The Engine Room

Wedding Day

Wedding

The Engine Room at Monroe Cotton Mills

Reception

Our Wedding

It is interesting how close Abby and James were before they met but yet they were so far apart. They attended Florida College Georgia Camp together and knew a lot of the same people in the Atlanta Area but they never really knew each other.Finally, they were able to meet on June 2, 2015, at Lawrenceville church of Christ. They congregation there was having a gospel meeting during the first week of June where Justin Mont's brother was preaching. James had been worshiping there for the summer as he lived with Kate and Joel Wilsford. Abby had decided to visit the meeting on that Tuesday since her friends Keith and Emily Hughes were there. They may not have talked to each other if it weren't for Brownlee and Nancy Reaves who were also visiting that Tuesday. The Reaves knew both Abby and James from when they were toddlers. On this day they both knew that both Abby and James had recently gotten out of a serious relationship but that did not prevent them from encouraging Abby and James to meet the other. Neither James nor Abby were ready for another serious relationship so they decided if they were to meet they would become friends. Well that did not happen. That night Keith invited both Abby and James to come have frozen yougurt with a group of friends and that was the night James and Abby met.

So Close Yet So Far

During the few weeks after James and Abby met their friends, Keith and Emily, constantly tried to make plans so that the four of them would hang out. During the course of these few month James met Abby's parents and everyone at Lilburn church of Christ. During the third week of June 2015 the group had made plans for almost every night of that week. For some reason though James kept staying around even though it would get late and he would have to go to work the next morning. During this week earlier in the days Abby would talk to her parents about this James guy and wondered if he really liked her or not. She didn't want to ask him out but she started to really like him. Of course her parents could already see the future of this soon to be couple and encouraged their daughter to be patient. Finally on Friday of that week these two young people sat in Abby's drive way looking at the stars when Abby said, "James, why do we keep staying so late?" James, unable to speak laughed nervously. Both knew they other was hiding something but wanting to share. But who would speak first? Finally Abby spoke again saying that she really liked James. With relief James said the thing to Abby thus beginning their new journey as a couple. Of course her parents like to say that they started dating a whole lot sooner before that and that James and Abby had no idea that they were already dating!

Finally!!

Abby and James had talked about how they would like to get married many times while they were courting. It seemed though that someone was taking to long to make the move. This, of course, drove Abby nuts and began to question whether James really did want to get married to her. Again her parents would encourage her to be patient even though they were feeling the same way. One day James finally talked to Frances about how he had gotten permission from his parents to ask Abby to marry him but that he wanted this to be a surprise. But of course he had to ask for permission from Abby's parents. Frances was all for it but Mike wanted to talk to make sure her baby girl would be taken care of spiritually and financially. So they had lunch together one week day and Mike seemed comfortable enough with James asking Abby to marry him.Things were looking good for James. He got permission from both his parents and now Abby's parents and he had the ring. The only thing he needed now was a good spot and time for this proposal to take place. Funnily enough, Abby was planning a trip to Tampa to see some of her friends at Florida College. She also wanted to plan a beach day with her friends at Anna Maria beach. Little did she know that she was planning the time and location to be proposed to. To make things better, their friends, Kim, Diane, and Austin Rutherford were all going down to Tampa and invited James and Abby to stay with them while there. James let them in on the secret which just made them more excited to the point where they almost let the secret out. They day finally came when Abby, James and their friends, Austin, Emily, Brent, and Leah took their trip to the beach. Austin was kind enough to take pictures even though he hadn't been into photography at all. He told Abby he wanted to learn and he would be taking pictures of the birds at the beach! They all had a fun time tossing the frisbee, swimming in the water, and laying in the sun. When they were all taking a break James asked Abby if she wanted to go on a walk. So they walked along the edge of the water with the ring in James' pocket. Their friends watched as the walked away from them wondering whether or not they should follow.James knew he needed to get back to where their friends were at so they could experience this awesome moment with them. So they turned back still walking on the edge of the water. Abby and James talked about the weekend. Abby seemed a little disappointed and sad because she missed being at Florida College. As they approached their friends James asked Abby, "What would you rate this weekend on a scale from 1 to 10?" Abby said she would have given it a 7 because it hadn't been that great of a week. Then James said as he got down on one knee, "Hopefully I can make your week better!"

James & Abby

James & Abby

Photos

Engagement