Maple Grove Estate

Wedding Day

Wedding

Reception

Welcome to our wedding website!&nbsp;Since you are here, you are probably pretty special to us or have been influential in our journey together. Speaking of journey, many of you may not know how our story began or the long adventure we took to finally tie the knot, so I wanted to tell the story from my perspective. You can also find Laura’s version of the story below mine. So&nbsp;grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink&nbsp;because this story may take a little while.&nbsp;After all, we will have been together for&nbsp;over nine years when we finally say, “I do!” It all started in third grade&hellip; kind of. Laura and I were both in Mrs. Little’s third grade class at Woodland Elementary School. I was the new kid because I had just moved to Oak Ridge from Karns, and as far as I could tell, Laura hated me. You know the saying that little girls are only mean to you because they like you? Well, our relationship in third grade fits that saying perfectly. She was always making fun of me and trying to outsmart me with her ability to know what "2 squared"&nbsp;equaled in the third grade. Jokes on her, though.&nbsp;I ended up becoming an engineer!&nbsp;However, after I finally had enough of the mean girls act, I told Mrs. Little that Laura was being mean to me.&nbsp;That solved my problems instantly&nbsp;because, even in third grade, Laura always wanted to do the right thing, especially in school. I sure am glad I did that because, towards the&nbsp; end of third grade, we actually ended up becoming good friends. We even met up after school and played on the playground near Bull Run steam plant, if you are familiar with the area. Some may even consider that our first date...not really. But the story is long from over. Fast forward to middle school, which is 5th-8th grade in Oak Ridge. Laura and I did not have any major classes together during the first two years except for gym. I would talk to her occasionally and catch up when we could, but we definitely were not that close at the time. However, our gym teacher, Coach Glover, could see beyond the awkward middle school conversations and tried to play matchmaker the entire time we were his students. He would&nbsp;call Laura and me&nbsp;to come talk to him when there was a lull in class time and he would always say, “You two are going to be FPDs.” For 4 years I heard the acronym FPD almost every day in gym class. What does that mean? It means “future prom dates.” Coach Glover told us repeatedly that Laura and I would end up being future prom dates. That is not the only thing that happened in middle school, though. Laura and I would reunite again in 7th grade English class. She sat in front of me,&nbsp;and each day we would talk. Sometimes about English, but most of the time about everything else. We ended up becoming good friends that year. Jump ahead to 8th grade -&nbsp;Laura and I did not have any classes together besides&nbsp;gym, and we hadn't spoken much since the previous year.&nbsp;But, at&nbsp;the very beginning of March of our&nbsp;8th grade year, I mustered up the courage to text Laura. I know what you are thinking, "Wow a text it must have been so difficult", but I was as nervous as can be. I sure am glad I did it,&nbsp;though, because we hit it off so well,&nbsp;except this time I was talking to her not as a friend, I wanted her to be my girlfriend. After two weeks of texting non-stop, I eventually asked her to come over to my house to watch a movie. I won’t ever forget it -&nbsp;we were watching the remake of the movie Footloose.&nbsp;My hands were clammy&nbsp;and I was afraid I would say or do something stupid - the typical middle school boy reaction. I had written a poem. I handed Laura the poem before we started watching the movie. I have to admit, it was pretty cheesy, but it worked. In the poem I ended by asking her to be my girlfriend, and she actually said, “Yes!” That awkward, exciting, nerve-wracking moment happened on March 12, 2012. Little did I know that I had just written the cheesiest poem of all time to my future wife. We had just started dating as we finished 8th grade and were about to head&nbsp;to high school. Most of my memories of freshman and sophomore year at ORHS&nbsp;involved Laura and me&nbsp;grinding through honors classes together. One of these was&nbsp;the notorious Combined Studies class, which was the first AP class we had ever taken. One great memory I have from those first two years of high school was being picked up by Laura’s dad and him driving us to school each morning. It saved me from taking the bus to school, and I got to know Laura’s dad along the way, too. We even started a tradition of going to Chick-Fil-A&nbsp;or Waffle House for breakfast every Thursday. It was always a fun time. Fun fact: Laura and I chose Thursday because Thursday is our least favorite day of the week, so we had to make it better somehow. Once we were both old enough to drive, we were heading into junior year of high school.&nbsp;And what do you get to do as a junior? Go to prom. Of course, our middle school gym teacher knew all along that Laura and I would be future prom dates. We got to make that happen. What he did not know is that during our senior year, Laura and I would both be voted to prom court.&nbsp;She ended up winning Prom Queen, while I had to sit and watch her dance with Treston Henderson who was voted Prom King. It was still really cool for both of us to be voted onto the court together. The most intense year of high school for our relationship was senior year. Laura and I had to think about which colleges we wanted to attend,&nbsp;which&nbsp;was a much more difficult decision than people realized for us. I had offers to play football at Centre College in Kentucky and&nbsp;Davidson College in North Carolina, while Laura considered trying out for the dance teams&nbsp;at Tennessee, Cincinnati, Ohio State, or Clemson. As you can see, once you start thinking geographically, it would be very hard to see each other if I had chosen to play football or if she chose to dance at Ohio State or Cincinnati. Fortunately, I had complete control over my decision to play football or to go to the University of Tennessee. I ended up choosing Tennessee towards the end of January. However, Laura’s decision was not as easy. She had to try out for the Tennessee dance team in order to join, and those tryouts are difficult. Many, many people get cut. There was no guarantee that she would go to Tennessee, and she loved to dance. When it came to the last weekend in April of our senior year, Laura had to try out for the team. She did not know it at the time, but I was a nervous wreck. And, of course she was;&nbsp;this was her dream to dance for Tennessee. The tryouts lasted three days, during which&nbsp;initial cuts were made, second cuts, and on Sunday, final cuts. When Sunday came around,&nbsp;Laura was still there. She had done it!&nbsp;She made the team at Tennessee. I go into so much detail there&nbsp;because a lot was riding on that. The only way Laura and I could go to college together was if we were both at&nbsp;the University of Tennessee, and that shaped how our next four years up until now would play out. Finally, we started college at the same university and ended up living in the same dorm, Fred Brown Hall, during our freshman year. I had pretty much made up my mind through that first year that Laura and I would be getting married. The hard part was waiting until the time was right.&nbsp;We stayed together through thick and thin all throughout college. I finally was able to ask my “future prom date” to marry me on August 2nd,&nbsp;2019 with some of our closest friends alongside us before our senior year of college. Ironically, I asked her in Nashville which is the place we plan to live once we tie the knot. Now, I look forward to May 22nd, 2021 to finally solidify my journey through life with Laura. I hope this story gives everyone a better insight into how our story began and some of the milestones that took place between then and now. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for Laura and me.

