It all started on December 3rd, 2022, when I was walking into work at the emergency department in Newberry when I ran into Yolanda Williams and Clay, who were both standing outside by their patrol cars after responding to a call at the ER. If you don’t know Yolanda, in the ER we like to call her our “honorary employee” because she loves to come visit us in the ER while we are working and check in on us. Later that night, while Yolanda was in the ER, she came up to me and said, “Cassie, do you have a boyfriend? If not, I’ve got the perfect guy for you!” Immediately I said, “You’re gonna say Clay McConnell, aren’t you?” Yolanda went on and on about how great of a guy Clay is and then Yolanda proceeded to call Clay and put him on speaker phone, and I ran to the break room (anybody that knows me knows that I am super shy and don’t like being put on the spot). Yolanda followed me to the break room and handed me the phone and Clay and I had a conversation which resulted in us exchanging our phone numbers. Clay and I knew of each other since we both graduated from Mid-Carolina, but we had never talked. Over the next couple of weeks we texted, and Clay finally asked me out on a date! On December 16th, 2022, Clay came and picked me up for our first date to the local Mexican restaurant and I remember looking out my bedroom window waiting for Clay to pull up with so much anticipation, and to say I was nervous would be an understatement! When Clay finally got to the house, I met him outside on my front porch and Clay was holding red roses. Also, that night a group of my friends planned to take me to CWP in Columbia for my birthday and after Clay and I got back from eating dinner at the Mexican restaurant, he met my sister and all my friends, and he was brave enough to go out with all of us to the bar. Poor Clay was the only guy! We all had a great time and the next morning I remember talking to my sister, Logan, about how nice he was and how it was so easy to talk to him and how I could not believe I took him out to a bar on the first night we met with all my friends. Logan’s exact words were, “You need to marry him if he speaks to you again after hanging out with all of us!” Well look at us now, planning a wedding!! Clay and I continued to talk and hang out and then on January 1st, 2023, Clay asked me to be his girlfriend and the rest is history. Then on July 17, 2024, while both our families were at the beach for our annual summer vacation at Myrtle Beach, he proposed to me on the beach with the help of mine and Clay’s sisters Logan, Whitney, and Brianna and we got to celebrate with our families and be surrounded by the people we both love the most!

Clay and I cannot wait to celebrate with all of you at our wedding this October!!