Their love story:
Woody and I met in January 2010, at a professional training in Indianapolis, IN. He would tell the story by describing a "game" that began the day where attendees had to draw a name tag out of hat and pick who it belonged to in order to show how social or unsocial they had been prior to the event. Well, "Mattye" was the first name drawn by a guy who had not met me nor did he even realize that it belonged to one of the few women in the room. To end his embarrassment, I stood up and reclaimed my name tag. Woody recalls, "I saw this beautiful woman stand up in a green dress (which he still thinks was a suit) with a cool haircut and she really caught my attention." Later that day he worked up the courage to ask for my number, and admits now that he was a little nervous! He opened by saying he wanted to learn more about my "Moc experience" at UTC. I have to say, it was actually a great line that completely worked and was totally "Woody." So I gave him my number, but he never called until... In June of 2010, Woody facilitated a leadership institute in Bloomington, IN, with someone we would later find to be a mutual friend. Apparently I had shared my experience meeting Woody, and because of this our friend encouraged Woody to contact me when he was in town for work. Woody took his advice and proceeded to request to follow me on Twitter. Shortly after, Woody messaged me on Twitter and referenced the MADtv skit, "Can I have your number," to ask for my number again, which he had lost after dropping his phone in a cup of sweet tea. I gave it to him and we made plans to chat in June. During this hour long phone call, we shared "our stories" with each other, realized Woody would be doing a project in Alabama shortly after I would move there in the fall, and made plans to attend church together in Indy in July. When we got off the phone, I was further intrigued with this boy, impressed by him and excited for a new friend, with a little twinkle wondering if it could be more. After another phone call in July, a first date to breakfast, and our planned date to church together, Woody and I both knew that we had found something that begged us to keep pursuing it. After those first few dates, we talked on the phone almost every day. Woody invited me to visit him in Charlotte for Labor Day and with an unexplainable peace and excitement in my heart, I accepted his invitation. This began our long distance relationship with me in Birmingham and him in Charlotte, and we fell for each other fast. In October, Woody told me he loved me for the first time, and while this seems fast, I just knew deep down that he had been thinking it for a couple weeks. So had I. While long distance relationships have certain challenges, Woody and I found ourselves anxious and excited to plan various adventures and trips to see each other. While we managed the distance well, we still didn't like it. Despite my insistence that I should move to Charlotte, Woody told me in the spring that he was thinking of moving to Birmingham. God often has different and better plans for our lives, and this case was no different. June 2011, Woody moved his life to Birmingham. As he says, "I gave up the city I love for the girl I love." Living in the same city allowed us to do so many things we had been longing to do together like get involved in a church together, go grocery shopping, and eat at our favorite restaurants on a regular basis. It was wonderful. By December, Woody and I had the conversation that we both really wanted to get married in 2012. This conversation was the catalyst for making this hope a reality. We began looking at engagement rings and dreaming about our wedding. I can remember thinking (and still do) that there is absolutely nothing this side of heaven more exciting to me than marrying Woody. If we let Him, God will bless us with more than we can ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20) and through our relationship, Woody's proposal and our wedding planning thus far, He has done exactly that.
She has this playful way about her sometimes. The qualities that stand out are her cute voice when she is asking me a question she probably knows the answer to. Her creativity with how she sees people and her sensitive heart. Those daily comments are the ones that make me want to snuggle up to her. Other qualities I love about her is that she loves to laugh and be silly. I love that she isn't too serious so we can joke and laugh and act like kids when we want to. I love her sweet tooth and our mutual feeling about cupcakes. They are delicious! Probably my favorite quality is just "the look" we give to each other from time to time. Her step dad calls it making "moon eyes" and at times I just can't stop looking into this girl's eyes to somehow communicate I love you without saying a word.
What she loves about him:
Aside from being the cutest looking boy I've ever met, I love that Woody is a creative and out of the box thinker. I love that he is bold, interesting and innovative. I love that he is sensitive, full of faith and loves me exactly how I believe God designed for a man to love a woman. Woody is my best friend in the truest sense. He challenges me in a caring way, loves me through all my imperfections, and makes me laugh like no one else.
About their engagement session:
From the planning to the actual shoot, we loved our engagement session in every way. We had so much fun brainstorming ideas together with Sarah and creating boards on Pinterest specifically for engagement shoot inspiration. We compiled several of our favorite looks from our wardrobes and Sarah met with us to help us determine what to wear at each location. The collaborative effort of the shoot allowed us to create some photos that are not only creative and fresh, but very true to our personalities. From cotton candy to gummy bears, from cuddling to making "moon eyes," from a cake tasting to elegant poses, the little details made our photos fun and personal. During the shoot, Sarah could not have done more to make us feel comfortable and excited. She gave us direction while still allowing us to be ourselves, and provided feedback when we hit a great pose or facial expression. She even gave us a couple sneak peeks of the raw footage which amped up our excitement for the final product all the more! The experience of our engagement session has been one of our favorite memories of our engagment, and the final product is breathtaking. The photos are everything we hoped they'd be: artistic, stylish and fun expressions of our love.
