wedding team

emily & jon’s story

(by jon)

Emily and Jon’s wedding took place in Charlotte, NC! The bride and groom wanted us to capture every single moment from the bride and groom getting ready to walk down the aisle to all of the toasts and speeches they had lined up! The love that both Emily and Jon shared was so clear the day of their wedding. We loved filming every single moment for them. Congratulations Emily and Jon!

words from jon -

“Emily and I were first set up on a blind date in January of 2014 through mutual friends in Virginia Beach. I'll never forget the first time Emily cold-called me on the phone. Her thick southern accent and the noise of an Irish bar crowd in the background, let me know right away that I was going to have my hands full. I decided to be low key on the first date and meet her for a drink at Yardhouse in Town Center. I was surprised that she let me take her out on a second date as she was definitely out of my league. She's a ten and I'm a soft 3. I thought it would be a great idea to take her to a movie and then the Cheesecake Factory. Real smooth, dude. Emily cut through the awkwardness of the first date-itis with a hilarious request to have me stop by a local CVS (her favorite) to get some movie snacks. As she walked out to my car, I realized she had bought a family size bag of Lay's potato chips and a huge soda. Again, I knew she was not your typical girl.

I think I really wowed Emily because I never heard back from her until almost 8 months later, despite numerous calls and texts. I kept bugging her and finally convinced her to meet me and a few friends at the Oceanfront for dinner and drinks. I think she really just wanted to see if I had any cool guy friends. The guys did a great job in making me the man of the night that evening. It's here, at this meet-up, that Emily told us all that she was incredibly bored on our first two dates and was not too impressed with me! Eventually the two fellas peeled off and I was left alone with Emily. It seemed like we talked for hours about life and when it was time to leave, Emily jumped on the handlebars of my bike and we road up and down the boardwalk.

For the next several weeks we spent every moment together. As the summer came to a close we enjoyed biking on the beach, fist pumping at Luna Sea, eating sushi and attending squadron events together. It was an amazing time. As a sad chapter in my life took place with the loss of my mom, Emily was my angel in disguise when I needed someone most. I would eventually get word that I would be taking orders to the other side of the country in Lemoore, CA. It just so happened that around that time, Emily left Virginia and moved all the way down to the West Indies for a job with a luxury hotel in Saint Lucia. This began our year and a half chapter of being long distance.

Life's not too bad when your girlfriend is being put up in a sweet single bedroom luxury flat. I eventually made it down there for my first international trip and enjoyed a week with her roaming around the island. It was there where I told her the big three words. It's also the place where she uncovered my love of girly Hawaiian island drinks. Oops.

In the weeks to follow, Emily's time in Saint Lucia came to a close and she began seeking employment somewhere new and fun. Being in California, I heavily recommended SoCal in a serious self-interested pitch. She eventually found a job in San Diego at a large hotel and conference center. The 5 hour commute to see each other was brutal, especially having to fight the hordes who call Los Angeles home. Luckily, I had access to a small plane that shrunk the trip length for me. We had some good times in that plane roaming around California. Emily enjoyed her little house, just steps away from the beach. Clark especially enjoyed visiting and became a newly reborn urban pooper.

Eventually I convinced Emily to leave the Promised Land and move to Lemoore to be with me. I mean who wouldn't want to leave the most highly coveted city in America to live in a city with blazing hot heat and the nations worst air quality! I guess it's because she had a helluva catch waiting for her up there. Emily and I tried to make the most of living where we did by making trips up and down the coast via plane and the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The time eventually came when I knew I was going to have to pop the question, but first I had to go on a ring hunt. To make a long story short, Emily had very clear instructions on what she wanted to wear on her hand. In a grand display of chivalry, I decided to take the jet on the road one weekend and track down a wedding ring in Buffalo, NY. On our return, the jet finally got tired and ended up breaking down in Colorado. Emily was not happy, but I knew she would eventually have to understand my weekend absence. I even sent her a plush otter stuffed animal as an apology gesture for not coming home on time. It still lives on the bed.

About four to five weeks later, I had everything planned out for us to fly down to Santa Monica and stay in LA for the Coldplay concert. While we were getting ready to leave for the concert, I hid a photo book I had made behind one of the pillows in the hotel. Now if any of you know Emily, you know that she is very detail oriented and can easily spot when things are out of place or sticking out. She instantly gravitated to the book, pulled it out from behind the bed and sat down to read. Towards the end, there were pictures of me with the jet asking her the big question. As I sat next to her, she cried and we hugged. She wasn't so mad after all the jet issues we had on that Colorado setback. Ha-ha! I could not have been happier to know that she would be my future wife...”

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