Oconee Brewing Company

Welcome Party

The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee

Wedding Day

Wedding

Reception

Our Wedding

Once upon a time in Dublin, Ohio, two teenagers grew up living&nbsp;two very&nbsp;distinct and separate,&nbsp;but also shared and&nbsp;parallel lives. &nbsp;Matthew counted down the hours of each school day until he could be out on the golf course,&nbsp;and spent every other moment swinging&nbsp;clubs&nbsp;in his parent's backyard or putting in his bedroom late at night. &nbsp;He&nbsp;would eventually lead&nbsp;the Jerome&nbsp;Boys' Golf Team to a state championship his senior year. &nbsp;Meanwhile, Meredith could be found on the sidelines of every&nbsp;football and lacrosse game, taping ankles and bandaging&nbsp;wounds, or otherwise across town and&nbsp;onstage playing cello&nbsp;in the Columbus Youth Symphony. &nbsp;In 2006, Matthew left home&nbsp;to study and play golf at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, and a year later, Meredith graduated and packed her bags for Davidson College in North Carolina. &nbsp;Although they'd both spent their formative years in the same midwestern hometown, walking the same high school hallways,&nbsp;they still knew not of one another, and only&nbsp;fate would bring&nbsp;them together in Atlanta, Georgia,&nbsp;nearly 10 years later.

Prelude

After a few years of playing professional golf, Matt settled down with a sales job in Atlanta. &nbsp;Meredith had lived in the city since 2011, and was working night shifts as a nurse practitioner&nbsp;in the ER&nbsp;at the infamous Grady Hospital downtown.&nbsp;She&nbsp;agreed to a blind date with Matt, who had been vetted by a mutual friend from their high school (thanks, Natalie!), in the summer of 2016 on one of her Friday nights off. &nbsp;Being the true old-fashioned gentleman that he is, Matt called Meredith on the phone, offering&nbsp;to pick&nbsp;her up&nbsp;for&nbsp;dinner&nbsp;at a local Mexican&nbsp;spot on the Westside. &nbsp;Meredith's first memory of Matt was seeing a tall, dark, handsome, and well-dressed man standing next to his car, waiting for her. &nbsp;"Hi, I'm Matt," he said. &nbsp;"Thank you, God" Meredith thought, and to this day still doesn't know what she did to deserve him. &nbsp;Matt's first memory of Meredith was a stunning,&nbsp;fit, and&nbsp;elegant&nbsp;girl approaching&nbsp;him in her parking garage. Their chemistry&nbsp;sparked with a hug, and after hopping&nbsp;in the car, Matt&nbsp;asked Meredith&nbsp;what kind&nbsp;of music she wanted to listen to, to which&nbsp;she quickly&nbsp;replied:&nbsp;"Classic rock works for me.”&nbsp;At&nbsp;that moment, Meredith immediately&nbsp;differentiated herself from anyone else Matt had dated, and he&nbsp;was eager to see where this date&nbsp;would lead. In fact,&nbsp;they both&nbsp;knew there was&nbsp;serious potential brewing&nbsp;when they each decided to order&nbsp;a second round of tacos&nbsp;at the restaurant. (To this day,&nbsp;Meredith's favorite joke about Matt is that when she cooks dinner, she already&nbsp;cooks&nbsp;for a family of 4 -- just to feed Matt.)Sure enough, Matt asked Meredith if she'd like to check out another spot down the street to play pool and&nbsp;Skee-Ball after dinner. &nbsp;He even cancelled a round of golf with his friends (which is basically unheard of for anyone who knows Matt) in favor of their second date. &nbsp;The rest is history.

