A 21st century love story, our bride and groom met…online. On the wonderful dating app of Tinder, at the end of September 2019.

Our bride was spending time with her friends at their local watering hole, swiping left and right, when she found our groom, and their officiant, Dylan. Brian was at a country concert with Dylan and the two of them were wearing their signature shirts that said, “I’m with Fatty” & “I’m Fat Let’s Party”. The groom’s shirt peaked the bride’s interest and lead her to message “I’m down to party”.

The groom was enthralled and in shock, had his shirt really struck up a conversation with a beautiful young woman? The groom looked over the bride’s profile and instantly fell in love. Her profile read “if you are looking for someone to go to the gym with, I am not your girl. But if you are looking for someone to drink Bud Light’s with, I’m your girl.” The two spent time speaking on Tinder that night, exchanged Social Media accounts, to verify they were not talking to a robot, and then spent the night talking to one another. When the groom heard Jordan speak he had butterflies, he loved her southern accent.

The two agreed to meet up that week, and Brian asked if Jordan would be willing to come to his house, have a fire and have an adult beverage or two. Brian, amid renovating his entire home, immediately regretted that decision, knowing the second she walked through the door she would fear for her life. The house had plastic traps hanging from the ceiling & laying on the floor while he was working on scraping the popcorn texture off his ceiling. Brian followed up his invitation explaining to her “I am not going to murder you, but my house is going through a MAJOR renovation”. Jordan, reluctantly, agreed to come over for a few hours after work so the two could meet in person. They spent their evening watching The Office and drinking Bud Light Platinum, Brian really splurged for her 😉.

Eager to see her again, and to try and show off, Brian asked if Jordan would like to come watch him play softball that week, with his co-workers. After their games, the team typically would come back to Brian’s house for a bonfire and drinks. Jordan said she would love to come to the game and could not wait for the next time they saw one another. About 20 minutes into the 1-hour game, Brian still hadn’t seen Jordan. Fearing he scared her off, Brian goes about the game and stops looking all around the field for her. With about 15 minutes left, Brian is playing 1st base and heard his co-worker yell, “ROAM WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US YOU HAD A GIRLFRIEND AND SHE WAS HERE!!” Trying to hold his composure, Brian did not react but was VERY excited, she really did come, maybe this girl does like me 😊. Later that night Brian found out Jordan had been there the entire time, watching him look around for her, but she was hiding from him.

As the weeks went on, Brian and Jordan were trying not to tell their friends and families about their new “relationship”. They both shared this insane idea that once they told people, the relationship would end abruptly. This became hard for Brian, when he took a trip to Buffalo with his brother, sister-in-law, their officiant, and Usher (Dan), to watch the Eagles play the Bills. While on the trip, Brian caught the flu and was sleeping at every moment he could. Brian’s friends could tell he was talking to someone but did not hound him to find out what was going on. Until one night, Brian had fallen asleep on his air mattress in the hotel and his phone kept ringing, repeatedly. Brian’s sister-in-law woke him up and told him someone was trying to get a hold of him. Brian saw it was Jordan, and immediately called her back. She was in distress, her neighbor was drunk and trying to break into her apartment. Brian, over 10 hours away, was useless but needed to think of a plan to help Jordan. He told Jordan to get her dog, go into her room and pack everything she would need for the next 3-4 days, that is when Brian would be home. She needed to do this quickly so the first chance she had, when he went back into his apartment, she could run to her car and leave. Brian had a smart garage door opener and could let Jordan into the house while he was away. He offered her a place to stay, and told her where she could find an extra key inside so she could come and go as needed. He offered to help her find a way to resolve her neighbor problem once he was home from Buffalo. At this moment, Brian knew how much he really cared about this girl he met just a few short weeks ago. He couldn’t fall back asleep until he knew she made it to his house and was safe. It was at this moment that Brian started telling his friends about his relationship, because there was no way he could hide it anymore.

