Things got serious pretty fast with the two of us. I knew immediately that I wanted to marry him. Before I met Matt, I thought people were making it up when they said “we just knew.” But I kid you not, I did. I just knew. I fell in love with his kindness, his gentleness, his character, before we were even “official.” I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. In less than 6 weeks I went from not even knowing his name to being head over heels.
After he asked me to date him, we saw each other pretty much every day for the next few months. We spent a lot of time with his family, especially his 3 younger siblings. We went to the lake a lot, and I discovered that I enjoyed kayaking. Things were quieter at my house than his, so whenever we went to my house we got to spend a lot of time talking. We never really watched a lot of movies or anything like that. We loved talking, going on walks, and just getting to know each other. When we weren’t together we were talking on the phone or texting back and forth. It was pretty much nonstop.
He has so many things that I had prayed for in a husband. He is kind, considerate, caring, and funny. He was homeschooled just like me, he’s family oriented, he loves Jesus and is committed to the Word, he loves his siblings, he is humble beyond belief, and he is a true gentleman. He wasn’t into serial dating, and he didn’t play with girl’s hearts. He believed exactly the same thing I did about dating. On our second date he talked about marriage. He said, “I take dating seriously. I think the purpose of it should be to find out if you’re compatible for marriage. And I’d like to find that out sooner rather than later, because the longer you drag it out the more chance there is for heartbreak.” I had never heard a guy express this to me before, even though it was what I had thought for years.
Call me crazy, but I decided when I was little that I didn’t want to kiss anyone on the lips except my husband, and I kept my promise. I was 23 when I met him and had never been kissed. To my surprise, neither had he. And did I mention that he’s attractive? Before I met him, I was pretty sure that a man like him didn’t exist. After two failed relationships and hard breakups, I began to think my standards were too high and if I wanted to get married I needed to change them. But then I met Matt, and my world changed.
The more we hung out, the more fascinated I was by him. He has so many unique talents and interests, but he doesn’t do them to be cool or to look good. It’s not about pride for him. He loves snowboarding, caving, and scuba diving. He has done BMX and archery. He bought a bunch of climbing gear so he could conquer his fear of heights. He’s been to the Philippines and hiked an active volcano. He can solve a Rubik’s cube in under 30 seconds and can even solve it blindfolded. When he was a kid he could do the 5×5 “Professor’s Cube” blindfolded too. Every day I was more and more surprised by him. His personality is so unassuming and gracious that you could know him for months and never find out these things about him. He is this strange mix of really cool and really nerdy that doesn’t make sense, and I adore it.
In March, he turned 24, and I turned 24 in April. We were both out of school and had stable jobs. There really was nothing holding us back from getting married. I knew in December that I wanted to marry him, and it wasn’t too much longer for him. We even talked about eloping on February 26 because one of my best friends from Germany was in town. I would have done it, and he knows it.
Matt is a quiet man. He always told me that he never says anything he doesn’t mean. Things had been escalating pretty quickly and I knew that I was going to go crazy if I didn’t tell him that I loved him. So one night in March, we went back to my house after a date, and I told him that I loved him. Yes, I said it first, and I’m okay with that. He had the biggest smile on his face and immediately started laughing. I had never seen him laugh like that! A few minutes later he regained his composure and he told me he loved me, and I knew that he meant it.
On May 13 we had planned a kayak trip at Lake Jocassee with our friends Jon & Eve, the ones who’s wedding we briefly met at a year and a half earlier. Everything seemed pretty normal, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that I wanted him to propose to me at Lake Jocassee. Sure enough, before the day was over, he found a quiet spot, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. I said yes.
My very best friends have always been Savannah and Gerry-Ann. By always I really mean always. We met when I was a month old, and their dad and my dad were best friends too and served as pastors together for many years. Savannah, two of her other siblings, and her parents decided that in August of 2017 they were moving to Uganda to become full-time missionaries. Well, August turned into the end of July, and the end of July turned into July 18. I had just gotten engaged and I knew that I wanted them to be at my wedding, and I had always wanted Mr. Johnny (my best friends’ dad, my dad’s best friend, take your pick) to be a part of the ceremony but that was so soon!
Once Matt told me, “To me, being engaged is a promise. I don’t see the point in waiting so long to marry someone if you’re already engaged. I’d just as soon do it two weeks later.”
We made it two months instead of two weeks.
On July 17, 2017, (That’s right, 7.17.17) the day before my best friend and her family moved to Uganda, we were married. We both shared our first kiss ever shortly after 7AM on a dock on Lake Carolina. We had a small ceremony with just our families and best friends. It was beyond perfect and I still can’t believe it happened. We’ve been married for nearly 3 months, and I still find myself occasionally expecting myself to wake up from a dream. It was a whirlwind, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Our photographer, Sara Touchet, is one of Gerry-Ann and Savannah’s sisters. It makes me so happy that the Touchet family played such a big part in our wedding. Check out her gorgeous blog of our wedding by clicking here.