Love at First Sight

Matt and Meredith spent the next&nbsp;two years of dating on completely opposite&nbsp;schedules&nbsp;and commuting between midtown and the 'burbs&nbsp;to see each other (which got really&nbsp;complicated when the main&nbsp;highway connecting Roswell to Atlanta burned down). &nbsp;They enjoyed their fair share of adventures together from midnight swimming&nbsp;with manta rays&nbsp;in Hawaii to drinking&nbsp;pisco sours at 10,000 feet in Chile, and from grunge music tours in Seattle&nbsp;to deep sea snorkeling in the Bahamas. &nbsp;Soon enough, Matt started to feel that&nbsp;he could not live without Meredith and wanted to ask her to be his wife. He searched long and hard for the right ring,&nbsp;asked for&nbsp;her mother and father's permission while on a vacation in South America,&nbsp;and before long&nbsp;it was time to ask Meredith herself. Although they had&nbsp;many trips planned&nbsp;together,&nbsp;Matt thought it was only appropriate to pop the question in New Hampshire with the help of Meredith's parents.&nbsp;&nbsp;A week in the Granite State was booked for July, and as it approached, Matt planned how he wanted to propose:&nbsp;go on a walk near sunset on Saturday,&nbsp;and get down on one knee.

Well, after arriving home from&nbsp;a long&nbsp;day of Saturday&nbsp;hiking (7+ miles in the White&nbsp;Mountains!),&nbsp;Matt asked Meredith&nbsp;to go on a &nbsp;walk before&nbsp;dinner. But she abruptly declined!&nbsp;&nbsp;"We just &nbsp;hiked 7 miles, Matt!&nbsp;&nbsp;I just want to change into my pajamas and&nbsp;sit on the porch." &nbsp;So...&nbsp;Matt retreated to the back porch and invited Meredith to join him when she was&nbsp;ready. &nbsp;Twenty minutes later she joined him with a glass of wine&nbsp;and he knew this was his best chance. Matt immediately got down on one knee, telling&nbsp;Meredith that&nbsp;she&nbsp;was the best thing that had ever happened to him and asking her&nbsp;if she would make him the luckiest man in the world by&nbsp;marrying him.

. &nbsp;. &nbsp;. &nbsp;Overwhelmed with joy, Meredith forgot she was supposed to say "yes" for about 30 seconds,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Matt had to ask for an answer before placing the ring on her finger.&nbsp; She of course did&nbsp;say&nbsp;yes, and they walked into the kitchen and shared the news with her parents and other&nbsp;&nbsp;family and friends near and far.

The Engagement

Matt and Meredith are looking forward to their honeymoon in Mauritius!&nbsp; They are&nbsp;spending 2019 building and moving into their first house together, which they looking forward to turning into a home as&nbsp;husband and wife. Matt will continue&nbsp;to work in sales&nbsp;at Carolina Handling, and&nbsp;Meredith in emergency medicine at Grady. &nbsp;They can't wait to celebrate with you on November 2, 2019, and then&nbsp;see where this life will take them as Mr. & Mrs. Stauch!

Happily Ever After...

Our Story

Details

Best friend.&nbsp;Speaking of Dublin, Ohio --&nbsp;Amy &nbsp;is Meredith's childhood&nbsp;best friend, growing up just a few houses apart. &nbsp;She's also an anesthesiologist and former college soccer star.&nbsp;Amy is looking forward to having&nbsp;the distinct privilege of bustling Meredith's dress&nbsp;train not only at high school prom, but now also on her wedding day. &nbsp;She's finishing up residency&nbsp;at Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio.

Amy Baumann

Brother. Tyler is Matt's younger and only brother. Growing up, they loved to play pickup sports in the&nbsp;backyard together,&nbsp;from catch to ice hockey. Much to Matt's envy,&nbsp;Tyler was quite the&nbsp;Mr. Fix-It&nbsp;around the house. &nbsp;He also&nbsp;always had a passion for landscaping and&nbsp;even parlayed this into a successful&nbsp;business career during college Ohio State,&nbsp;before graduating and&nbsp;going to&nbsp;work for NetJets. He currently resides in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife Katie.

Tyler Stauch

High school friend. Brian and Matt went from lunchtable strangers to lifelong friends. Quickly bonding&nbsp;over their love for skiing, they&nbsp;have&nbsp;checked&nbsp;off black diamonds from Big Sky to Breckenridge together.&nbsp;Brian, now a lawyer,&nbsp;resides in Columbus, Ohio,&nbsp;with his wife Jessica and their newborn, Brooklyn.

