We’re really excited to introduce you guys to April. April and I first met when I was a college student in the beautiful mountains of east Tennessee. As a transfer student, I was hours away from everyone I knew – and university living was a little different from the community of the small Christian college I came from and loved.
April, Chris, and both of their families were members of a church I plugged in to. As they and so many other families adopted a lonely and slightly overwhelmed college kid – they became a huge piece of my heart to this day.
Fast forward several years, and we get an email from April asking us to be their wedding photographers. The rest is history. <3
(Psst! You can check out their fun farm engagement blog feature, or their gorgeous and sweet east Tennessee wedding!)
*How did you meet?
We met at church. A mutual friend introduced us after the morning worship service one Sunday. I think he was 12 or 13 and I was 15 or 16.
*Where did you go on your first date?
We didn’t really “date” until we were engaged. Most of our early relationship was spent hanging out with our mutual friends and spending time with our families. And the great majority of our relationship was long distance while he was at school.
*When did you first know you wanted to marry him?
Pretty early on. We were together for close to 6 years before we got married, and I knew for approximately 4 of those years, maybe more. I had always wanted to marry my best friend, and we were friends before we were ever romantically involved. We got along so well, and I knew I could spend the rest of my life with him.
*How did he propose?
He tried to surprise me, but unfortunately I’m not that easy to surprise.
Due to his conscience and the guidance of his parents, he wouldn’t ask me to marry him until he had a full-time job that would support us both. He faithfully looked and applied for jobs all over, and I knew he had had a couple of interviews. What I didn’t know was that one of the companies had offered him a job, and he was in the process of buying a ring. I have two very close girlfriends I hang out with all the time, and they made plans for the three of us to have a girls night out. The plan was to meet at one location and carpool everywhere. That meeting place was a parking lot near a gazebo. I already had a sneaking suspicion that Chris would propose soon, and that meeting location kind of confirmed my suspicion. ;) Turns out I was right. When I arrived at the meeting spot that night, he was waiting for me. He was wearing a suit and looked so handsome! He took my hand and we walked around the gazebo. He talked about the many years of waiting and how he had wanted to make sure he could provide for me before he asked me to marry him. I asked him if there were hidden cameras anywhere. :) (The answer was no, which I was very thankful for!) He took me to a bench, we sat down, and he pulled a ring box out of his pocket. The ring was absolutely perfect! He then asked the most perfect question: “Do you think you can put up with me for the rest of your life?” Our relationship is such that that question was the perfect proposal. :) Of course, I said yes about three times.
He then told me he had invited our close friends and immediate family to a small engagement party at his parents’ house, and we left shortly after to go celebrate with them.
*What personal or meaningful element did you incorporate into your wedding?
We wanted to honor our family members who had passed away, so we framed pictures of those loved ones and placed them in front of a sign my cousin made that said, “In Loving Memory.”
*What kind of things do you like to do together?
Everything! Well, almost everything. :) I don’t play video games with him, and he doesn’t craft with me. But I still hang out with him while he plays video games, and he’s usually in the room with me when I’m crafting. We just love spending time together, being in the same room. On weekends when we don’t have any specific plans, we often go get coffee, walk around Target, go see a movie, drive around just because we can… There are huge benefits to marrying your best friend!
*Where would you go on your dream vacation and what would you do?
I think we would probably have different answers to this question. :) Chris loves Wisconsin where his dad is from, so I think he would say snowmobiling through Wisconsin would be his ideal vacation. I’m not a cold weather person *at all,* so I would say anywhere where it’s warm and sunny the majority of the time. I wouldn’t mind going back to the Caribbean.
I think we would both love to one day “relive” one part of our honeymoon in Jamaica. (We went for two weeks, and one of those weeks was spent in Jamaica.)
*Do you have any advice for brides still planning their wedding?
Honestly, I could say a lot about this, but I’ll stick with two things:
1) Ladies, this is just one day. The wedding day is the doorway into your marriage, not the marriage itself. By all means celebrate this day, and make it beautiful and meaningful! But don’t forget that it’s just the beginning, and it’s just one day. If something goes wrong on that day, it won’t matter. If it’s not all you envisioned, it won’t matter. At the end of the day, what matters is you’re married to the man God has chosen for you.
2) Don’t forget your future mother in law! She may not be a huge part of the planning like your mother and sisters, but she still needs to know what’s going on. Don’t assume your groom is giving her detailed updates on everything. She’s most likely in the dark. :) So set aside some time to spend with her and give her the details she needs to know. This is a pretty big day for her, too!
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