Patricia Adams & Carl Allen

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Bride-to-be: Patricia Adams
Groom-to-be: Carl Allen

Wedding Date: February 25, 2012

Patricia writes:
“Our story is one that was mapped by the hands of the lord. All the trials and tribulation that we both went through in our lives took us to where our two paths could cross at the right time in both of our lives. I have always dreamed of meeting the perfect man for me. I would pray to the lord and ask him what I was doing wrong in my life that I could not meet that right person. What I discovered was that he had the perfect man for me I just needed to be patient and wait for the timing in both of our lives to be right, so that when we did meet it would be forever. And on August 3, 2010 I met that man. Actually we did not meet in person at first, we meet on match.com. Can you believe that, the lord used a website to bring us together, since we lived only 5 miles from each other and never met? On the first date I knew in my heart he was the man for me. He is someone that treats everyone the way they want to be treated, with great respect and dignity. So for everyone out there still looking for love, it took me 46 years to find that perfect match, so be patient, trust in the lord, and he will guide you to your soul mate.”

Christi Smith & Jon Singleton

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Bride to be: Christi Smith
Groom to be: Jon Singleton

Wedding date: April 12, 2012

Christi writes:

“It sounds cliche' but it's true: Jon and I were each other's first loves and will be each other's last.

We met in elementary school and fell in love in the sixth grade. We were inseparable for two years and then I moved away. In the time before Internet and Facebook and e-mail and text messages (or "The Dark Ages," according to my kids), it wasn't so easy to stay in touch with your puppy love and we had to work hard at it. We wrote letters, long-hand, and mailed them -- via the post office!!! -- to each other; we called long distance and only talked for ten minutes so we didn't make our parents made with huge bills; and we spent a few fleeting moments together over the next several years when I was able to make it back to my home town to visit family. Those memories are the foundation of our life together.

Sadly, we lost touch, grew up, got married (to other people), had kids, moved on. But we never forgot one another. Luckily for us, the Internet did get invented and e-mail connected people who were miles and worlds apart in mere seconds rather than the days and weeks of regular mail. One fateful day, I typed Jon's mom's name into the oracle we all know as Google and got a hit, a hit that included an e-mail address. I contacted her and told her who I was, she passed that information along to her son, and well, the rest is history.

We've been reunited as friends for almost eight years and we've been together, in love, since May of 2009. Although it was always a foregone conclusion that we would get married one day, we never got around to making it official, calling it an engagement, liking and putting a ring on it, if you will. We've been busy, you know, working, raising our respective children, creating a home, living our life together. Then, two days after Christmas, tragedy touched our lives directly when the father of my two older children unexpectedly died, leaving my son and daughter heartbroken and the rest of us looking at our lives and realizing that we might not always have tomorrow to do the things which are important to us, to sanctify love, to honor commitments, to revisit the promises of childhood and make them the reality of our lives.

On New Year's Eve 2011, standing in our driveway, our family sleeping inside the house, my first and only true love wrapped his arms around me and began an unrehearsed preamble about exquisite plans and beautiful backdrops, perfect rings and sunny destinations, and how none of those things were coming together quickly enough for him, and with that, he asked me to be his wife and share the rest of our lives together. I paused for a moment, not even realizing that that's where he was going when he'd began to speak and needing a moment to catch up, and when it finally dawned on me what had just happened, I said the only thing I could in that moment: Of course I will marry you.

Being engaged is a whole new experience from simply living together and being a family. We've not yet decided how we will celebrate our impending nuptials or where, but we know it won't be a long engagement: Life is too short and we've already been in love for 25 years.”

Debbie Applebee & Joey Keyser

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Bride-to-be: Debbie Applebee
Groom-to-be: Joey Keyser

Wedding date: December 22, 2012

Debbie writes: “I had absolutely no clue what was going on. I knew he had been acting a little silly when we went out places that sold rings, but I just over looked it. The closer that Christmas got the more excited I got about what "Santa" was going to bring me. So on Friday December 23, 2011 before I went to work I was begging Joey to let me open a present. He said no about a million times and when he dropped me off for work he was asking: “What’s your favorite dinner? What’s your favorite place to go? What would make your night complete?” All I could think of is “I don’t know, I don’t care, and whatever you do for me will be special enough babe". So when he picked me up the first thing he said was "Santa" left you a surprise on your Facebook page. So of course I got super excited and had to look and it was a picture of a wrapped Christmas present. Then again the questions started... “What is it? Where did it come from? Can I open it? Please, please, please.” :) All he could say is “Maybe after dinner”. So when I got home I immediately went to the Christmas tree and found it. I shook it and shook it and shook it. But nothing shook. So it made me wonder. We finally ate dinner and I had almost given up on the fact I could open it that night. Then he brought the box over to me and told me I could open it!!! So when I opened it was a keepsake box with a sweet saying on the outside, I opened it up to find lots of rose petals and a very sweet note that said he was extremely happy I gave him a chance and that I completed him and that he loved me with everything he had. Then he pulled the ring out of his pocket and asked me to marry him!! With my eyes full of tears all I could say "Are you serious"? And he looked at me with the most serious face and said “Yes Debbie, will you marry me?" and of course I said “YESS”!!!