Brian Kocak

Sister.&nbsp;Jessica is Meredith's older and only&nbsp;sister.&nbsp; Growing up behind Jessica meant Meredith always had a strong role model leading the way, from cello to AP Latin&nbsp;and beyond.&nbsp; An Ivy League graduate and Oxford PhD, Jessica now&nbsp;resides in San Francisco, California, and works as the Director of Policy for Reddit.

Jessica Ashooh

Cousin. &nbsp;Lauren is Meredith's only female cousin on their mothers' side of the family, which sometimes&nbsp;makes them feel a little more like sisters. &nbsp;Like Meredith, she also happens to be a nurse practitioner, specializing in pediatrics. &nbsp;Lauren lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband&nbsp;Wylie Carhartt, and their&nbsp;two&nbsp;children, Noah (4) and Eleanor (1).

Lauren Carhartt

College friend. Paidas was the first person Matt met upon arriving to his freshman hall&nbsp;three days&nbsp;late (from a golf tournament) and learning that&nbsp;he too was "Matt from Ohio."&nbsp; Sharing a love for Buckeye football, they spent their college days studying hard&nbsp;and not getting into any trouble. Side note:&nbsp;always put his guitar back where you found it. Paidas now works at Sherwin-Willams and lives just outside&nbsp;Fort Myers, Florida.

Matt Paidas

College friend and golf teammate. Blake,&nbsp;AKA "the General" is always up for a good time and was a great&nbsp;friend to Matt both on and&nbsp;off the golf course. Blake never hesitated to lend an ear in&nbsp;good times and bad, and had some legendary dance moves to boot.&nbsp; Blake resides in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, Victoria.

Blake Holbrook

Sister-in-law. &nbsp;If you ask Meredith, her brother Khoury&nbsp;couldn't have picked a better sister-in-law for her than Meg. &nbsp;Before recently relocating to Santiago, Chile, Khoury and Meg lived just a few miles from Meredith and Matt in Atlanta, which made for many fun times together. &nbsp;Meg is also the mother of Meredith's two nieces and flower girls, Maisey (8) and Aneley (3).

Meg Ashooh

Future sister-in-law.&nbsp;It was an honor for Meredith to witness&nbsp;Tyler and Katie's love story&nbsp;unfold, first through their&nbsp;engagement&nbsp;and then their marriage last summer.&nbsp; Meredith feels fortunate to be blessed with another wonderful sister-in-law, especially one who shares her love for wine and pizza!&nbsp;&nbsp;She looks forward to sharing many future adventures together with Katie and&nbsp;their Stauch brothers!

Katie Stauch

Meredith's brother.&nbsp;Khoury has always been a special person in Meredith's life (she followed him to Atlanta, where she ultimately met Matt!), so it was no surprise that Matt wanted him included in their wedding party.&nbsp; Matt enjoyed getting to know Khoury over beers in East Atlanta Village, while&nbsp;listening to stories of his world travels.&nbsp; Khoury was also the first person to introduce Matt to Tropicalia, now one of his favorite beers.

Khoury Ashooh

Niece. Kind, caring, fun-loving, and sweet, Maisey (8)&nbsp;is an experienced flower girl who&nbsp;got to spend her first 7 years of life in Atlanta with Auntie Meredith. &nbsp;She now lives in Santiago, Chile, is fluent in Spanish, and enjoys swimming and being a big sister to Aneley. &nbsp;She is very excited about gaining an Uncle Matt, who loves to take her ice skating.

Maisey Ashooh

Niece.&nbsp;Free-spirited and fierce,&nbsp;bold&nbsp;and brave,&nbsp;Aneley (3)&nbsp;is Meredith's youngest&nbsp;niece.&nbsp; She, too, adores her future Uncle Matt, especially when he throws her as high as possible into the air. &nbsp;She also lives in Santiago, Chile, and loves anything&nbsp;adventurous, like rock-climbing and horseback-riding.

