Weddingbee Blog

So, I’ve given you some pretty prime details about the wedding, but I haven’t spoken much to the wonderful man that set all this into motion—my fiance. I promised you in my first post that I would tell you all about him, so here it is! I apologize in advance if I start to gush; it’s just so hard not to!

Mr. R & I met during Christmas at my aunt’s house in Florida. He was my cousin’s best friend and I was instantly smitten. He was so different than anyone I’d  ever met. He was hilarious, sarcastic, extremely intelligent, and had the most amazing stormy blue eyes you’ve ever seen. He chased me around my aunt’s back yard with markers—I guess that meant he liked me, too. After the holidays, I went back to Alabama with my family, but he never left my mind. That was in 1998, and I was 11.

We saw each other every other Christmas for the next few years—only 4 times between 1998 and 2003. We spent the time between, chatting on Instant Messenger, sending ridiculously long emails, and occasionally talking on the phone. We never fully came out and said that we liked each other, but it was obvious. We’d go months without speaking, and then pick up right where we left off. Despite the distance, there was something that just kept drawing us back to each other. The last time we came to Florida for the holidays was in 2005. I was so excited to see him. I had just turned 18, I had grown up a little, and I just knew that if he was there that Christmas, I would finally tell him how I felt after all those years. He didn’t show. I was 16 the last time I saw Mr. R.

When I was 19, I got engaged to my then-boyfriend, J. Soon after he proposed, we moved to Florida so he could pursue his education. I hate to admit this, but as soon as my then-fiance decided to move to Florida, Mr. R crossed my mind.

I knew I would finally be in his home state, closer to him that I’d ever been. Needless to say, my relationship with J didn’t work out for a number of reasons. I moved in with my mom in South Florida where I did a combination of sulking and stalking Mr. R’s MySpace page. After a few weeks, I got up the courage to email him. I never expected to get a response—we hadn’t spoken in a year and a half, nor seen each other for almost 4 years. He responded. We (again) emailed and spoke on the phone for a few weeks until we decided to finally meet up.

Fireworks. It was magical. One day turned into three, and we both just knew. This was it. This is what everyone talks about, hopes for. This is why fate kept dragging us back together no matter how much the cards weren’t in our favor. And finally, after almost 10 years, on that weekend, fate managed to set everything up perfectly, flawlessly. On the way home after that weekend, I called my friend (now MOH) K, and the first thing I said was, “Oh my god, I’m going to marry him!” It was heartbreaking going back to our normal lives after that weekend, but we knew everything had changed. We drove back and forth, 4 hours, every weekend for a month until we decided to take the plunge and move in together. We found an apartment in Central Florida and moved in together on our one month date-aversary. It was crazy and exciting and scary, but here we are two years later, planning our wedding.

Do you have an epic real life love story?