Wedding Day

The Barn at Hidden Oak Farm 

Ceremony

The Barn at Hidden Oaks Farm

Reception

Sunday morning breakfast at Westin 

Spring

Our Wedding

Mike & Hannah

From the moment I became a Police Officer my dream was to become a Special Victims Unit (SVU) Detective. Little did I know that dream would have led me to my future husband.. but here we are! About 4 or 5 years ago I was in the gym at the police station and saw some grumpy guy in there working out. No words or head nods were exchanged, just noticed him. Fast forward, to October of 2022, I’m a brand new, bright eyed, super excited, SVU Detective and that grumpy guy from the gym just happens to work two doors down from me. He would show up at the office door, coffee in hand, for his “coffee break”. Really I think it was just a reason for him to get out of his windowless office. But he would come by the office sit down and chit chat with one of my squadmates he was friends with and occasionally ask about cases we were all working. After a few coffee breaks I started to join in to the conversation. At that point I think Mike started to realize I had a bit of a dark sense of humor (thanks Dad). So office small talk turned into Instagram friends with Mike sending dark humored memes to me. Pretty sure it was a test, and by the looks of it, I passed! Coffee breaks and small talk turned into conversations about our personal lives. We discovered we both had similar values, both wanted the old fashion relationship (pink jobs and blue jobs), and we were both on dating sites. So obviously, we decided to write each other’s dating profile. We even got to the point where Mike would text me after his infamous ice cream dates to let me know how they went. Thankfully not great lol. Meanwhile, back at the office (literally), my squadmates clearly saw the writing on the wall even though we were oblivious or just didn’t want to see it in Mike’s case. So the harassment started, daily my squadmates would try to convince me to think about dating Mike and tried to convince Mike to date me. For month this went on, until finally something changed. What started as a casual fling turned into Mike bringing me soup and medicine one night I was sick. I was curled up on the couch, no make up, looking a mess. He comes in and sets down fruit, soup, and medicine. Then positions himself by my feet and lifts my feet in his lap.. my reaction “why are you being nice to me”, because we all know he can be a bit of an ass. This turned into spending most of our days messaging and many night out on the back porch together talking (Mike really liked me but he’d never admit it). As our relationship outside the office blossomed Mike tells me he wants to keep it a secret. He said let’s see where this goes and if it doesn’t work then no body will know and there won’t be any drama. He asked me to change his name in my phone and so “Grump P” was born! So for 5 months…. 5 LONG MONTHS… we secretly dated (and saved Mike a ton of money on date nights). Meanwhile we both were still getting harassed by my squadmates who were trying anything to push us together. We weren’t completely innocent, we led them on a bit (which you may hear about in a speech at the wedding). Until the night of my annual Halloween costume birthday party where we revealed our relationship in our Bonnie and Clyde costumes. The next year was filled with numerous matching shirts, trips to the hospital, new positions at work, loss of loved ones, country concerts, sunflowers, trail walks, lots of stress crying (me, mostly me lol), more matching shirts, moving in together as a family, 7 Christmas trees, kid parties, growing closer, and falling more in love each day. Then one windy and cold day in October of 2024, after two back to back hurricanes, Mike got down on one knee in the middle of the sunflowers where we took our first official couples picture and asked me to marry him. I obviously said yes, followed by a frantic “DID YOU ASK MY MOM??” and thankfully he did. Now a few short months later we are getting ready to celebrate our love with you!

