Greg and I met in a country bar in Tampa when I strategically asked him to take a picture of me and my friends. We shared a lot of conversation and a few dances, the first of which was a new song by the Eli Young Band, a band that we discovered we were both fans of, but that wasn’t widely known at the time. A few months later, we traveled to Texas together to see them in concert where we told each other we loved each other for the first time during the same song. Almost 4 years later, Greg proposed during that song front and center in front of the stage at one of their concerts in Clearwater. We bonded over our love for country music, concerts, travel, the outdoors, sports, and our rescue dogs.

We decided at the beginning of our relationship to abandon gift exchanges and instead use that money to share experiences together. With that in mind, each year we would take a trip with our dogs to the mountains in North Carolina right after Christmas in lieu of Christmas gifts. Because of our love for togetherness, simplicity, the beauty of the mountains, and our dogs, we knew a big wedding wasn’t quite in our wheelhouse and eloping in the mountains would suit us better. Even with the rain, I’m not sure if the day could have been more perfect or stress-free.

Greg and I met in a country bar in Tampa when I strategically asked him to take a picture of me and my friends. We shared a lot of conversation and a few dances, the first of which was a new song by the Eli Young Band, a band that we discovered we were both fans of, but that wasn’t widely known at the time. A few months later, we traveled to Texas together to see them in concert where we told each other we loved each other for the first time during the same song. Almost 4 years later, Greg proposed during that song front and center in front of the stage at one of their concerts in Clearwater. We bonded over our love for country music, concerts, travel, the outdoors, sports, and our rescue dogs.

We decided at the beginning of our relationship to abandon gift exchanges and instead use that money to share experiences together. With that in mind, each year we would take a trip with our dogs to the mountains in North Carolina right after Christmas in lieu of Christmas gifts. Because of our love for togetherness, simplicity, the beauty of the mountains, and our dogs, we knew a big wedding wasn’t quite in our wheelhouse and eloping in the mountains would suit us better. Even with the rain, I’m not sure if the day could have been more perfect or stress-free.