Matt and I met at The Rail Pub in Downtown Savannah. My friends and I were going out that night after an ugly Christmas sweater party and we were looking to sing some Karaoke. We went to The Rail Pub and signed up to sing Wannabe - Spice Girls. While we were waiting to sing, we were standing by the bar and Matt walked right up to me and asked me to dance. I of course said yes! And I quickly found out he has quite the moves! Unfortunately, the bar closed before me and my friends were called to sing and unfortunately I left without getting Matt's phone number. I didn't think I'd ever see him again, but as fate would have it, we ran into each other again, at the same bar, the very next night. I saw Matt at the top of the stairs, walked straight up to him and asked if he remembered me, he said yes, and we made sure to exchange phone numbers this time.

Yes, Matt and I secretly eloped January 29th, 2018. We had planned to marry one another in secret as we both still wanted to have a Wedding Ceremony to celebrate with friends and family. While Matt was in the Army, we knew we did not have the luxury of being able to set a date and plan a Wedding without the Army interfering, so we did what was right for us. We went to the courthouse on Monday, January 29th, 2018, during my lunch break. Matt picked me up from work, and our ordained friend, Jeremy Wood, met us at the courthouse to wed us. We got married in the hallway of the courthouse and picked a random witness off the elevator to sign our marriage certificate. This was such a magical experience for us, and we don't regret this being something only we shared for years. In April 2021, our secret came to light and while we didn't feel the need to explain ourselves, were happy to share our story with our family and start to plan a Wedding we could celebrate with everyone.

Just because we were already married, doesn't mean our engagement wasn't real...we just like to do things a little differently! Up to this point, Matt and I had not exchanged wedding rings, and I hadn't taken his last name. We knew we were married and that's all that mattered to us. However, Matt still wanted me to have all the traditional events that came with getting married, like getting engaged. Unbeknownst to me, Matt had been working with a family friend of mine to design my engagement ring. We were planning this huge "get out of the Army" trip for us to spend 3 weeks in South America in celebration of Matt getting out of the Military and us moving back east. During this trip of a lifetime, Matt backpacked all throughout Chile and Argentina with my engagement ring and finally mustered up the courage to ask me to marry him at Martial Glacier in Ushuaia, which is known as the end of the world. What's funny is that Matt and I had already been married for almost 2 years at this point and he was still extremely nervous getting down on one knee and asking me the question he clearly should have already known the answer too. And just like how he first asked me to dance, I of course said yes! In the end (which is still just the beginning), I wouldn't change our story for anything, and we are so excited to share our Wedding Ceremony with family on our 4 year anniversary in a place so near to our hearts - Savannah. We can't wait to see you there!