Once he arrived back in Charlotte, Brian and Jordan were able to live in Brian’s home, in separate rooms, while they figured out what to do and where Jordan could move. The two looked at a few apartments close by Brian’s house but the two kept saying that they knew they would be spending most nights with one another. They decided to move in together, after a month(ish) of dating. Brian had 4 bedrooms, only 2 really could be lived in, the others didn’t have drywall or subfloors, but they knew they would figure it out.

Now that they had taken such a big step so quickly, Brian wanted to meet Jordan’s family. Jordan declined his ask and wanted to give it more time. Brian, being impatient, took to Facebook and added everyone that had the last name of Harmon or Scates. Jordan did not find it as funny as Brian did, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She just asked him not to message any of them. Brian immediately messaged her brother saying “Hi, your sister told me I am not allowed to talk to you, but it looks like we have a lot in common.” The two talked on messenger about sports until they finally met, a month later, when Brian forced Jordan to introduce him to her brother when he took them their lunch at work.

The couple was going strong, and they decided around Christmas they would meet each other’s families. Jordan was going to fly north to do all 10 Christmases Brian attends and Jordan would slowly introduce Brian to a new member of the family each week in December.

The couple rang in the New Year in Pennsylvania, not knowing what 2020 had in store for the world. Shortly after returning to Charlotte, Brian got word from work that if employees would like to begin working from home they would be allowed to. Brian, working a weekend shift, decided he was going to take this offer and work from home full time, for the time being. He packed up most of his belongings and moved them to his home office, which also was his bedroom and living room. Not thinking COVID would keep him out of the office for that long, Brian found a way to work, sleep and live in the only finished room of their home. One month after another, Brian began to lose his mind. Not only was he working from home, working to fix up that same home but the world shut down. Jordan and Brian could not leave the house, could not get away from that ONE finished room in the house, and they began to feel like the walls were closing in. Brian decided it was time to pause other projects on the house, the kitchen and living room, and focus on finishing another bedroom. This way the couple could sleep and work in separate rooms. After a month of very little progress, Jordan finally asked Brian what she could do to help progress the house along, since COVID had shut down her work. Brian began to show Jordan how to use some of his tools, taught her electrical and even got her help painting. The two worked together and stood in line together at Home Depot every weekend to tackle a new project. At times, it tested the couple, but in the end it made their bond grow stronger. Eventually the couple called in professional help because the couple decided to grow their family and buy a new puppy together. The timing felt right because Microsoft had told its employees they would not have to return to the office for about 3 - 4 months. The puppy needed to come home in under a month and a half, so they needed to hire a crew to help them finish their house quickly.

Once they had finished turning, what some called, “murder house” into their home, the two discussed marriage. They both knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with one another. However, Brian told Jordan he financially couldn’t buy her the ring she deserved. The two agreed they needed to take time and save money for the ring and wedding of their dreams.

As the years go on, the couple begin to travel more, now that COVID restrictions have started to be lifted. The couple attended Eagles football games, Phillies baseball games, country concerts and beach trips with their friends and family. They finally get to feel what life is like as a couple, outside of their house.

In 2022, Jordan asks Brian if they can hire a photographer to take photos of them so they can have some “cute” photos to put out in their home. Brian says, “yes, we can do that one day” and that day never came, until June of 2023.

