The Barn at Blue Sky Farm

Wedding Day

Ceremony

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Our Wedding

Emily and I met in a "new fashioned" way through Upward, a Christian dating app. We were drawn to each other's profile through our love of Christ and commitment to serve in the church. Our first messages to each other were over our love of board games. Shortly after messaging each other, we realized that Emily and I had been in the same volleyball league before but had never connected there. Matthew was acquaintances with Emily's older brother Chris after we played in the same volleyball league together for multiple years. After Emily verified that Matthew was someone suitable to date through Chris and a friend of his, we had our first date at Jia in Gastonia. We had a successful first date where we connected over our common experience at Christian universities (North Greenville for Emily and Indiana Wesleyan for Matthew) and other things. We had fun dates at Pita Wheel, ice skating and became "officially" boyfriend and girlfriend after a meal at Cracker Barrel, one of Emily's favorite restaurants. Since then we've enjoyed spending time together visiting each other's churches and serving with the youth group at Sandy Plains Baptist (Emily's home church); eating at local restaurants; playing volleyball, pickleball, slow pitch softball (Matthew begrudgingly), disc golf, and tennis; watching sports and playing in fantasy football leagues; and watching some of our favorite tv shows (Better Call Saul, Manifest, and Breaking Bad); working out at Planet Fitness; and attending multiple weddings together. We have both had job changes during our relationship. Emily has moved from Stepping Stones in Lake Wylie, SC, to Pediatric Hands on Therapy in Gastonia, NC, where she works as a pediatric physical therapist. Matthew moved from James Love Elementary in Shelby, NC, to Hunter Huss High School in Gastonia, NC where he works as a school counselor. We will be living together in a house off of Redbud in Gastonia, NC. We are enjoying working in the same city and are looking forward to living together and no longer making the daily drive between Kings Mountain and Gastonia. Through our dating relationship, we have grown closer and closer together over time as we began to learn more about each other. We both became each other's closest friends and became our trusted person to share our feelings, joys, struggles, and love with. We joined into each other's life through meals and vacations with each other's family, sports viewing and disc golf with Matthew's friends, and boardgames with Emily's friends until we all became each other's friends and family. We are excited for marriage and how we will keep learning more about each other and growing close together! Our prayer is to honor Christ and reveal his love.

Emily & Matthew

Emily & Matthew

E&M

Wedding Day

4:00 PM

Ceremony

Reception