Wedding Date on May 29, 2019

Cormac is from Co. Carlow in Ireland. Being a runner, he found himself across the pond working on his masters on a running scholarship. He and Shelby met in the food hall and sat and talked for hours about life, religion, and their passions. This past October (2018) Cormac told Shelby he was going to plan her 23rd birthday party. He had the year before as well so she thought nothing of it.They hopped in the car and Shelby had no idea where they were going until we got there. About 45 minutes later we pulled up to Rose Hill, a plantation home in mid-county where Shelby's grandparents got married 54 years ago. It has always been special to her. When they got there, they went inside and all of her closest friends and family were there and they had each brought one of Shelby's favorite dishes for lunch. Lemon Ice Box Pie, baked potatoes, raspberry and mushroom salad... very strange sounding, but it was fantastic and well planned. After eating we all walked outside to take photos on the front porch. Cormac and Shelby took their photo last, but before they did he handed me a card. For every occasion that they’ve been together, he writes and illustrates a card for Shelby. Each card illustrates what she likes, what they’re doing, or something significant about that particular season of life. She opened this card and read to the bottom where it said, “open here.” She flipped the quarter-folded card open to its final capacity, and there was an illustration of Cormac down on one knee. She looked up and there he was, doing just as the card foretold. When I asked Shelby why they picked this venue, she said this: "We chose Ireland for two reasons: 1) my family had never been, and 2) we wanted to meet Cormac's family where they were. We chose Burtown House and Gardens in Athy because we wanted to be where the wildflowers were and Burtown House is where we found them. I mean wildflowers for absolute days. Wildflowers have been symbolic in our relationship first because of how Cormac saw me, a bit wild but still delicate. But now wildflowers are representative of how we want our relationship to develop. We want to grow wherever we land, really wherever the Lord places us, and be used to influence to further the kingdom. Kind of how the wildflowers fall and where there's one there are one-hundred more. They're beautiful; easy to grow with, easy to spot, people are drawn to them. We want to be like that."