We met at Avery’s brother, Bradley, and his wife Hannah’s wedding on August 19, 2023. Sparks flew quickly and after our first date, grabbing coffee at Starbucks, we were pretty inseparable. A few days after we went dove hunting and I was already meeting his family.
At the time, he was Field Training in Wilkes County while I was back in Mooresville. We have so many fond memories falling in love while going back and forth between Wilkesboro and Mooresville to visit one another. We used every opportunity we had available to spend time with each other. We did lots of fun fall activities and he even talked me into shooting a deer…shocking I know lol! Fall turned into Christmas time and we celebrated together. We got to experience the holidays side by side. We also spent that time praying that he would be placed locally for his permanent officer position so we didn’t have to be hours apart. Sure enough, the Lord blessed us with a location only an hour away from where I lived. We moved him to Mount Gilead, and spent time together learning the area and eating at our favorite restaurant by the lake. He would also drive home constantly to see me or serve at church with me. Things were serious at this point and we’d been talking about the potential of getting married since the fall. I went on a mission trip to South Africa and while I was away he asked my dad for his permission to marry me while turkey hunting. I got back from the trip and we had a family beach trip planned not long after. I had known for a while I wanted to marry him, but to throw me off he told me it wasn’t happening this year, and to my suprise he proposed at our favorite spot at Oak Island, “The Point” on May 19th, 2024. We went out to dinner with my parents and then went to the beach around sunset. The story was that dad wanted to “try out his new fishing rod.” 
Avery wrote the name of my little brother, Gavin, who passed away at 15, in the sand and said we should take a picture with it. My mom quickly “fixed my hair” for the picture and as I turned around he was down on one knee. Obviously it was an easy YES! His family flooded out of the sand dunes…they all had done a great job planning haha! We were so excited to get married we didn’t want to wait until the following year so we decided on December. Avery’s words were “I popped the question already don’t make me wait any longer” hehe. We are so excited for the wedding to be married and to get to celebrate with all of you!!