Tori and Graham's love story began thanks to their mutual friend, Madi Kirven. Madi has known Graham his entire life– their parents are best friends, and as a result, their families spend every Thanksgiving holiday together. Madi met Tori later in adulthood and quickly noticed the uncanny similarities between the two tall blondes. Convinced that they were the male and female versions of each other, Madi knew Graham and Tori had to meet, and graciously offered up the perfect backdrop: her own wedding.

Now I would be lying if I told you I did not check out Graham’s social media after Madi’s ringing endorsement. I would also be fibbing a bit if I said I wasn't intrigued by those curly blonde locks and twinkly blue eyes…and don’t get me started on all those muscles! So, I might have taken a few extra minutes on my makeup, and picked out a special dress for the evening. I can remember staring at the back of Graham's curly head during the ceremony and thinking it was even cuter in person. Throughout cocktail hour, we tiptoed around each other, both aware of the other's presence but not yet introduced. I waited, and waited, and waited for Graham to get up the nerve to introduce himself. How a brave soldier of a man could have been frightened of talking to me still makes me giggle. Our official introduction finally came at the reception by his mother, whom I had met the day before at the pre-wedding festivities (shoutout to Karen!). When we met it became quite clear he was worth the wait. I don’t know what I was expecting him to be like, but I was taken aback by how he immediately put me at ease. I could tell he had a kind heart and we had similar humor. I stood next to a stranger, but it felt like I was talking to an old friend. We eventually took to the dance floor, showing off some groovy moves alongside Graham's parents. In a moment of shared sentiment, the two of us, having known each other for just an hour, watched Karen and Scott dancing and both said, "That right there is relationship goals.” This sounds presumptuous of me, but I had a gut feeling that Graham and I would be the next Mr. and Mrs. Aldredge. As with many of the wedding guests the “Open Bar” claimed a few victims that night and Graham, who was straight out of training and the confines of a military base, was one. As the night progressed, Graham’s status went from “Dancing with the Stars” to “Too much time at the bar.” As his grand finale, a mix of nerves and booze caused him to flipped over a bench in the reception hall… taking both of us down with it. It earned him an early ride home and a disappointingly early goodnight. I had a feeling that this was not the last of our time together. He was going to have some ground to make up but he had firmly positioned himself in the forefront of my thoughts. He still owed me an apology, and I still owed him a MAJOR roasting for the Bourbon Bench incident of 2023. Plus, Bob Renneker, my close friend and second-father, said to me the following morning: “I liked that Graham guy, he reminded me of myself as a young man. You know, I met my wife in a very similar way!” Little did I know this was the epic beginning to an even more epic, life-changing, love story.

Following the wedding, I was immediately back to a full week of training with limited access to my phone. Throughout that week, Tori was all I could think about. So, when Friday finally rolled around, I immediately followed her on Instagram. As I was running through scenarios in my head of how to salvage our connection, an alert popped up on my phone: “Tori Pylypec sent you a message.” Low and behold, I open the Direct Message and see a meme entitled “Charlotte Takes a Tumble.” It was a video of a rather large woman standing on a table, who proceeds to dramatically fall and hit the floor. Followed up with: “you and the bench at Madi’s wedding.” It was at about this point that a lightbulb went off in my head; not only was Tori drop dead gorgeous, but she’s witty and funny and unafraid to throw a couple of jabs. As we continued talking, I found myself constantly smiling at my phone, laughing at her jokes, and listening to her music. Eventually she let me know that she was moving back to Austin in December. My last (and only) opportunity to see her would be in Charlotte, if I made the drive up from Columbus, GA. As I talked about her (constantly) to my friends, they were all encouraging me to make the drive. In fact, my buddy Parker joked with me that if I didn't drive up to see Tori, then he would. Even my friends who had never met this woman knew she was special. So I told Tori that I was going to drive up to Charlotte for the weekend and stay with my sister and her husband. My plan? Chef a nice meal for her and make sure she knows that this boy can cook. I got to her apartment building in Charlotte and she met me outside so we could go straight to the grocery store (it was pretty late in the evening already). I was immediately starstruck. As we walked through the store grabbing the ingredients for dinner, herb roasted chicken thighs and jalapeno risotto, I was about as nervous as I had ever been in my life. Evidenced by the fact that I forgot to buy the risotto. We got back to her apartment and I went to work in the kitchen, periodically interrupted by dancing and laughing and storytelling. She saved the dish with some emergency orzo in the pantry, and we ended up with a lovely meal. We stayed up late watching TV shows, sharing the adventures of our lives, and taking Harry Potter Sorting Hat Quizzes (Tori’s a slytherin… gross). Eventually, it was time for me to leave and head back to my sister's house. As Tori walked me out to my car and we said goodbye, I knew I was going to love this woman forever. When I was driving back down to Georgia, my buddy called me and asked how my weekend went. My answer was pretty short, “I think I’m in trouble, I’m in love.” Fast forward to now, I’ve realized something pretty special: I love Tori more and more every day.