Hannah’s version 

Hannah gave me one look and I knew she was going to be trouble. In the beginning we knew of each other at work, but we never spoke. I worked away from the station and would only show up to use the gym. Occasionally I would notice her obvious red hair as she walked through the parking lot. Back then, I never thought anything of it. I knew her name, and she was a cop, that’s all I needed to know. I had a strict rule of not being involved with anyone at work. I was reassigned to a desk job and suddenly found myself on the same floor she worked on. I would visit her office daily for time away from staring at my computer screen. Not to see her specifically, or anyone in particular. Some days I was just bored. I’d bring a cup of coffee into her office and want to hear the new cases rolling in for each Detective who worked there. Morbid curiosity I suppose. Then a hurricane hit in 2022. I found myself posted at headquarters for the storm. As fate would have it, so was Hannah. Since there wasn’t much to do in my office, I walked down to hers and found Hannah with a few other people on the second floor in the same situation. All of us were stuck. I think this night was the first time we spoke more than 3 sentences to each other. I knew she was single, and I had even swiped away from her on dating apps. (Absolutely no coworkers) Once she found out I was on the dating apps we decided to read and rewrite each other’s profile. After that was done, we agreed to talk to each other about the dates we went on. In the space between my dates with other women, Hannah and I would exchange numerous gifs, memes, and reels reflecting the depths of our mutually dark humor. I would tell her how my date went and how many red flags I spotted within the encounter. All along I clung to my strict, “do not date coworkers” policy. Hannah asked if I would participate in a philanthropy event she helped organize for the department. I reluctantly agreed. This philanthropy required me to climb lots of stairs to raise money…. On my day off. I also had both of my daughters in tow on this day. Which upped the level of difficulty. When I arrived, I saw Hannah. She looked very busy and involved with the event. She approached me and the girls, and I introduced them. Then I made a wise comment about how lucky she was to even have me there. Hannah shot a look at me with one eyebrow raised and a closed lip smirk out of the corner of her mouth as she walked away. She kept her eyes locked on mine, holding her expression for what was just long enough for me to realize something….I knew she was going to be trouble. Setting up the rules. Not much transpired for a few months. The standard trading of dark humor, more stories from the office. Then I went on an annual fishing trip to the Bahamas. She didn’t communicate much, if at all, while I was on my trip. Something was up and I tried not to let interfere with my vacation. I found myself back in the states on a Sunday. A long road trip that started with crossing back from the Bahamas followed by the drive home from Ft. Lauderdale. I proceeded directly to my traditional single man Sunday tradition. I went to Longhorn steakhouse and sat alone at the bar. I always ordered one of their biggest steaks and washed it down with apple pie for dessert. I enjoyed flirting with the bartenders and people watching. While sitting there I texted Hannah and found out she had a cold. I asked for her address. She told me no. I wasn’t taking no for an answer, so I asked again. She gave it to me. That was easy… I went to Publix and bought her chicken soup and medicine. When I walked into her house, I didn’t know what to expect. It was clean. Top to bottom. It suddenly became evident that after riding on a boat all morning and driving home, I was the dirtiest thing in her house. I’d say this was the start of our situationship. I did something uncharacteristically nice for someone I barely knew. But I wasn’t going to give up single life easily, I had a list. I had to know if I could trust her. Rule number one: No talking about our relationship. I had seen and heard the rumors and disasters at our job regarding private relationships becoming public knowledge too quick. I knew that if we were to get to know each other it had to be protected with 100% secrecy. It was June and I pushed for the secret to be maintained till November. We negotiated to October. I wanted this to start as a business deal. Rule number two: Come up with your list of non-negotiables for a relationship. I don’t want to waste my time or anyone else’s. We each made lists and had to agree to them. If not, no harm no foul. We call it off and no one would ever know but us. Now we are getting married, so I guess that worked out. The October Surprise Our secret was doing rather well. Aside from each of us making concessions to tell our parents, no one knew. Much to my amusement, and Hannah’s reluctant participation, not even her office coworkers knew. But they were secretly trying to get us together by giving Hannah advice. I had fun with this. Maybe too much fun. I would interject comments in the office just to see the reaction in the dynamic. Morbid curiosity again I suppose. The day of making our relationship public arrived. It was at Hannah’s yearly Halloween costume party. Weeks before, just to stir the pot of drama in the office, I suggested I would be bringing a date in front of her coworkers. In secret though we had plan to wear matching costumes, Bonnie and Clyde. I thought it was fitting for pulling off what felt like the crime of the century. The plan was simple. Walk in and kiss Hannah like I owned the place. But I wanted everyone in her office to be there. That way they could all experience the reveal. The moment didn’t go exactly as planned. Not everyone was there so I waited as long as I could. An hour or so into the party I had to rally. I put my phone in the hand of one of Hannah’s coworkers and asked if she would take a picture of the two of us. I pulled Hannah up next to me, looked right at her, and asked, “Are you ready?” The kiss captured in the picture made it public, and the rest is history.

Mike’s version 

Our Story

Photos

Ross Pollock

Liz and I briefly met before I became a Police Officer about 8 years ago. She came to workout at the gym I was coaching at and quickly realized I wasn’t the coach for her lol. Fast forward a couple years she ends up being on my first squad after going solo. At first she couldn’t possibly believe I was this nice and bubbly all the time.. But once she warmed up to me we became best friends even roommates for a brief time! She has been there through the good and the bad that’s for sure! Couldn’t imagine not having her by my side on our big day!

Elizabeth Eby

Wedding Party

Q + A

We have rooms blocked off for our guest at this hotel. There is also a shuttle to the venue for wedding day!

Hannah & Michael

Hannah & Michael

Wedding Party