Have you ever had two friends that in the back of your head you just *know* would be such a good match? Well a few of Brittany and Matt’s friends already knew this. They would keep saying “you really need to meet Matt”, and Brittany got so annoyed with this phrase after awhile, that she really started wondering, “ok, who is this character?”. Well one day, fate would have to step in to get these two to meet. Stagecoach happened. Brittany and Matt were finally to meet. And when they did their were instant sparks. He kept chasing her for the rest of the weekend, and there after. They became inseparable, and seven years later, Matt knew it was time to ask an important question. Brittany retells it from her side:
“My little sister Ashley shared with us in September, that she would be having her college graduation in December that year! She shared with us how important it was to her that we make it. About a week before our trip I got a phone call from my father with tips on what to pack. And he shared with us that the day after my sister’s graduation day he had a “family fun day surprise” planned for all of us and we were to dress warm but nice. And he kept emphasizing we all pack “nice sweaters”. I’ve always considered myself to be a pretty intuitive person, but when I tried to guess family pictures was on the list of family fun, I never thought I would actually be right! On the morning of “Family Fun Day” and I woke up to find I had slept in and wasn’t going to have time to wash my hair before we left for our day! Panicking of course I jokingly said to my dad “I swear if we take family pictures today with my hair this dirty you’re dead!” I was calmed down and assured that wasn’t what we were doing and we rushed off to our first destination. Now anyone that knows me knows my favorite movie of ALL TIME is of course “The Notebook”. Funny enough, the day before I mentioned to my family it had always been a dream of my mine to hunt down the plantation they filmed part of the movie at right there in Charleston. Well as soon as we pulled in to our first destination and I saw the line of giant beautiful Oak Trees I almost burst out into tears !!! My dream of seeing the Boone Hall Plantation where they filmed many scenes from the movie was RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES!
We spent a beautiful day touring the property. And being the Naggy Nancy I am I even made a spiteful comment about how perfect it would be if Matt had decided to propose to me at the place my favorite love story was filmed in front of my whole family. Haha real smooth Brittany! We finished up our last tour and all sat down together to have a snack which ended quickly due to my dad realizing we were almost late to the next part of the surprise! Next part?! I would have been happy ending with that! We all scramble to the car and I spent the next 20 minutes matter of factually trying to guess that we were on our way to go take family pictures! Again being told I had no idea what I was talking about I decided to give up and enjoy the ride. Finally my dad broke the silence and said “Ok Brittany, here’s a hint. If you need to take the next 10 minutes to spruce yourself up ,you might want to go ahead and do that! You were right, we’re taking family photos.” I KNEW IT !! Panicking I started messing with my now dirty AND windblown hair from being outside all day, globing on the makeup, and getting ready for these pictures. We arrive at a beautiful neighborhood in Charleston that was surrounded by dream like scenery. We pulled into a woody area off the main road and jumped out of the car to meet our photographer! The sun was setting and it was getting chilly so we immediately followed her plan of family photos, daddy daughter, then couples.
We began several different poses together but after being instructed to place my hand on his chest I soon realized Matt’s heart was POUNDING!!!! I looked at him concerned and asked if he was ok because his heart was beating out of his chest!! He played it off like he didn’t know what I was talking about. So I just thought it had to do with the fact that we were kind of on the spot in front of everyone and we’d never taken pictures like this before! In our next pose she asked that Matt turn towards me and place his hands under my chin. We faced each other and he looked at me like I’ve never seen him look at me before and said, “Brittany you are so beautiful.” He seriously said that looking through my soul!! I immediately was taken back and wanted to cry! And for some reason my initial reaction was to pull away as I was sure my face was beat red! And that is the moment he pulled me back and I realized this was it! The moment I’ve been dreaming out since our first dance at stagecoach so many years before. I was so caught off guard I BURST into tears immediately and was overwhelmed with every emotion that could run through my heart and head at once!! The best part of his whole proposal was turning to my family to find out they were in on it the whole time! Here I was thinking I was there to surprise my sister on her big graduation weekend, yet my family had been planning all of this right under my nose! Matt had asked my dad for my hand prior to this weekend on Thanksgiving and they had been planning how to make this all come together long before I came up with surprising Ashley for her graduation! JOKES ON ME! This day was a fairy tale.”
To continue that fairy tale, Brittany and Matt chose the beautiful Serendipity Garden Weddings venue to tie the knot, and they did so on the 4th of July! Now they get to celebrate their anniversary every year with a day off and end it with fireworks across the sky. Congrats you two!
