We are so excited to see everyone and to celebrate our big day with you! We know that many people are traveling great distances to help us celebrate, and we truly appreciate that!

This week I started feeling a sense of excitement. It's May! In June we will be married! WOW! [Insert mind explosion here]. OH wait. It's the pandemic. I'm still wrapping my head around the September date. But Arkansas is opening up starting next week, and I hope that it will stay that way. And if we have to wear masks at the wedding in September, I'll make sure that we have cute ones. One silver lining of this pandemic is that since Tim now works from home and we are not allowed to go anywhere, he has made so much progress on the house! HE HAS FLOORS AND DOORS, PEOPLE! That is an amazing accomplishment. This brings me hope that when I finally DO get to move in with my soon-to-be husband, our dwelling will be more, dare I say it, livable. His loving parents (thank you Jane and Stephen!) gave Tim amazing tools for his birthday that are definitely helping him out. Tm has also let me start helping on things, and I am happy to report that I am a Grade A hole cover-upper. We are staying safe and healthy and hope that you are too! My anxiety-ridden brain runs through all your names on a daily basis, hoping you are safe and not feeling lonely so please know that you are in our thoughts! We hope to see everyone in September: and get ready to paaaartaaayyy! [yes. that is a Bridesmaids movie reference.]

I'm not sure about you, but starting in early March I started to worry. I wasn't sure what I was worrying about, but for those who know me well, "Worried" is my default setting. It's why I had forehead wrinkles at age four. I was checking my News app obsessively, watching numbers creep up, but the pandemic became real to me when they cancelled March Madness. No Auburn basketball magic? No Memphis Cinderella story? That was true madness to me. Then the restaurants closed. Our regular haunts were no longer available. My one escape was Orange Theory. Then OTF closed. Tim floated the idea that we might have to move the wedding. I had all of the feelings, but unfortunately, Tim only witnessed me being grumpy and surly. Jani got my anxiety rants, and my mom got my sudden outbursts of tears. And while I am calm now, make no mistake that there were many tears. I am so lucky that Tim is my voice of reason, because he assured me that everything would be ok, and that more of our loved ones would hopefully be able to make it if we pushed our date back. We are also incredibly blessed to have our amazing wedding planner, Sarah Keathley, and such kind vendors who moved our reservations and were so understanding and helpful. It won't be exactly as we had originally planned, but I think that our special day in some ways will be better. I am reminded that God does not always give us miracles. Sometimes he does not give us what we pray for, because there is something better He has planned for us. This feels like one of those times. Need more signs? After we chose to move our wedding date to September 26, Tim found out that his grandparents' anniversary is on September 26. After telling my family the date change, I found out that my grandparents' anniversary, and my Aunt Janis and Uncle Aron's anniversary are both on the 27th (one day off!). Maybe learning those helped me gain a sense of peace about all of this. Double Bonus: think of how much cooler the weather will be!

People wonder what brought us to Arkansas - it might just be for us to find each other! Two and a half years ago, Tim decided to coach a kickball team in Little Rock but needed extra players. Through a friend of a friend of a friend, Megan decided to sign up. At one of our first games, Tim brought Murphy (his, and soon to be our, golden retriever) to a game. Megan thought to herself, “Wow, I need to get to know this guy so I can hang out with his dog!” Megan attempted to use her extensive knowledge of Harry Potter and Game of Thrones to impress Tim, but to no avail. Fortunately, Megan’s skills on the kickball field led Tim to invite her to play softball with the DAWGS. Tim and Logan (a groomsman) coached the DAWGS, the oldest team in the Little Rock Professionals League. Only the most elite softball players (or beer drinkers) are allowed to play on the DAWGS. Fortunately, Tim was able to pull some strings and get Megan a spot on the team. Megan helped lead the softball team to an impressive one win season and Tim was smitten. Over the next two years, Tim finished law school, studied for (and passed!) the Arkansas Bar Exam, and started a new job as an attorney. Megan, in addition to tolerating a stressed out Tim while he was studying for the bar, started a new job, adopted Arya (her, and soon to be our, Australian Shepherd) and moved (twice). Over the past two and a half years, we’ve bonded over our love of dogs. We’ve spent countless nights at Bark Bar (we highly recommend going when you’re in town). In fact, Bark Bar was where Megan accidentally told Tim that she loved him for the first time! We are so excited that our dog family is finally becoming official! Even though Murphy, Arya and Eddie won’t be at our wedding, we plan to incorporate them in as many ways as possible because we love them so much!

In July of this past year, we flew to Portland, Oregon for a vacation, or as Megan likes to call it, our “Great PNW Adventure.” Little did Megan know, Tim had plans to propose on the beach in Cannon Beach, Oregon. After spending two days with Tim’s brother, Drew (the Best Man), we drove from Portland to the coast. After spending the day exploring Cannon Beach, Megan insisted on going back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. Tim, knowing that the photographer was expecting him to propose on the beach at 5pm, had to talk Megan out of taking her nap (an extremely difficult task). Tim finally told Megan that he had made dinner reservations for 5:15pm and that he wanted to walk on the beach beforehand. Luckily, the strangely early reservation didn’t tip Megan off. She was completely surprised and insists that she had absolutely no idea! After telling all of our friends and family, we went to the actual dinner reservation Tim had made at a much more reasonable time.

Our wedding ceremony will be in Little Rock on Saturday, September 26, 2020. We will post more details of the new wedding date soon!