Gavin's Version

Our story as a couple&nbsp;officially began on March 12, 2012, but I've known Gavin since August 2006.&nbsp;Gavin moved to Oak Ridge Schools in 3rd grade, and we had the same teacher that year. He sat in my "pod" in our classroom, and I had the biggest crush on him as soon as I met him. Unfortunately, my elementary school&nbsp;love was unrequited. He may even tell you I bullied him... but don't believe that. We started dating at the end of our 8th grade year, just a few months before we were to start&nbsp;high school together at ORHS. We continued to date all throughout high school, but you might say our future was a little uncertain at the end of our senior year. We both were athletic in high school, with Gavin playing football/baseball and me dancing competitively, so we weren't sure where our next steps would take us. Gavin considered multiple&nbsp;schools for football opportunities, and I knew my college&nbsp;decision would be based on the outcome of several possible&nbsp;dance team tryouts in April/May.&nbsp; The stars aligned, and I made the University of Tennessee Dance Team in April 2016, while&nbsp;Gavin had already&nbsp;made the decision to pursue his degree at UT several weeks earlier. We were both Volunteers! We dated through all four&nbsp;of our undergraduate years at UT and made so many incredible memories and friends along the way. We survived two serious hospitalizations (one each), with Gavin breaking his sternum and injuring his back in a mountain biking accident in 2017 and me having emergency surgery for a blood clot and vascular condition in 2019, a 26-24 Volunteer football record, dating "long distance" while I completed internships in South Carolina and Nashville, a global pandemic, and 120+ hours of college classes. After all of that,&nbsp;I feel like we are ready for whatever life throws our way! Gavin asked me to marry him on August 2, 2019 in Nashville with some of our closest friends there to see the moment. It was a perfect night. After that, we returned&nbsp;to school for our senior year and &nbsp;both graduated from UT&nbsp;with our Bachelors degrees in May 2020. Gavin will be graduating with a Masters degree one week (!!!) before our wedding. After spending over nine&nbsp;years in a relationship and practically&nbsp;growing up together, many of you have played a big role in our lives and journey as a couple. We consider many of you to be like family, which is why&nbsp;we are so excited to share this special milestone in our relationship with each and every one of you. Thank you for helping us celebrate&nbsp;officially&nbsp;becoming the Warringtons!

Laura & Gavin

Laura & Gavin

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Embassy Suites by Hilton Knoxville West