Rehearsal dinner

The Rivers Farm House

Wedding Day

Our Wedding

People often ask “how did y’all meet each other?” I personally love the answer to this. It’s not something you’d typically hear because most people that meet this way don’t end up getting married. However our story starts with us both sliding right. That’s right; we met on Tinder. My bio was “I’m just here to make friends” because I had just moved to Valdosta and his was blank. So we slid right and the conversation felt right too. The conversation came easy to be honest, which isn’t surprising if you know me at all, me being Charlee. Then came Danny asking me out on a date; his question “Would you be interested in grabbing a drink and eating some chips and dip?” My response was “you know I’m 19 right?”That’s right we met when I was 19 and he was 21 years of age. We ended up settling on meeting at the bowling alley. Don’t worry, guys, I didn’t meet him alone. I dragged my old roommates with me. The date ended with endless conversation, me winning 2-0, and he ripped his pants but he was such a good sport and we both had a huge laugh so of course we agreed to go out again the next night. If you ask Danny this was our official first date. Texas Roadhouse, where I flirted too hard and Danny ended up looking like a red tomato but I got to say that date night is one of the moments I can look back and be like “yeah, I knew he was it for me.” He not only was a huge gentleman but when my sister called asking me to bring my nephew’s back pack for school back to Adel (my hometown) because he had left it in my car, Danny didn’t just take me to my house and drop me off but he took me to go grab the back pack, drove me all the way to Adel, met my sister and then took me back home safe and sound. A month later in February he went to his cousin’s wedding down toward Miami. This was the night his family thought it might become something serious. He decided instead of staying the night there with his family he just had to drive home in the middle of the night to see me. This will sound cheesy but this was another moment where I knew he was the one. The next night we made it official, boyfriend and girlfriend; who knew right? A few months later it was time to meet the parents. I met Jetty and Dean after we had eaten dinner at Cheddars. It was very last minute and I was extremely nervous. However all nervousness went out the window when Dean sang a Charlie purfume song to me while I sat at the dining room table introducing myself to them and Matt. Danny just kept giving me funny looks as the parents grilled me with questions. All in all I think it was a great night. Next came Danny meeting my parents. Just to preface, this happened on a day when I had to go to work that night. We went to my parents’ house and had lunch and ended up hanging out for a while. When it was time for me to go to work, Danny ended up staying to spend the entire day until about 7pm with my parents. After I got off, I asked him how it went and he said “it went good; we rode around and they showed me the farm where you grew up.” Three months in, certain circumstances led me back to Adel where I got my first apartment by myself. This led to me and Danny having to communicate better and work toward spending time together around our busy work and life schedules. A couple months later…… as all relationships go we hit a tiny snag. This was where our communication and priorities were tested. I was going through a big loss and Danny was dealing with things as well. We came out of it stronger than ever though, with renewed commitment and confidence in each other. Somewhere along the way I changed jobs and Danny was my number one supporter, especially because it put us on the same work schedule. A year in we had the normal conversations about what we would want in our futures. When our leases were coming up, we had to decide if it was the right time for us to move in together. This was a big commitment considering he lived with his best friend and I was used to living alone. All in all we decided that we would indeed move in and then the next thing you know we were eating at a seafood place celebrating our first night living together. Well anyone who knows Danny knows he hates seafood so he ate a burger. Not the best burger because it was a seafood place but hey we celebrated anyways. Everyone knows how it is getting used to living with someone, clothes on the floor here and there, paying bills together and so much more. I won’t bore you with the details but living together showed us that we could be the partners for each other that we wanted and needed. Fun side story….. One day I was helping my mom go through some stuff at my grandmother’s house and while going through her recipe drawer we found a magazine clipping from none other than his Aunt Cindy’s magazine with Danny’s picture on the back. Danny was like 5 or so and it genuinely felt like my grandmother had called it. Here we were 2 years into our relationship and there I found a paper my grandmother kept due to a recipe, and who knew it had my life recipe on the back. I was so excited I called Danny right away and of course, him being Danny, he was definitely not as amused as me. He was honestly kind of confused why my grandmother had a picture of him stuffed away in a drawer. That’s when I had to explain the recipe. Jetty and my mom on the other hand felt that same way I did. That it was really NEAT. About another year later and we both knew we were tired of apartment life, this started the house hunt. Not buying but renting we had both decided NO kids or mortgages before marriage. We ended up finding the perfect house in Adel. A year living in the house and Danny decided to propose. That story goes like this……. He went shopping and turned his location off at Books-a-Million so I wouldn’t know, not that I check his location. That was on October 26th. At some point he headed to my parents house right after work because I had once told him the man I would marry would ask my dad first. Also if you can’t tell, Danny was raised a gentleman and there are traditions. He did all of this without me having a single clue. All the while trying to find the perfect moment to propose. Danny was stressed to the nines trying to find the perfect opportunity. He wanted it to be our moment but circumstances kept pushing it further away. Well one night around a fire with some friends he decided that any moment would be perfect because we were perfect together. He pulled me inside of our first house together and popped the question; and of course my answer was YES!!

Charlee & Danny

Charlee & Danny

Wedding Party