One of my favorite parts of photographing couples is hearing their stories. Each one is so special and unique to the couple who shares it. While I am privileged to hear so many different stories, my couples never hear mine. So I thought maybe I should change that. Today on the blog, I’m starting a series on “How I Met My Husband.“

In case you need to get all caught up, here are the previous installments of our story.

The Story of Us| Part One

The Story of Us| Part Two

The Story of Us| Part Three

Tierney’s Perspective:

A couple weeks after Christopher first told me he loved me, I packed up my bags and moved yet again. This time though, I was moving to South Carolina. God had opened a door for me to teach fifth grade at the same school my sister worked at which also happened to be in the same town Christopher lived. It also worked out to where I could move in with his aunt, Judy.  The way her home was set up, I basically could have a small apartment to myself. To this day, I am still SO grateful for her allowing me to stay with her for awhile! Me and Christopher went from being three hours apart to being five minutes apart. I’m pretty sure we saw each other nearly every single day once I moved. We loved being so much closer together!

I spent that summer prepping for my first year of full time teaching. I was so excited to get the year started! I would spend the days working on lesson plans, crafting classroom decorations, and strategizing how I wanted those first few weeks of school to look. I was all sorts of excited and nervous about the year ahead! In the evenings, me and Christopher would hang out. Everything was perfect!

That first school year was pretty uneventful for us. I was so wrapped up in my first year of teaching (bless those fifth graders!), and Christopher also started a new job working at Wells Fargo. One thing me and Christopher loved to do was take day trips together. Right when I got out of school for the summer, we decided we were going to take a day trip to Charleston.

If you know me, Charleston is one of my favorite places to go. I love the culture, charm, architecture, and delicious Southern cuisine! It was so hot, muggy, and rainy the day we went (of course!) But we didn’t let the weather dampen our spirits! We walked around the battery, Rainbow Row, and ate a delicious lunch at Jestine’s Kitchen (yay for fried chicken!). After lunch, we drove out to Middleton Place, and old plantain outside of the city. Christopher had found it online and thought it would fun to see. We are both HUGE Downton Abbey fans, and Middleton Place reminded us so much of the show! We walked around the meticulously landscaped gardens and just talked. The weather had cleared up some thankfully. When we got to the main garden at Middleton Place, Christopher stopped and asked a man to take a picture of us. He chatted with the man for a moment and it seemed odd to be. Once Christopher returned, I wrapped my arm around his waste and started smiling for the picture. Christopher turned towards me though. He started saying all these sweet things, grabbed my hands, and got down on one knee. He asked me those four famous words, “Will you marry me?”I was so happy and of course said  yes!

Christopher’s Perspective

I remember Tierney and I talking about her teaching and if she would continue to live in Goldsboro. She didn’t have a full time teaching position at the school she was working at, which brought uncertainty to her work life. I can’t recall if it was late winter or early spring of 2014 when I had the thought of Tierney moving to South Carolina. Two things would need to work out to make that happen, she would need a place to live and a place to work. I started thinking, where could she live? Did I know someone who had space? I thought of my Aunt Judy. I remember the night I went over to her house to ask her about, “getting a roommate.” She told me she would think about it and later she said it would be fine. I am so thankful for Aunt Judy and for what she did for us during this time. *Shout out – love you Judy!* I was excited to tell Tierney about this opportunity and she was excited as well. Now we needed to find her a place to work. God opened this door quickly; a teaching position came available at the school that was a part of the church I was attending. God had orchestrated everything perfectly for us and better than if we had tried ourselves. This is a reoccurring theme in our life together, trust God and He will provide.

The next year together went by very fast. It was great that Tierney was living only 5 minutes down the road from me. We had fun during that time doing beach trips, Charleston trips, and NC trips. We had friends get married, jobs changes, and more. Speaking of job changes, in the spring of 2015 I started a new job myself in banking at Wells Fargo. I met a lot of amazing people working this job and I am thankful that the opportunity was presented to me.

One question was ringing in my mind between spring 2014 and spring 2015, will I marry Tierney? This is a question I think every guy at some point begins to ask himself. We had been dating for a while and we were both out of college and working. I can’t recall an exact moment I realized it, but I knew over time I wanted to be with Tierney for the rest of my life. March of 2015, I started my new job with Wells Fargo and I had training for a month in Columbia, SC. While I was there I got see my best friend Caleb and I talked to him about taking the next step with Tierney, marriage. Well, I knew the exact ring that Tierney wanted, thank you Pinterest, and Caleb and I visited the store to check it out. At the time, I couldn’t believe I was looking at rings, but I knew in my heart it was right. I loved this girl and I was ready to spend the rest of my life with her. I didn’t get the ring that night, but about 2-3 weeks later I did. When I bought the ring I thought to myself, now what?

Almost two months went by while the wedding ring sat the drawer of my night stand. Planning the proposal was more difficult than I had imagined. I needed to speak with her father for permission in person (I’m an old fashioned kind of guy), but the timing to meet up with him alone, as to not throw up red flags, was difficult. Finally, Tierney’s parents were coming down the next to the last weekend of May and we had a Charleston trip planned for the first Tuesday of June. This would give me plenty of time to steal her father away and talk with him. When the time came for her parents to come to town something came up and they were not able to make it. They weren’t coming down until the end of June.

In true Christopher fashion, on the day before I proposed I drove all the way to Durham, NC to meet with her father and ask for permission. He said, yes! I drove all the way back to SC on Monday night – such a long drive in one day. Tuesday, we went to Charleston for our trip. It was a great day; we ate at Jestine’s and walked around Rainbow Row. Lastly, we headed over to Middleton Place. We love historical attractions and this place was beautiful. I found a random stranger to take our picture. I got down on knee and asked the question. She said, yes. 🙂