Before we get to the proposal, we need to talk about the events leading up to the proposal. See Brian thought this was the easy part. Go to the store, pick out a ring, he knew what Jordan liked, and plan a proposal. However, Brian likes to save money however he can, sometimes, and when he saw the price tag on the ring he KNEW Jordan needed to have he asked the saleswoman, is there any chance the ring may go on sale? The saleswoman snickered and told him to check back around Mother’s Day this way he did not have to drive back to the store to get refunded the difference. As Mother’s Day approaches, Brian received a phone call, it’s the saleswoman, the ring is on sale, and it’s the best sale she’s seen on that ring. Brian goes to get up and leave, when he realizes, he couldn’t take the only car they have and say “I am going out; you can’t come with me” and Jordan be suspicious or check on his shared location. Brian decided to tell Jordan, “I am going to the store to buy you a present, I am going to stop sharing my location, so you are surprised by the gift and cannot see where it is coming from, I’ll be home in a few hours”. Jordan did not like having to wait for her surprise but agreed to wait at home patiently. On Brian’s drive he realized something, I am not only buying an engagement ring, but I need to go shopping for a “surprise” gift. When he pulled into the Kay’s parking lot, he saw a Dick’s Sporting Goods and he ran in to buy her a Stanley Cup in a color she had been looking for. Brian proceeded into Kay’s to buy the ring. As he was checking out the saleswoman asked, “so when are you proposing” and Brian had no answer. He said, “well I didn’t think about that until now, but probably really soon because she lives with me there’s no way I can hide this ring”. Kay’s estimated a two week turn around for when he could pick up the engagement ring and wedding bang and Brian began to plan the engagement around that timeline. On his drive home, he called his family to tell them the news and talked with them so long he had to pull over in the neighborhood before returning home. The only problem with this was Brian started to share his location when he was getting close to the house thinking his call was almost over. When he did this Jordan checked his location and saw Brian was sitting up the street at a neighbor’s house she called him asking “what are you doing at that house?”. Brian did not pick up, and that made Jordan more suspicions, leading her to get ready to walk up the street to find out what was going on. Jordan texted Brian, asking him “what are you doing up the street?" and he immediately told his family he needed to go and rushed home.

Brian was not all that smooth during the planning of the proposal. He decided he wanted to hire a photographer to take photos of their proposal, and act like they finally were taking the photos Jordan has been asking for. They set a date, Memorial Day weekend, and started to look for photographers in the Hendersonville/Asheville area. However, the day after he told Jordan he wanted to take a trip and get professional photos taken, Kay’s sent him and update email that the ring would not arrive until 06/01/2023, well after Memorial Day, ruining Brian’s plan. Brian was quick on his feet and decided his best bet was to tell Jordan he wanted to go golfing with his friends that weekend because “a lot of them are having kids so I am not sure how many more chances we will have for golf weekend like this” and “we can pick a weekend in June to do pictures”. This was not a “fan favorite” decision, but after a while the couple agree to book their trip to Hendersonville for June and visit Pennsylvania over Memorial Day. Jordan was so excited; she did all the legwork for Brian. Three days later, well before Memorial Day, both the ring and wedding band arrived at the Kay’s store for pickup, so the couple fought for no reason. Jordan was so excited for this photo shoot she called a photographer, booked sunrise photos, like they had talked about, and started to plan the location all by herself, not realizing she was planning her engagement shoot.

June 10th, 2023, at 6 in the morning, the couple and their photographer took a hike on Black Balsam Knob Trail to head to a beautiful lookout to take pictures during the sunrise. Jordan had no idea why Brian was walking so far behind them, he was practicing his speech, and kept asking him if he was alright. When they arrived at the location the sun had just started to rise. They were able to take in the beautiful scenery and take some candid photos. Then the photographer asked Brian and Jordan to go back-to-back. The couple had some distance between them, and the photographer was telling the couple where to look and how to stand. This gave Brian some time to turn around and get down on one knee. The only problem, Brian couldn’t get the ring out of his back pocket. While Brian was panicking, hoping Jordan didn’t turn around, the photographer told the couple to stand still and not move while she tried to take a specific shot from multiple angles. This bought Brian time to calm down and get the ring out of his back pocket. Jordan was told to turn around and was shocked to see Brian on one knee. Brian attempted to get words out but just wound up getting choked up, crying and saying 1/4th of the speech he wrote for Jordan. When Brian asked Jordan to marry him, she cryingly said yes, and when she had her ring said, “I thought you had one more year in you”.

The couple has spent so much time and effort with their family and friends to plan their perfect wedding over the last year. They have changed their minds on the venue, the location and have attempted to make this as easy of a process for themselves as they can. They have searched across North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania to find the perfect venue. The couple really wanted to find a way to turn a expensive one-day event into a weekend-long experience with everyone they love and care about.

When the couple found The Willow House and Social Barn they knew it was the perfect place to celebrate with you all and know it is the perfect place to begin writing the next chapter of their love story.

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