Allow me to present... the first installment of Wedding Wednesday.
Today's post is kind of a long one, but it takes a little bit of a different approach - Us, According to Him.
Our Story
(Shared from Alex's perspective)
The First "Date":We both agreed, at the time, and to this day, that our first meeting was an awful experience. I was in the Old North State for the USC Upstate / NC State basketball game on Dec. 11, 2010. The "meeting" took place on Dec. 10 and it well, was not something to remember. I drove to Raleigh from my mom's house (Dunn) and met up with Chris and Kara and we drove to Lauren's apartment complex before going to Krispy Kreme. Very few words were exchanged between Lauren and I, it wound up being more of me interacting with Chris and leaving Lauren and Kara to enjoy each others company. The quartet went and looked at Christmas lights in downtown Raleigh before calling it a night... and before it was over, Lauren made fun of my car and in her mind really made me angry. Lauren went back to Louisiana for the Christmas holidays while I returned home for a few days before returning to Spartanburg.
The Next Step:
A few days after the less than spectacular meeting, I decided to contact Lauren and just say it was nice to meet her. We conversed here and there and I figured it was worth a shot to schedule another "date", just the two of us and see if it went any better.
The Second Date:
I left Spartanburg early on the morning of Jan. 9, 2011 and drove to Raleigh for lunch and bowling with Lauren. We ate lunch at Crazy Fire, a Mongolian place. It was really good minus the slightly undercooked calamari. (Haha) After lunch, we went to the bowling alley and bowled two games. Neither of us did well - I barely cracked 100 and that was the first game. After bowling, we went back to Lauren's apartment and watched the movie "Heavyweights" before I got back on the road and headed back to the 'burg. Date two went tons better than number one, so that was a plus.
A week later:
Lauren came to visit me in Spartanburg and told all of her friends my phone number and address in case she went missing - I guess she thought I was some crazy person. I had just gotten back from a basketball road trip, so we just hung out and watched movies and enjoyed each other's company. That was the same weekend Lauren became my girlfriend (on January 16, 2011, to be exact) - pretty bold, yes I know.
~Insert 15 month interlude involving Lauren's completion of her Master's Degree, her move to Little Rock, AR for employment, and the resulting long-distance relationship that continued to develop between us.~
Fast forward to Easter Weekend 2012:
I arrived in Little Rock on April 4th to spend Easter weekend with Lauren and her family in Abbeville, LA. On April 5th, Lauren had to work so I just ran errands around town and etc. While out and about, ULM (my new employer) called to set up a phone interview and restart the search for the Director of Media Relations Position. It started a crazy week of 6 phone interviews and at the end I had a on-campus interview set up for April 23-24th.
Back to the previous story, Lauren got off work at 5 pm, so I went to pick her up and then we had a picnic on a big rock at her apartment complex. Lauren and I talked about her day and I knocked the lunchbox off of the rock and jumped down and got it. While continuing to talk I reached inside and pulled out the wedding ring and asked Lauren to marry me... It took her a few moments but she screamed, "YES," for all to hear. I also had her neighbors hide and take photos. Afterwards we made the usual phone calls and then went out to dinner to enjoy being with each other.
We went down to Louisiana on Friday and it was a great weekend showing off the diamond and telling everyone about how it happened and begin Lauren's favorite part - the planning.
The First "Date":We both agreed, at the time, and to this day, that our first meeting was an awful experience. I was in the Old North State for the USC Upstate / NC State basketball game on Dec. 11, 2010. The "meeting" took place on Dec. 10 and it well, was not something to remember. I drove to Raleigh from my mom's house (Dunn) and met up with Chris and Kara and we drove to Lauren's apartment complex before going to Krispy Kreme. Very few words were exchanged between Lauren and I, it wound up being more of me interacting with Chris and leaving Lauren and Kara to enjoy each others company. The quartet went and looked at Christmas lights in downtown Raleigh before calling it a night... and before it was over, Lauren made fun of my car and in her mind really made me angry. Lauren went back to Louisiana for the Christmas holidays while I returned home for a few days before returning to Spartanburg.
The Next Step:
A few days after the less than spectacular meeting, I decided to contact Lauren and just say it was nice to meet her. We conversed here and there and I figured it was worth a shot to schedule another "date", just the two of us and see if it went any better.
 |
| I really don't like dogs, but C.J.'s pitiful "please love me face" melted my heart. |
I left Spartanburg early on the morning of Jan. 9, 2011 and drove to Raleigh for lunch and bowling with Lauren. We ate lunch at Crazy Fire, a Mongolian place. It was really good minus the slightly undercooked calamari. (Haha) After lunch, we went to the bowling alley and bowled two games. Neither of us did well - I barely cracked 100 and that was the first game. After bowling, we went back to Lauren's apartment and watched the movie "Heavyweights" before I got back on the road and headed back to the 'burg. Date two went tons better than number one, so that was a plus.
A week later:
Lauren came to visit me in Spartanburg and told all of her friends my phone number and address in case she went missing - I guess she thought I was some crazy person. I had just gotten back from a basketball road trip, so we just hung out and watched movies and enjoyed each other's company. That was the same weekend Lauren became my girlfriend (on January 16, 2011, to be exact) - pretty bold, yes I know.
 |
| 3 months into dating, March 2011 |
Fast forward to Easter Weekend 2012:
I arrived in Little Rock on April 4th to spend Easter weekend with Lauren and her family in Abbeville, LA. On April 5th, Lauren had to work so I just ran errands around town and etc. While out and about, ULM (my new employer) called to set up a phone interview and restart the search for the Director of Media Relations Position. It started a crazy week of 6 phone interviews and at the end I had a on-campus interview set up for April 23-24th.
Back to the previous story, Lauren got off work at 5 pm, so I went to pick her up and then we had a picnic on a big rock at her apartment complex. Lauren and I talked about her day and I knocked the lunchbox off of the rock and jumped down and got it. While continuing to talk I reached inside and pulled out the wedding ring and asked Lauren to marry me... It took her a few moments but she screamed, "YES," for all to hear. I also had her neighbors hide and take photos. Afterwards we made the usual phone calls and then went out to dinner to enjoy being with each other.
We went down to Louisiana on Friday and it was a great weekend showing off the diamond and telling everyone about how it happened and begin Lauren's favorite part - the planning.
If you stuck around for the whole story, mad props to you! What can we expect in future WW posts? Oh, don't worry, there's a whole laundry list of ideas, including The Lineup (people involved), a shower I didn't expect to have, creative gift ideas, traditions, etc, etc. Additional "guest" posts may even appear at some point. Cheers.-Lauren
Note: "Our Story" was originally written in 2012 featured on our wedding website, hosted by Shutterfly.
Also featured in the Wedding Wednesday Series:
The Lineup
1 comment:
What a sweet love story! I love reading about how couples met. :)
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