On Saturday December 1, 2007 West Virginia lost to Pitt. A much hated backyard rivalry. West Virginia was ranked #2 in the nation. Due to the loss, they lost the opportunity to go to the National Championship. Joe felt as though it was the end of the world. So he thought I may as well get married now... That's how Joe would tell the story...
I remember I had to run out that day to do some errands the next morning. When I returned I remember Joe was outside in the garage changing the oil on one of our cars. I can't remember which one, but none the less he was outside. I remember spying out the window and one of our elderly neighbors was in the garage with him talking up a storm. I'm sure he was lonely... Joe came in took a quick shower, lit the gas fireplace (as I remember it was freezing outside that day) and pulled out the game of scrabble. One of our long time favorite games.
I drew my letter, I don't recall what it was, but I was definitely not going first. Joe pulled his tile. It was an A. Okay fine, you go first. Joe lays down the word 'marry'. He chuckles and finds this quite amusing... I lay down my word and turn around to change the channel as behind me was the television. I turn around and Joe had quickly spelled out the words 'will yuo marry me'. Yep, just like that. What did I say? A smug sarcastic comment. I don't know what that word (while I point to yuo) means? I would say that wouldn't I? While both of us were sitting on the floor at the coffee table, Joe and I scooted closer to the fire. He opened the box while on both knees. The joke be told, is he was begging. To a bright shiny brilliant round diamond ring, paved band and a surprise diamond. I'm pretty sure he never said the words 'will you marry me', nor did I ever say the word 'yes'.
Little did I know Joe cheated and hid scrabble tiles in the pocket of his hoodie. Forever in my mind he will be called a cheater at scrabble for stealing tiles!
Engagement Photos (March 2008)
We didn't purchase the rights to the engagement photos, so these are screenprints from New Image Studio's website.
Wedding date selection...
We went back and forth where we were going to get married... West Virginia or Florida? How about neither? Let's have a small wedding and get married right here in North Carolina. Okay, done deal! Joe's only rule: We cannot get married during football season. Little did he realize that my dream wedding was either going to be in the Spring which left me 4-5 months of planning or the Fall which left me a more reasonable time frame of 10 months. So with searching around, we decided to get married at Duke Gardens. They had a few Sunday's open in October and with an invitation list of 35, I figured it's Sunday, it's small. Why not? Joe said 'no'. So we went back to the drawing board and requested all dates open from June - November 2008. The coordinator said, well we have one Saturday open for the entire of the year. Someone must have cancelled it. Saturday, August 16, 2008. Joe said 'we'll take it!'. Oh my gosh... A summer wedding... outside... in August...? I really wasn't too thrilled about this wedding date. Summer is not my favorite season and an outdoor wedding just sounds miserable in August!
I remember checking the weather everyday for ten days prior to our wedding. I was paranoid! Was it going to rain? Was it going to be 106? Was it going to be a hurricane? I was a nervous wreck! I had informed Joe that I would be a basket case if it was bad weather...
We were very lucky. The high for the day turned out to be 83 and sunny. So by 6pm, we were at a mere 80 degrees for August. I couldn't complain...