Wedding Date on Oct 15, 2016

From The Bride: How We Met: Paul and I met in the summer of 2009 at the gym. A trainer we both knew pulled each of us away from our workouts and awkwardly introduced us. I remember wondering if this cute guy was actually interested in me or just being friendly to make the situation less awkward. Later I found out that the seemingly random introduction was not actually random. It turns out, while I secretly had my eyes on Paul, he had his on me, and when he asked the trainer about me, the trainer decided to play matchmaker. We always talk about how amazing it is that we even met- we had no mutual friends and really, no reason to ever cross paths, but we were meant to meet. Paul invited me to a local bar and grille that night where his friends’ band was playing (who will be playing one of the songs they played that night as our first dance song at our wedding-- the song that will forever remind me of that first night we met), and we spent all night talking and listening to them play. I took my best friend with me, and I was impressed with how attentive he was to both of us that night and how he was as much a gentleman to her as he was to me. At the end of the night, he walked us back to my house. I left my car on a side street since we had a couple of drinks, and so after he walked me home and realized he never asked for my number, he went to the side street, saw there were only three cars parked there, and decided to take a gamble and slipped his number in the windshield of one of them. He ended up giving his number to a complete stranger that night, but we still connected and 6 years later we got engaged! Special Memories: We have some beautiful memories creating our own special traditions. Valentines Day is my absolute most favorite holiday (after all, it is a day filled with three of my favorite things- the color pink, chocolate, and LOVE!). I have always viewed Valentines Day as much more than a romantic holiday, but a day to reflect on the love that surrounds you, and most of all to spread a little love in the world and love on others. This past year, Paul and I celebrated by visiting a local retirement home to pass out flowers to the residents and staff members who care for them and spread a little Valentines Day cheer. They really made our day and sharing this experience together was special for us. Paul was also quite a hit with the sweet old ladies :) We decided to make performing a random act of kindness together on Valentines Day a new tradition and are excited to think of new ways to spread a little love in this world, together. My favorite tradition that Paul and I started was last year when we created a gratitude jar. Throughout the entire year, we slipped little notes in our jar about moments of joy, love, happiness and gratitude. On New Year’s Eve, after everyone left our house, we dumped them all out on the floor, and we took turns reading them and reflecting on so many precious memories and moments from 2015. These little notes captured hope and joy, triumph and excitement, and so much love and gratitude. It was the absolute best way to close one beautiful chapter and begin another. We literally laughed, cried (okay, maybe that was just me), and laughed until we cried, and were so touched and tickled by these little captured moments of our lives. Some of Paul’s were also absolutely hilarious, complete some with pictionary-like illustrations, and had me in complete stitches. Not only was reading through all of the notes one of our favorite memories, but the jar itself captured so many special memories- many of them little moments that probably would have been forgotten had they not been captured. Our lives are a collection of these little moments, and so although we have experienced many exciting milestones and adventures together over the past seven years, this jar reminds us of the beauty and joy in the ordinary and helps us be grateful for all of the gifts we are given, in both big and small packages. We’ve kept our tradition going and have a new jar for this year, and we can't wait to see all the little moments of life that will be captured :) I know that reading through them together every year will be one of our favorite memories for years to come, and one day will be a tradition that we can share with our future children- one that we hope reminds them to notice the magic in everyday. On Falling in Love and Saying those 3 little words (in our case, it was actually 7 ;) Katie: There was an instant spark between Paul and I from the first night we met, and I had an intuition early on that this was something to hold on to. I think my heart knew from the beginning before my head did. Falling in love with Paul wasn’t something that happened in a single moment, but in a million little moments over that first year that we were together, and honestly still happens in a million little moments- he steals my heart every day. The way he smiles, the way he always gives me the chocolate pieces out of his trail mix, the way he dances around our condo just to make me laugh, the way he takes care of me and derives genuine happiness from my happiness. I still get excited every day when he comes home from work, and just being close to him makes me happy. Paul: A year after we started dating, I went to Roanoke, Virginia to watch Katie compete in the Miss Virginia pageant. As weird as it might sound, I think that’s when I realized I was in love with her. It wasn’t the areas of