s work schedule, but feelings were never discussed. Mattie soon realized that she liked Logan but the stubborn Baker in her wouldn’t be the one to say something first. She knew that Logan wasn’t good at picking up on “flirting cues” so she decided she needed to make it blatantly obvious that she had feelings for him so that he would get a hint and do something about it. Her plan worked and Logan asked her out on a “second date”; since they had already gotten the first date out of the way. The two were cautious about getting into a relationship because neither of them wanted to ruin their friendship…or their friend group. They talked about major health concerns that would be very present and work schedules that were less than ideal for a typical dating couple. After long discussions about nearly every possible situation that could come their way, the two started officially dating.

Now is where things get interesting and elopey…if you will. Both Mattie and Logan agreed that dating shouldn’t be taken lightly. That you date to marry and you shouldn’t be dating just to date. The two had both been burned in relationships and were not going to get in another relationship unless they knew that there was a good possibility that they were going to marry that person. With that in mind, they already had a good idea that they were with their person so while they may have not been ready the first week of dating to go get married, it did not take them long to get to that point. They spent a lot of their time shortly after they began dating, discussing their future together and what they wanted that future to look like. They often joked about how they wanted to avoid all of the crazy wedding planning drama and just elope in the mountains together but they knew that so many of their family and friends would be upset with them so they held off. They began looking at rings together and had even chosen a date for their wedding; all that was missing was the proposal and Logan wanted that to be a complete surprise.

There were two things that Mattie really wanted surrounding her wedding. It wasn’t a big elaborate celebration, it wasn’t a big expensive dress or even a huge amount of people there. While those things were nice; she didn’t care about having a huge wedding. She wanted to marry Logan whether it was in front of 500 or 5; she wanted to become his wife and make that covenant with him in front of an audience of One. However, there was one other thing that she wanted and that was for her Granny to know and have peace that she had found her “Roy” and that she would be taken care of after she was gone. As many know, Mattie had lived with her Granny since she graduated High School which meant they had been roommates for going on 7 years. During those 7 years they had taken care of each other, cooked for each other, sat with each other, and when neither could go up or down the stairs because of pain, they would sit at the top and at the bottom of the stairs and talk to each other. One of the first things that Granny asked when Mattie began dating Logan was “Is he the one?” and Mattie’s answer was “I think he is Granny.” Granny loved Logan from the moment she met him and told Mattie that she knew he was the one. One of the last outings Granny took with Mattie was to see Logan’s house and land and when they got to the top of the hill, she grabbed Mattie’s hand, smiled and said “he is going to take care of you isn’t he?”.

It became increasingly aware to the two that Granny’s condition was worsening very quickly and that she was most likely not going to make it to the date that they had previously decided on. So Logan asked Mattie a simple question; “Do you want to get married sooner so that she can be a part of our wedding?”. She didn’t have to think about it long before she said yes and the two began planning a wedding that was two weeks away from that day, April 21st , 2021. They agreed to wake up early the next morning and talk to Mattie’s mom Milly, and discuss their plans and the options they had ceremony wise. On the morning of April 22nd, Logan arrived and the two walked upstairs ready to tell everyone their plan, but Mattie went to say good morning to Granny and she realized that unfortunately, Granny didn’t have two weeks. Tearfully, Mattie went to Logan and called off the two-week wedding, and began trying to accept that Granny was not going to get to know that the two were getting married. Later that day, they took both Milly and Logan’s mom, Melissa out to lunch…the lunch that they were going to use to tell Melissa their big plans. They got in the truck and started talking about taking both moms to the courthouse for them to be their witnesses but they chickened out once Melissa got in the truck. Both moms began talking about how they had raised them both up well and were bragging about who each of them are as adults and as Logan and Mattie both sat there listening to this and nervously consumed an entire basket of chips, they thought the jig was up. “They know, they know we’re talking about going to the courthouse and they know we’re acting fishy” Mattie said to Logan when they dropped Melissa back off at work.

“We should just go anyways, we should go today and elope and not tell anyone,” Logan said as they started to drive through downtown Frankfort. “Are you serious? Or are you kidding?” Mattie really didn’t know what to believe but she knew that if he was being serious she was fully on board. “I’m very serious. Let’s go and get married. Why would we wait?” he said as they pulled up the hill. “Okay let’s do it, let’s go get married.” The two sat for a second, both very clearly excited but also fully aware that their families may actually kill them both for running away to get married. “Can our parents really be that mad at us? I mean, your parents ran away to Texas, and mine ran to a courthouse to get married. And I’ve already talked to your dad and gotten his blessing so I feel really good about it” Logan said to Mattie after a few minutes of giddy silence. All of 5 minutes had gone by and they were at a stop light when they realized that they needed witnesses and they would have to do it the following day because Logan had to go into work in a few hours. The first call they made was to Mattie’s sister who was at work at the time in a room full of students. “Is this a bad time or can you talk?” “I can talk but I’m surrounded by students so don’t say anything stupid,” Kehla said jokingly. “Okay then I’ll call you later…” Mattie said knowing several students knew her and she didn’t want word to get out. Kehla ran to the hallway knowing something was going on and she said “Okay tell me what’s going on.” “Do you want to be a witness tomorrow? We’re getting married” Logan and Mattie starting laughing as Kehla stood shaking in disbelief. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? IS THIS A JOKE BECAUSE IT'S NOT FUNNY,” she said shaking. After the initial shock, and the reassurance that it was not a joke, she agreed and it was time for the two to make another call to get their second witness.