Aneley Ashooh

Wedding Party

Photos

Registry

Q + A

For&nbsp;ultimate relaxation and convenience, stay on-site of the wedding&nbsp;with the soon-to-be Mr. &amp; Mrs.! Ashooh-Stauch Room Block:&nbsp;https://book.passkey.com/go/AshoohandStauchWedding Availability is limited,&nbsp;however if you encounter an error message&nbsp;during booking, please contact Matt or Meredith for assistance and we may be able to help or add more rooms.&nbsp;Tucked amid towering Georgia pines&nbsp;along the glittering shore and just 75 miles from Atlanta and the world's busiest airport, The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee encourages resort guests to unplug from their daily lives and connect to the spirit of endless summer. The clock not only moves slower here, it is often forgotten, allowing guests to experience everything the property and its beautiful surroundings have to offer&nbsp;far away from daily cares and pressures.&nbsp;Once here, you'll yearn to stay, whether for golfing on one of five&nbsp;championship courses, netting your&nbsp;daily limit of fish,&nbsp;or enjoying endless other&nbsp;outdoor activities. Savor a meal at one of the resort's seven&nbsp;dining establishments.&nbsp;Relax with your favorite drink at a lounge or a lakeside bar.&nbsp;Amidst this engaging backdrop, the commanding presence of The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee offers an elegant invitation to meet in the heart of nature. The luxury hotel in Greensboro, Georgia offers guests legendary service highlighted by gracious Southern hospitality.

The busiest airport in the world, ATL is just under a&nbsp;90-minute drive&nbsp;from the Ritz-Carlton Reynolds,&nbsp;Lake Oconee. &nbsp;It is recommended that guests arriving by air&nbsp;rent a car to get to Greensboro. &nbsp;We are happy to help coordinate flight times with any parties interested in sharing rental cars &nbsp;-- just ask.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Another wonderful&nbsp;local option just 7 miles from our wedding is&nbsp;The Lodge On Lake Oconee in Eatonton, where luxury and affordability meet.

The Lodge On Lake Oconee

Get more value for your money at the&nbsp;Quality Inn®&nbsp;& Suites hotel located just&nbsp;off I-20 and 11 miles from our wedding.&nbsp;Quality Inn & Suites provides an affordable stay so you can relax and focus on the memorable travel experiences that really matter.

Quality Inn & Suites

Hotel not your style?&nbsp;There are a variety of beautiful&nbsp;AirBnb offerings both big and small&nbsp;on Lake Oconee, with something&nbsp;sure to fit your needs!

AirBnb

Travel

A dream for enthusiasts, The Ritz-Carlton Reynolds, Lake Oconee offers a golf getaway amid the towering oaks, native dogwoods and fragrant magnolia of North Georgia. The resort’s five courses and 99 holes of golf were designed by legends including Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio, and are complemented by custom club fittings with TaylorMade.

Golfing at Lake Oconee

With an adventure for all ages, this luxurious sporting facility features a 20-station sporting clays course, a five-stand shooting range, a sporting clays instructional and games area, an air rifle range and an archery range. If you are not a shooter, no problem. There is an endless list of exciting outdoor activities, including fishing, kayaking, canoeing and hiking. You will be provided with everything you need for the perfect adventure.

Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds & Barn

Oconee Brewing Company&nbsp;has a retail production facility and a tasting room for public tours featuring a wide selection of rotating drafts with craft&nbsp;beers of all varieties.&nbsp;TASTING HOURS: Thursday and&nbsp;Friday 4pm&nbsp;-&nbsp;8pm and Saturdays 12pm - 10pm

Gaby's by the Lake is located poolside and offers some of the most inspiring views of Lake Oconee.&nbsp;Whether you arrive by boat or by car, you'll&nbsp;enjoy the creative food, signature chilled cocktails and the stunning view. &nbsp;Gaby's features a casual menu of pizzas, salads, sandwiches and grilled favorites that you can enjoy in&nbsp;“come as you are” attire. &nbsp;Reservations are NOT required, and you do not have to stay onsite at the Ritz to enjoy Gaby's. &nbsp;This is one&nbsp;of Matt & Meredith's favorite spots!

Gaby's By The Lake Restaurant

Don't forget that Atlanta, Georgia, is just 90 minutes away, offering many other attractions such as the World of Coca-Cola, the CNN Center, the Georgia Aquarium, and more.

Meredith & Matthew

Meredith & Matthew

Registry