competition themselves, but I think her true colors really showed while she was competing. Watching the way she connected with everyone- from the young girls there that looked up to her, to the parents that saw her as a role model for their children, to the judges that ended up picking her to be Miss Virginia- it was an affirmation of who she was. And I can’t say the swimsuit competition hurt my impression of her either. Katie: There are two nights of preliminary competitions leading up to the final night of the pageant where Miss Virginia is crowned, and after both of those preliminary nights we have what is called visitation, where the contestants get to spend some time with their friends and family who are there. On Friday night at visitation, as our security team began to round all of us girls up to head back up to our hotel rooms, Paul slipped me a note. When I got back up to my hotel room I read it- it was a love note- and in true Paul fashion was equal parts sweet and silly. At the end he signed the note, “Some guy who is falling in love with you.” As if I didn’t already have enough butterflies in my stomach going into finals night! A week later, when I had the chance to return home after my initial media tour as Miss Virginia, Paul took me out to celebrate our one-year-anniversary. He took me to the same restaurant that he had on our first date, and it was that night that he told me “I have fallen in love with you.” I will never forget him saying those words. He spoke straight to my heart, and it echoed his sentiment. *Fun Fact: On our wedding morning, we exchanged cards. I signed mine "Some girl who can't wait to be your wife."- a homage to that first love note he wrote me. On Realizing We’d Found The One: Katie: Somewhere along the way, the feeling I have when I look at him went from “I love you” to “you are my person.” We have grown so much together over the past seven years, and although I fell in love with Paul for who he was six years ago, I am more in love with who he is today. I think witnessing growth in another person is one of the gifts of a relationship. I am so proud of who Paul is and the amazing man and partner I have watched him grow into- year by year he somehow gets even more wonderful and continues to blow me away. I always tell Paul I love him from the tips of his toes to the top of his head, but I love his heart the best. Paul knows every unflattering, crazy, nonsensical thing about me and somehow it makes sense to him and he finds beauty and humor in all of it. He often reminds me when I get frustrated with certain parts of myself that every part of me makes me the person he loves. He truly makes my spirit feel known, and my world a brighter more beautiful place. He is my safe haven, my adventure partner, and my constant source of laughter. We care about taking care of each other and we both go out of our way in our own ways to make the other person feel loved. It’s these small daily acts of love that create such a happy home, and I hope that’s something we never lose. Our relationship has not always been pink roses and champagne- one of the beautiful things about being together as long as we have is that we have also had the opportunity to face some significant challenges together. I say this is beautiful because those challenges have gifted us with the opportunity to grow stronger, both individually, and as a couple. They pushed us to communicate more fully, get to know each other even more deeply, and ultimately build greater trust and compassion for one another. We have grown closer together by working through those challenges and going into marriage, have developed a foundation that gives us confidence in entering this next chapter of our relationship together. Life with him just keeps getting better and better, and just when I think I couldn’t love him more, somehow I do. That’s one of the most exciting things about marrying Paul- I can’t imagine loving him more than I do today but I know the best is yet to come. Paul: I think I really knew she was the one when I realized that being with Katie made me a better person in many ways. And I think she does that for a lot of people. Whether its her close friends or people she just meets briefly, she has this way of connecting with them and showing them that there is a lot of positivity in the world and that being kind is a small thing that goes a long way. Life is just better with her in it and I can’t imagine living it without her. How He Proposed: Paul popped the question last summer on July 1st, just in time for me to sport a special sparkler on the fourth of July. My fireworks definitely came a little early! Every year my entire family on my mom's side vacations at Litchfield beach in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. It's a very special tradition for us and a special place for our family. I have gone every year since I was born, and Paul has become part of that tradition the past several years. Every year at the beach is special- it's a sort of charmed place- a little piece of heaven for my family and I where I have always found peace and the joy of being surrounded by family. But this year, something extra special happened in this special place. Paul wanted to propose at the beach because of the meaning it held and so that my whole family would be there, so he was planning to propose on the beach that Friday evening and had a photographer hired to capture the moment and everything. Meanwhile, with no idea what