Wedding Day

Wedding

The Leaning Tree

Reception

Our Wedding

&nbsp;First Meeting,&nbsp;October 31, 2015:&nbsp;We met on Halloween 2015 at a little bar in Carrboro. I was&nbsp;dressed up as Xena the Warrior Princess and was actually on&nbsp;a date (I know, I know)&nbsp;with a guy dressed up&nbsp;as&nbsp;Bob Ross, when Michael and his friend came up to compliment Bob on his costume (my idea, btw).&nbsp; Oscar, one of my best friends&nbsp;had already saved the night by interrupting my&nbsp;lackluster date with Bob,&nbsp;was also with us, rocking his customary Oscar the Grouch T-Shirt.&nbsp;&nbsp;I made&nbsp;Michael produce his ID to prove he was not&nbsp;a college undergrad and we hung out until near closing time. As the evening wrapped up, Michael was reluctantly&nbsp;dragged to an adjacent&nbsp;bar by his friend, but&nbsp;he quickly&nbsp;did an about-face, marched back, and literally&nbsp;inserted himself between me and Bob to&nbsp;ask&nbsp;me out. I quickly weighed the impropriety of saying yes with the&nbsp;odds of randomly running into this handsome James Dean lookalike and said "okay." We swapped numbers and scheduled a coffee date.&nbsp;First Date,&nbsp;November 5, 2015: We planned a date&nbsp;at Carrboro Cafe&nbsp;for the following week. In a trend that would not continue, I was on time, and Michael was a couple minutes&nbsp;late. I nervously&nbsp;pretended to not see him come in and scribbled on my notepad until I realized that he didn't see me and I had to flag him down. The awkwardness wore off quickly as we talked. We continued our coffee date to Weaver Street&nbsp;when&nbsp;Carrboro Cafe&nbsp;closed.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Then,&nbsp;we decided to&nbsp;take&nbsp;a walk around Carrboro before also&nbsp;continuing on&nbsp;to&nbsp;dinner&nbsp;at Milltown. Hours later, Michael left to let out his dog, Morgan, because he read on the internet that you should try to keep the first date&nbsp;short.PROPOSAL (December 15, 2016): As a&nbsp;throwback to one of our first and favorite&nbsp;dates,&nbsp;Michael took me to the rooftop bar at The Durham, which&nbsp;overlooks&nbsp;our adopted&nbsp;city,&nbsp;to propose. I&nbsp;was freezing and complaining,&nbsp;as I do when it gets below 74&nbsp;degrees, so we went to the downstairs dining room and&nbsp;ordered oysters and beef tartare--cause we&nbsp;fancy. There, he&nbsp;asked me to marry him at the table, and&nbsp;I obviously said yes.

Our Story

Details

Photos

Jason has been my best friend&nbsp;since we were kids. We&nbsp;have had so many great experiences together over the years, but it is the perseverance through the tough times that have defined our friendship. He was the rock for me through some of my personal struggles, and when he was changing and advancing his career, I&nbsp;helped him, too. I feel like we're kindred spirits, and in&nbsp;spending&nbsp;just&nbsp;a few minutes interacting with the two of&nbsp;us, anyone would be able to&nbsp;appreciate&nbsp;that.

Jason Wilson

Matt and I met professionally many years ago. We respected each other initially, but we quickly became great&nbsp;friends--based on our love of baseketball and editing. He's been an emotional&nbsp;rock for me, as a great source of support and an even better source of humor. Don't let his&nbsp;dry sense of humor fool you; he's probably just messing with you. Matt is such a smart person and an&nbsp;even better person. I&nbsp;feel very fortunate to have him as a friend.

Matt Bayer

Wedding Party

Registry

Q + A

Request the Bridgers/Pote wedding, pending availability

Hampton Inn & Suites

Parking is available at Bailey United Methodist Church across the street from The Leaning Tree.

Kristen & Michael

Kristen & Michael

Travel

Hampton Inn & Suites

Bailey United Methodist Church