McDaniel Farm Park

Wedding Day

Wedding

Reception

Our Wedding

We met in July of 2014 at Georgia Tech for a transfer student orientation, Anna from Georgia State, and Clay from North Georgia.&nbsp; We're both architecture students, so we got to pal around for&nbsp;the day- Anna remembers telling our friend about the "cute guy from FASET"...needless to say she was excited for classes to start up in August, and was crossing fingers we'd be in the same studio class.

how we met

Good news and bad news...the good news is, we were placed in to the same studio class! The bad news? Welcome to the friend zone...for 2 years. Yep, it's true- Clay asked Anna Belle to coffee and&nbsp;confessed his&nbsp;crush, but she politely turned him down- gave him the ole&nbsp;"&nbsp;we should still be friends." Okay okay, this is actually the opposite of the truth- Clay quickly "friend zoned" Anna, and that's just where she stayed until the fall of 2016.

the friend zone

From our first year of&nbsp; Tech&nbsp;to fall of 2016, we continued being "just friends" (aside from Anna's long lingering crush). Between studio, classes, church, and a mutual friend group, we were together pretty much everyday. We actually became great friends during this time, and got to know each other without the pressure of dating or trying to impress each other.

Going to Europe and falling in love? - pft, that's ridiculous! Well, guilty.&nbsp;Fall of 2016, our Junior year at Tech, we both made plans to study abroad in Spain, and travel through other parts of Europe together (shout out to Gray, part 3 of the tres amigos, and our best traveling pal).





Just as Anna Belle was finally getting comfortable- or at least convincing herself she was- with the idea of only being friends, Clay threw a curve ball.&nbsp;





In October, about half way through our trip, Clay invited Anna to come over for breakfast before watching the sunrise&nbsp;on the beach in Barcelona, just a short walk from where we were living. Anna remembers Clay being unusually nice for a&nbsp; few days prior, but wasn't suspicious- Clay's a nice guy, and we're "just friends", right?





After a breakfast of Anna's favorite foods, we headed to the beach, and Clay- for real this time- told Anna he had a crush. Thank goodness for patience, because Anna still liked Clay too. You could say things were finally working out.

european adventures

Fast forward to summer 2017, Anna&nbsp;had fallen in love with Clay's zinger puns, which she once thought were weird, his quiet leaderhsip, blue eyes, and passion for the Lord. ~Swoon~ What more could a girl dream for?

Toward the end of June,&nbsp;Clay had planned a weekend camping trip for us to Cloudland Canyon. Little did Anna know, this was not one of our usual trips. For about a month prior, Clay had been talking to both of our familes and his closest friends, asked Anna's dad for permission, and bought a ring. He also sought the help of his older sister, Mary Beth, to come up and take secret pictures of the proposal.

We got a late start to our hike after a rainy night of sleeping&nbsp;in our hammocks, and making a campfire breakfast. After about an hour of hiking Anna spotted Mary Beth through the trees- oops! The plan had been foiled. But these Kininghams are quick thinkers, and easily convinced Anna that she was just there to take some pictures, as the professional photographer that she is, to build her portfolio. She said she wanted some "cool outdoorsy couples"- okay, sure.&nbsp;





So we hiked back down to the waterfalls, and took a few pictures. Clay was nervous because at the first falls, there were just too many other people- who wants to proposal next to someone's grandma and a crying toddler? So we moved on to the next waterfall, where we walked&nbsp;across a fallen log to "get the shot."&nbsp;





At this point Clay was shaking, though hiding it well, and Anna started feeling awkward...we started getting a little audience as Mary Beth took pictures. Clay was being suspiciously sweet and laying into the PDA- Anna thought it was just to get her to laugh for the photos, little did she know he was mid-proposal speech.&nbsp;



Clay gets down on one knee, and pulls the ring box out of his sock, yes- he was hiking with it there all day. After some more sweet words, and popping the big question- we were engaged!! For Anna, it was the sweetest surprise and easiest "yes."

the proposal

Through our engagement, we've been learning more and more about each other, and how to be a team. We've learned how to comfort each other, and have discovered what it means to be selfless, as Christ has taught us.&nbsp;

After we complete our Undergraduate degree&nbsp; and graduate from&nbsp;&nbsp;Tech, just two weeks before the wedding,&nbsp; we will both&nbsp;begin a Masters in Architecture in the fall, although we won't know where until April.

We've never doubted the The Lord is the root of our steadfast love for one another, and cannot wait to build a life together with Him as the foundation. We are thankful for all of the people that have been a part of our lives up until now that have helped us get to where we are. We hope that each one of you will be able to join us on May 19, 2018 as we become one flesh and vow to our Lord and one another to love and to cherish, till death do us part.

what is next?

Our Story

Getting There

Join us at McDaniel Farm Park ||&nbsp;A Wedding Into the Woods!

Careful- there are two entrances, we're using the south side.

From Old Norcross Rd, turn onto McDaniel Rd

Anna Belle & Clay

Anna Belle & Clay

Details

Getting There