We had our first date official date on 1/4/13. He took me out to lunch the next day and we realized we liked all the same food. I found out that weekend he is also the most amazing cook!

After that it was a blur of happiness. We were engaged on 3/14/13. He always teased me that he would propose with a purple ring pop (I love candy and the color purple.) Well he had ordered an entire case of them and had them all over the place and he proposed. To be honest I barely remember what he said. I was so excited! He got me earrings and a ring from Indulgence in Greenville. They were custom made and so the day Michael called and said they arrived Joe went to Indulgence and picked them up. He proposed that night. He can’t wait when it comes to presents for me. He gets so excited and has to give them right away.

Our engagement was amazing! We celebrated our engagement on the Eurodam cruise ship and did the Eastern Caribbean (Holland America Line). Everything was simple because we only cared about marrying each other. It would not have mattered where we did it or how it happened.

I don’t mean to sound like a hopeless romantic but he really is the perfect match for me! I have never met someone who can make me feel so amazing and so happy. We finish each other’s sentences! In fact we are the annoyingly happy couple that used to drive me nuts!

We planned a Christmas wedding since we really started to talk that day and we got married on 1/20/13. We wanted to do 1/21/20 which is the day we met but the Hotel DuPont was the venue we wanted so we took the 20th. We did our honeymoon on the same ship as before, Eurodam, and did the western caribbean. What was awesome was our favorite bartender was on the ship and was so excited to see us and remembered us! It ended up happening a lot on the ship and they all remembered our celebrating the engagement! I guess when we are together we are memorable. I hope in a good way :-)

We envisioned a Christmas wedding wonderland. We love Christmas so much and really Christmas day is when our story really started. We still eat popcorn almost every night- he wasn’t just trying to get me to like him by saying he loved it too! I never thought anyone loved it or ate as much of it as I do until I met him. Now most nights it is us and the dogs on the couch with two huge bowls of popcorn :-)

Three unique decor elements we infused into our special day:
1. Our wedding cake was amazing…each tier was a ‘Christmas Present’ decorated to look like wrapping paper. On the top was a Christmas tree and a Santa with a list. On the list was Melissa, Joseph, Cookie and Ralphie (Our dogs). The Groom’s cake was a football with the Ravens symbol and raven on it.
2. I wore blue Uggs for our outside pictures as my ‘something blue’ …Joe ordered them from Nordstroms :-)
3. Our wedding invitations had ‘Marry Christmas’ on the top instead of ‘Merry’….obviously to show it was a Christmas themed wedding. We realized the previous Christmas that we had so much in common. We texted the entire day….I told him I had popcorn for breakfast and to not judge me. I found out it was his absolute favorite food as well. He wore popcorn cufflinks the night of the wedding which were a gift from me. ‘Marry Christmas’ was also on the tags of the place cards which were custom gourmet cookies- one Santa and one tree in a bag with the place card as the ‘gift tag’ with name of guest and table.

My most memorable moment from the Big Day was when we held hands around the corner and then turned the corner of the Hotel DuPont and I saw Joe for the first time. It was the best moment and Jana and Mike got it all in the photos! The other moment was our vows. It was like no one else was there. I loved the touch of having the strings and baby grand have ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ playing as Joe and I left the ceremony. They did a peppy version of it and it was sounded amazing.

Menu:
table side Caesar salad
entrees- Filet Mignon and crab cake with champagne sauce or chicken encased in crab imperial
dessert- Baked Alaska flambe with coconut ice cream and raspberry sauce

It was an amazing day as the pictures show. I think the best parts were our times outside just him and I get our photos done. We talked and laughed and just enjoyed the day together. Mike and Jana made it a lot of fun.