They called their friend Payton. She answered their call and the two asked “what are you doing tomorrow?”. She jokingly answered “Watching the two of you get married.” When they said “Actually if you could…that would be great, we go tomorrow”, Payton had to take a second to make sure they weren’t joking. She said “Well honestly, it’s about time”. She had been asking when Logan was going to marry Mattie for months. While they were on their way to get their marriage license, they added Payton’s husband Taylor to the call in order to fill him in. By the end of the call both of them had called into work so that they could be a part of the elopement and the plan was in motion. As they were pulling into the County Clerk’s office, they passed Logan’s dad and thought that he saw them and knew what they were up to. Thankfully he didn’t think anything of it, but it was a close call. They got their marriage license and went their separate ways until they met again at the altar. They didn’t know where that altar would be or what time they would be meeting, but they knew that they were going to be husband and wife by the evening of April 23rd. Mattie went to her sister’s house to try on her dress and talk about plans. Her sister had a dress that their mom had made her in college that had their Granny’s wedding dress lace on it. It was perfect and so special. Mattie also had the realization that they needed rings, so she ran into Dick’s Sporting Goods where she bought two Qalo rings for them to use for the ceremony. She then called Andrew Eaton who had been one of their youth leaders and long-time family friends. When Andrew answered the call and heard Mattie say “I need you to marry Logan and I…tomorrow…and no one knows”, he laughed and said “Are you serious? Are your parents going to kill me for this?” After some back and forth talk about details, he agreed to meet the two in Midway where he would perform their ceremony. Everything had come together.

Mattie was on edge the whole night knowing that it was going to be very difficult to get out of the house without someone asking her what she was doing or where she was going and she didn’t want to lie to her parents, so she turned out all of the lights in her apartment and pretended to be asleep as she packed for the next few days. She talked to Logan for several hours that night about plans and the excitement and the nerves about telling their families that next evening. The next morning she had arranged for Payton to come and get her early in the morning so that she would be out of the house to avoid seeing anyone and having to lie. She texted her mom and simply said, “I am going with Payton to a couple of places today but I will be back later tonight.” Which wasn’t a lie…rather the “truth on the curb”. Logan and Taylor headed up to Lexington where Logan bought his wedding attire and Mattie and Payton headed to Kehla’s house to get ready for the big day. It had just been Kehla’s birthday so she had several bouquets that people had bought her. Mattie needed a bouquet so the three of them began to pull out the dead flowers and combined the three bouquets into one so that Mattie could have flowers. Around that time Logan and Taylor got to the house and they did their “First Look,” where Logan told Mattie, “If I don’t cry, please don’t be offended, I’m really excited, but I cried out all of my tears in middle school.” They took their wedding pictures on an iPhone in Kehla’s backyard and in downtown Midway and then they met Andrew to perform the ceremony. It was intimate and the two felt as though it was perfect and better than they could have imagined.

As they were signing their papers, Mattie’s dad Facetimed both Kehla and Mattie. It was time to fess up, so Mattie answered the phone and said “Surprise! We’re married!” and everyone with them ran to hide because they didn’t want to be responsible if he was mad. Thankfully, he wasn’t mad but he did immediately ask if they had told Milly yet. They talked for a bit about who was there and what all had happened and then everyone went their separate ways as Kehla led the newly-weds to Granny’s house so that they could begin telling everyone the big news. They decided before that they wanted Granny to be one of the first to know that they had eloped so after they walked in and told Milly the news and exchanged hugs, they went into Granny’s room where Mattie held her hand and said “Granny, it’s Mattie and Logan, and guess what? We got married today. We’re married Granny!” She wasn’t able to speak much but her reaction with stay with the two forever. “What?? What?? Oh Mattie, oh my Mattie, you got married? Oh I’m so happy, and so sad I wasn’t there but I’m so happy.” They sat with her for a bit and cried happy tears and some sad knowing that she would soon not be with them. As they walked out of the room, Logan squeezed Mattie’s hand and held her tight. They both knew that they had made the right decision. Granny was so happy and Mattie knew that she would have peace knowing she was going to be taken care of when she was gone. She knew how much Logan loved her and that he would do anything to make sure she was safe and loved.

The two then began making their rounds to tell all of their family and friends that they had just gotten married. Their first stop was going to be Logan’s parents, but unfortunately, both of them were out of town so they had to call them to tell them. Logan’s dad answered the phone and when they told him what had happened, he didn’t believe them. They had to send him a picture of their marriage license in order for him to believe that they weren’t lying to him. He laughed and said “You sure did get married didn’t you? Well that’s good, but you better tell your mom” and then they explained how the day unfolded. They then went to drive to see Logan’s mom, but she happened to be out to dinner with her friend Ginger. They Facetimed her, and she was in a very crowded restaurant, so it took several minutes for it to sink in what she was being told. When Mattie held up the marriage license, both her and Ginger squealed in complete shock. They both got so excited and asked what all had happened, and then they took a Facetime “Wedding day picture” before hanging up in order for Mattie and Logan to be able to continue the calls to everyone.

Overall, their day was exactly what the two wanted. It was special and about the two of them. While they caused quite the stir, their families surrounded them with love and support and their friends celebrated their marriage to the fullest. Their story isn’t conventional, but neither are the two of them. They march to the beat of their own drum and love each other like Jesus and wanted nothing more than to be Husband and Wife so that they could start their lives together. They got their perfect day and now they get to celebrate with everyone they love in a way that is unique to them. They desire to keep the Lord at the center of their marriage, serve the Lord together, love the Lord and love each other fiercely and hope that all of those things are evident in their marriage.