We're getting married on November 22nd, 2010 sometime in the early afternoon.
We'll be getting married in Asheville, NC, next to a mountain stream at Hidden River Events. After the ceremony, we'll share a dinner a few bottles of champagne at a yet-to-be-determined location in downtown Asheville. On Thanksgiving Thursday, Dustin and I will be hosting a wonderful dinner for our new family.
Before the wedding (and after), we'll be living in Oxford, MS, where Ashley is earning her Masters degree in 20th century American Literature, and Dustin will (hopefully and prayerfully!) be teaching English to rowdy high school students.
All the other stuff? We'll get there. We're loving being engaged, and throughout all the chaos of planning a long-distance wedding, we're trying to remember that being married is more important than getting married.
Click here for a list of our vendors.
Our Wedding
Monday, October 13, 2008
Our Engagement
A few days ago, the person I love more than anything or anyone else in the world asked me to marry him. And I said 'of course.' This is our story.
A few years ago, I took a Shakespeare class. It's required for English majors at Augusta State University. A guy sat a row over and a few seats back from me. Even in the winter months, he wore the same pair of green khaki shorts, Corona flip flops, and his fraternity jersey. It turns out this guy would be my husband, but I didn't know that then. In fact, I thought he was just another obnoxious frat boy. He thought I had awesome hair, but I never caught him checking me out (maybe I would have liked him better if I had).
A few semesters later, I went into Best Buy to get a Thelonious Monk CD. There, in media, was that same goofy looking frat boy. He took a while to say anything to me, and when he did, he just asked me if I was finding everything all right. How dare he not remember me! How dare he not talk to me! Until he did remember me, and he did talk to me. For several, several hours. As I walked out of Best Buy, he called after me "I'll be here tomorrow!"
We met each other at several jazz concerts sponsored by our university, and I quickly encouraged him to ask for my number. Our first date was at a bar, and I knew Dustin and I would be good friends when he ordered my two favorite beers, in order, without talking to me first about beer. We talked and talked for several more hours, and our second date (and first kiss) was the next day at his house, watching movies with some of his friends.
We dated more, hung out even more, ran up our cell phone minutes, used a lot of gas, and left a lot of "happy-end-of-date-tips" for grateful waiters.
He moved in with me, and we lived together for about a year before I moved to Oxford, MS for graduate school. (Dustin's staying in Augusta to finish his English Ed. degree.) I came home for Thanksgiving break, having already talked with Dustin about getting engaged sometime later in the year (I was sure it would be a Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve event). We drove around Augusta a bit, looking at some of our haunts. He took me to Augusta State again, where we met and to the ampitheater on campus, where we had a great picnic date. He got down on one knee, and I joined him sitting on mine. He pulled out the Norton Complete Shakespeare (the same book he used for our Shakespeare class), and said that ever since I was a little girl, I've looked for happiness in books. He opened the volume to reveal he'd totally desecrated the book by hollowing out a space just big enough for a ring box. I started crying.
He asked, I said yes.
Our Vendors
These links will take you to the people that are making our wedding happen, for better or for worse!
Our Ceremony location: we've chosen to get married by the river at Hidden River Events. Dr. Jeanne Sommers owns this venue, and is also our officiant. She's been a peach to work with, and Hidden River is really everything we were looking for in a venue.
Our Reception Dinner: coming soon!
Our Photographer: coming soon(ish)!
Our Outfitters: coming at some point in the future!
About Us
I'm Ashley. Dustin thinks I'm cute. I'm currently a MA student at the University of Mississippi, and I have to stop and think how to spell Mississippi every time I write it. My interests include but are not limited to: blogging, reading fiction, drama, and poetry, writing plays, learning to cook too many local and organic veggies for Dustin's liking, baking, knitting, caring for two crazy kittencats, wishing I knew how to paint, organizing, and shopping. There I said it: Shopping.
I'm Dustin, and Ashley thinks I'm cute. I'm 25, crazy about the gorgeous lady above, and tech savvy. I just completed my BA in English with Secondary Education, and am on the job market in North Mississippi. I'm not on the force anymore, but I used to work for Geek Squad, still wear the orange and black with pride. In my spare time, I tinker with computers, help others figure out their tech headaches, game, and most importantly, wash Ashley's dirty dishes. The most enjoyable part of each day is poking fun at my lovely lady--she has no idea when I'm going to propose, but wants it more than anything in the world! I've absolutely nothing left to make fun of her about, except for her ridiculous level of giggling when she talks about our wedding.