he was planning, I was planning a surprise photo shoot on the beach for the two of us for that Wednesday as an anniversary present. Just like him, I thought that capturing photos of us in a place that held such a special meaning would be precious. So essentially, we were planning the same surprise for each other at the same time, except his surprise came with a little extra sparkle ;) When my mom found out about the surprise I was planning, she already knew what Paul was planning, and so she told him about my surprise. With me still thinking the photo shoot was a complete surprise, Paul secretly contacted my photographers and made arrangements with them to hijack my photo shoot without me knowing. Our proposal story began at Atalaya Castle, the historic estate of Anna and Archer Huntington, perched on the edge of the dunes, overlooking the beach. Archer Huntington built Atalaya for his wife, Anna. It was her dream home and an escape for her where she could enjoy the beauty of nature and sit in the courtyard working on the art she so dearly loved to create. Today, the eighty-year-old castle stands as a tribute to their love story and a symbol of enduring romance. As a little girl who lived in princess dress-ups growing up, a real life castle was the perfect setting for our fairytale to begin. Little did I know my own prince charming was about to sweep me off my feet. We took photos all around the grounds of Atalaya. Paul was noticeably sweating, which is completely unlike him, so of course I kept teasing him. "You are sweating!" "It's hot!" "It's not that hot!'. I didn't suspect a thing at the time, but later it became pretty clear what all that sweating was really about :p As the sun began to hang lower in the sky, we decided to head down to the beach. Our photographers told us they would go set up on the beach and pointed out a beautiful little path draped by branches from overhanging trees which created a sort of arch over it. They told us to head down that path to join them on the beach when we were ready. As we were walking, Paul began talking. I will never forget the moment I realized he was about to propose. In that moment, it was as if time froze momentarily as the entire world around us shifted into this dreamlike state that didn't feel like reality. Quite honestly, I sort of blacked out and everything seemed like a surreal blur...but I will never forget the beautiful things Paul said to me. We emerged onto the dunes and Paul dropped down to one knee, pulled out a shell which was holding the most gorgeous ring I had ever seen, and asked me to marry him. I was shaking and crying and unable to process everything. It was an indescribable feeling, a beautiful state of shock and joy- I just couldn't believe this was really happening! We both aren't sure if I even said yes, but, as our video confirms (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URjSLuM5XpM), I definitely did give him the wrong hand (luckily, one of us knew what was going on and the ring made it on the correct finger). I kept joking afterwards that I had only one job in that scenario and I literally did everything wrong. But it was perfect. As the sun set, we spent a few moments just the two of us soaking in what had just happened. When we got back to Litchfield, my entire family (30+ aunts, uncles, and cousins) was waiting (he surprised me again!) with champagne and cake and had the whole apartment decorated with photos of us. It was so special. The most beautiful part was that my sweet granny had just passed away a couple months prior, and her and my Pop (who is shown at the beginning of the video) had started the beach tradition which meant so much to her. Paul had Granny's diamond re-set into my engagement ring, and so although she was missing from the celebration, she was truly at the center of it. It couldn't have been any more perfect. On Our Wedding: Our theme for our wedding was "Our Love Story" so we had fairtyale and literary elements throughout. Guests were greeted with a "Welcome To Our Love Story" sign and signs telling our love story "Chapter One," "Chapter Two," "Chapter Three" as they walked to their seats. Each chapter corresponded with a little vignette- a petal toss station, a sand station where they helped us start our unity ceremony with a community layer, and a program station where they collected their program from a card catalog. The final sign said "The Next Chapter Starts Here." We had a horse drawn Cinderella carriage and an aisle filled with rose petals. The reception tent had white draping with twinkle lights and a grand chandelier in the center. Guests collected their escort cards, which were bookmarks, out of silver and white books, representing how each of them holds a place in our love story somewhere along the way. I loved the creative aspects of wedding planning, and there were so many fun details to think about, but above all, we wanted the day to be defined by love- a real life fairytale that honors our love story and our loved ones and was romantic, meaningful and personal. We honored our loved ones in several unique ways throughout the day- from having family members place photos of our grandparents who are no longer with us on front row seats during the processional, to separating during our unity ceremony to first have a moment with each of our families before coming together to unite as a new family, to surprising my parents by giving them the first dance they never had at their own wedding.