Wedding Date on Feb 1, 2020

From the bride: October 21st, 2017. We both woke up never imagining what would happen that night because that night changed the course of our lives forever. At the time, I had no idea Kendall (the photographer for my brothers wedding) thought I was cute. I mean after all, I fell on my face the night before coming back from Broadway. So needless to say, I had bandaids on my forehead and was looking pretty rough. I never thought someone would be into a moron with bandaids on his head, but the true MVP was Mylee (my niece) because without her, I doubt Kendall would have taken a second look at me. Dancing with Mylee all night, Kendall thought it was the most adorable thing and I guess wanted to get to know me. I danced the night away clueless of Kendall and after the reception it was time to send my brother and his wife off. We formed a line and waved them goodbye and here comes the other photographer Abbey she told me, “we need your permission to edit the bandaids off your forehead, so put your number in this phone and we will be in contact”. Me being drunk, said “seems reasonable, here you go” and next thing I know, I get a text that reads “Hey bandaid boy, I like your dance moves”. I have to give credit to Kendall, that was one heck of an opener. We started texting back and forth and I wanted to get to know her more in person. She took an Uber back to Union Station and we sat outside on the patio and talked for hours. We both had an amazing time and I made a promise to her that I was going to come back up on Friday. Since I was going to be in Memphis for the week after I thought it would be a good opportunity to hang out again. I borrowed my parents car and drive 3 hours to Nashville. Kendall got off work an hour late and when she got back and we head out on our first official date, The Pharmacy. Here we are in The Pharmacy and I’m expecting her to order a salad and water (as all girls do) but no, this girl goes all in on the first date and wants a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a milkshake. I knew I made the right choice driving back up to Nashville. It seriously was the best first date I had ever gone on and at that moment I couldn’t have been happier. We hung out that night and I had a plane to catch the next day so I left really early in the morning. I got back to Memphis and I ended up switching my flight to Sunday. I texted Kendall and she drove all the way to Memphis just to get to spend one more day with me. Keep in mind, we had known each other for one week and she is already meeting my parents. We hung out Saturday and my parents liked her a lot. The next morning we had to say goodbye and I made the trip back to Phoenix and she went back to Nashville. We texted back and forth and FaceTimed just about every night until I had a trip to North Carolina for work, and she met me there. We had our second date in a little diner in this small town and it was perfect. Kendall went all out again and ordered another burger and fries. After that trip, we went back to our respective towns and kept in touch until Christmas time when I flew into Memphis. I drove down to Nashville on the 23rd to meet Kendall’s whole family and we ate at this Mexican restaurant by her parent’s house called Tito’s. After the meal we headed to Opryland to see the Christmas decorations and that was the first time we ever got a picture together. I tried to ask Kendall out in Opryland she got embarassed and I never got my chance. The next morning she took me to Frothy Monkey and I finally got to ask the question and she said yes! Kendall’s first trip out to Arizona was definitely one for the books, we saw the Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, oh and I cannot forget In-and-Out (Kendall’s favorite burger place). You couldn’t ask for a better view of the Southwest then those locations. After that trip, we alternated a lot of who traveled to who and we managed to see each other about every other month. We FaceTimed almost every night and texted. It wasn’t long into our relationship, I knew I loved her. It was actually the Grand Canyon trip I told her the first time that I loved her. I had never felt such a strong connection with anyone before her and I never had someone care for me so deeply. After that, we were doing everything to find a way to get closer to each other. It was hard at times and we missed each other a lot during the months we weren’t together, bur no matter what we were both wanted to make this work. We saw so many cool places, we visited Vegas twice, Kendall took me hiking around the Nashville area, we went hiking in Sedona, and so many other fun places in 2018. Fast forward to the beginning of 2019, I got a crazy idea to work remote out of Tennessee so I could be closer to Kendall. I worked everything out with my current employer and they approved me to work remote out of Knoxville, TN starting June 17th, 2019. After I got approval, I headed to North Carolina for work in April. I bought the ring about 2 months prior to this trip and was determined to propose there. So my first day in North Carolina was April 15th and Kendall had an engagement session in Max Patch that afternoon, so she was meeting me in Shelby, North Carolina when she was done. I texted Kendall saying “there is this cool hiking trail that I want to go on when you get here”. Still clueless to my whole plan she ended up getting there at around 4:30 PM, which was perfect. The prior night I went out a bought a box of bandaids and stuffed the ring box inside of it, I thought it would be a hilarious scene when I opening a box of bandaids and a ring box slides out. Since I mean, I had bandaids all over my face when we first met. We go on the hike and I find a secluded area by a river and pretend I cut myself and tell her I need a bandaid. I open my bag and pull out a whole box of bandaids and she was so confused and says “who carries a whole box of bandaids around?”. I open the box and slide the ring box out and say “I do when I need to do this”. Kendall had the nerve to think I went out and bought just the ring box and was pretending to propose. I get down on one knee and ask her the big question, first words out of her mouth was, “did you talk to my dad first and is this for real?” She figures out that I’m not joking and I had to ask her to answer the question and of course the reply is “of course I will”. She FaceTimed her whole family and even my whole family (and they were all just waiting for it to happen). We went back to Shelby cafe (the place we had our second date at) and had the same meal and sat in the same booth. She booked the wedding venue the next day. After that trip we head to Nashville and recreated our first date at The Pharmacy. I was finally able to move and be closer to Kendall and we have been planning our wedding ever since. We are both beyond excited. I honestly can’t express how excited I am to be marrying the love of my life. I knew early on that I wanted to spend my life with her and only her and was willing to do whatever I could to make it work. I always think back to how we met and our journey together thus far and I know it’s a pretty wild story and the decisions on the night we met managed to change both our lives for the better. I always think about how, the things we aren’t looking for always happen to find us when we need them most. I am so glad Kendall made Abbey get my number, because without that desire, all this would have never happened.