It was the end of Summer 2016, my brother was getting married in the fall and I was in need of a wedding date! A group of my closest friends was in Ocean City for the week to celebrate my birthday when the topic came up. One of my best pals, Chelsea, had been dating Tyler for a few months and he was with us in O.C. when he mentioned he had "the perfect guy". He Facetimed him there on the spot, gave me his number and suggested the 4 of us go golfing when we returned from the beach (insert heavy eye roll because I do not do sports). So, on the hottest day of August, with much dismay, I put on a polo and skort (YUCK....not sure exactly what Stefan saw in that outfit) and we went "golfing". While it was as miserable as I expected, there was something about Stefan and the way he was trying to make it a "great experience" (he has a way of doing that with every experience we have and it is one of the many reasons I fell for him). 4 hours and only 4 holes later, he treated me to Chipotle and Coldstone and became my forever wedding date and "plus one" for life!

Let me preface this story and say that anytime the topic of getting married came up, Stefan brushed it off like it was never going to happen. SO, I was completely shocked the day it did actually happen. Here it is...…. We were on the way home from my cousins wedding in Pennsylvania and Stefan had suggested we go to a sunflower field as a late birthday present. This is something we had talked about for years, but never actually made a point to happen. I wasn't for it considering it was 90 degrees (flashback to that hot August day when we met), but with much persistence and even persuading me into an outfit change, we went. The whole ride there I said a total of 10 words because I was starving and Stefan wouldn't feed me (now I know why). He kept telling me the sunflower field closed at 2 and we didn't have time. But he then quickly realized a hangry Sam is no Sam to be around so he made a pit stop and fed me Burger King. When we got to the sunflower field I was so focused on finding the perfect sunflowers to cut and bring home. I had been searching and snipping for about 10 minutes, when all of a sudden Kelsey popped out from behind one of the rows of flowers, panting and saying "All right y'all I can't do this any longer". I quickly responded, "What are you doing here?!?!", not noticing the camera around her neck. She told me "turn around and you'll find out" and then it clicked, Stefan was already on his knee asking me to marry him. I could not answer because I was in shock, finally Stefan grabbed my hand put the ring on and asked me "Will you?" and after repeating "Oh my goodness!!!" several times, I said "YES"!

When Covid-19 really started effecting the United States we knew it was only a matter of time until it effected us personally. The recommended number of people allowed in a gathering was decreasing at a rapid rate. When the CDC recommended gatherings of no more than 10 people for 8 WEEKS it was the very next day, March 16, that we received a call from our vendor notifying us that we would have to postpone. Our wedding day was so close and now we were going to have wait longer. We made several different game plans to try and keep the date we hoped for and each time the invisible enemy, Covid, would strike again. Ultimately we knew getting married on April 24 would no longer be a possibility. Unfortunately, we did not get our marriage license before the courts closed. Then, when the stay at home order went into effect our church had to close as well and we could no longer fulfill our sacrament of marriage. When the day finally came around it was not the day we expected or dreamed of, but we were overwhelmed with the amount of love and support that we received from our families and friends. We started our day off with the MOST thoughtful video my mom compiled of all our loved ones sending us well wishes. (16 minutes long...that’s a whole lot of love) We wore our husband and wife shirts, played one of our cocktail hour lawn games, cooked dinner together (in our Mr. & Mrs. aprons), enjoyed it at our own little sweetheart table and ended the evening with a S’mores Bar just like we had planned for our reception. Throughout the day we received so many thoughtful gifts and messages, and even had a drive by, socially distant wedding party parade. One thing is for sure though we had the most special day and were not sad at all. The best is yet to come! April 24 will be a significant day for us in all the years to come and we know that we will only grow stronger through all of this.

After what seemed like the longest wait ever, the courts opened up online marriage license and the churches opened to 50% capacity. All the stars finally aligned for us. On the most perfect and beautiful day, we stood before God and our families and said "I Do". Now we've only got forever to go! But first, we celebrate!