When Emily and Adam first met, it wasn’t technically love at first sight – but it may as well have been.
“I definitely noticed him before he asked me out,” Emily explains. “He was in a band that played at our high school; he was cute and blond; he was a football player…so yeah, I noticed him.” She says with a smile. And while Emily had her eye on Adam first, once he caught a glimpse of those pretty blue eyes – the admiration was instantly mutual. Adam asked her for a date and she happily accepted.
But even the most fairytale of romances can hit a few bumps in the road before reaching happily ever after. And for Emily and Adam, theirs almost derailed before it even truly began. “It was the worst first date,” Emily laughs. “It was bad.”
Adam’s absent-minded streak got the worst of him and he forgot about the planned outing – a double date with Emily and another couple.
“My friend called me and was like ‘Where are you?’ and it instantly hit. “I’d totally forgot and was on the other side of town…I didn’t even have my wallet on me,” Adam recalls. But despite the awkward start, Emily gave him a second chance, and within a week, they were dating.
Even thoiugh they were just 16 and 17 years old at the time, things quickly became serious. They were practically inseparable. The couple talked about the future and how they’d like to build it together, but they waited to take the next step. After graduation, Adam attended junior college and Emily enrolled in beauty school and then started a career as a hair stylist, and soon they had moved in together.
Eventually, Adam’s job took him to Las Vegas. For nearly four years he commuted by plane to Nevada, coming home on the weekends.
“It was hard,” Emily says. “Here we were supposed to be living together and he was gone Monday through Friday…it was basically a long-distance relationship.”
The distance could have brought challenges, but Adam and Emily were determined not to let it stand in their way. Establishing a solid career and saving for the future was important to Adam, and Emily was happy to support him.
“We’d talked about getting married and the future, but I wanted us to get settled first,” Adam says. “The kicker was I wanted to buy a house first…so we had to go through that time to get where we wanted to be.”
Through it all, their commitment never wavered.
“There was no doubt that Adam was the one,” Emily says. “He’s just so much fun. He’s always in a good mood. And he’s always relaxed and easy going…I can be more Type A and he has a way of making everything alright; I wish I could be more like him.”
Adam felt the same way. “We knew where we wanted to be, and it was together,” he says. “She’s just everything to me.”
Finally, after seven years of dating, Adam surprised Emily with a proposal. Emily had traveled to New York to attend a hairstyling training course and Adam came along. Prior to leaving, he’d planned to propose to Emily during the trip. He purchased a ring, got a blessing from Emily’s father, and shared the good news with his family.
But keeping the surprise from Emily turned out to be a challenge. “I’d smuggled this ring in secret the whole way there and I didn’t want her to find it,” Adam says. “The hotel was like the size of a bathroom so keeping anything hidden was a challenge.”
Even when they went out, Adam struggled to keep Emily from discovering the ring before the perfect moment.
“We’d gone shopping in Soho and I bought him a jacket and he wouldn’t wear it,” she says. “I kept wanting him to wear it and I thought it was really strange he wouldn’t put it on. But it was because the ring was in the one he was already wearing.”
After a day of shopping, Emily wanted to return to their hotel to drop off their bags before heading out to dinner. But dusk was beginning to fall and Adam had his heart set on a sunset proposal. Somehow, he convinced Emily to detour to Central Park. There, as the sun went down, Adam proposed to Emily in a horse drawn carriage.
“It was absolutely my dream,” Emily smiles.
Happy and surprised, Emily accepted. The couple called their family and friends to share the good news and spent the remainder of their trip celebrating.
As soon as they returned from New York, Emily began coordinating her big day. First up on the agenda: choosing a date. Emily’s best friend had scheduled her wedding for the next year and Emily didn’t want to interrupt her plans. But she didn’t want to wait too long either. So, Emily set her wedding date for September – just six months away.
For some brides, planning on a shorter timeline would be intimidating, but Emily found it ideal. Organized and focused, she was able to make decisions more clearly and had less time to stress out and second-guess her choices.
Emily soon found another benefit to her expedited planning. “When you have a short engagement, you just make decisions and it costs less money. It was easy to stick to our budget.”
Emily also put her creativity to use to plan her dream day. When she fell in love with a dress far beyond her budget, she began to scour the internet in hopes of finding a deal.
“I finally found a bride in New York who was selling the same dress, brand new, because she’d changed her mind. It was literally a fraction of the price,” Emily says.
The only catch was the gown had been altered to fit someone who was a few inches shorter than she was.
“I just took it to a bridal alterations specialist and she added some organza under the hem on the bottom to fix the length. It looked perfect!” On September 17th, 130 guests gathered on the lawn of The Ridge in Auburn to see Emily and Adam exchange vows. Flower pomander balls, handmade by the bride, lined the aisle, which was decorated with pink rose petals.
The couple had opted to go with tradition and not see each other before the ceremony; and the moment when they finally met at the altar was worth the wait. “We were just lost in the moment,” Emily says. “The officiant kept talking and we weren’t even listening to him; I said ‘I do’ before he even got to that part. And then during the prayer we kept opening our eyes and looking at each other and I kept trying to kiss him. We were just so excited.”
Finally, the couple was pronounced husband and wife and they shared a long kiss. After the ceremony, they took pictures with their bridal party around the golf course as the sun set. Meanwhile, guests enjoyed a cocktail party and hors d’oeuvres on the patio.
Next, guests were invited into the reception ballroom, where the tables were decorated with white linens, tea light escort cards, and lush, low centerpieces of white roses. Accents of Tiffany blue, the bride’s favorite color, were present in the lighting, the dessert table, and sparkling crystals scattered amidst the table settings.
After the guests were seated, the newlyweds made their grand entrance and shared a first dance. During dinner, toasts were raised and guests could enjoy a display of photos from Emily and Adam’s courtship.
“That was really fun because not a lot of people realized we’d been together that long,” Emily says of the photos. “It was cool to share our story.”
With the formalities of the day behind them, the newlyweds and their guests burst into party mode. The dance floor was packed the whole night and everyone was having a great time. Even Adam’s great-grandmother got in on the fun.
“She stayed the whole time – really late,” Adam remembers. “At one point the party was starting to get a little wild and the music was getting rowdy and I went over to apologize to her and she just said, ‘Oh, I turned off my hearing aide a long time ago.’ She didn’t care; she just wanted to be there with us. She stayed the longest of anyone. She ended up passing away a few days later, so it was really special to have had her there.”
It was a perfect ending to a perfect day, which the couple sees as only fitting.
“When you don’t sweat the small stuff, it all comes together and it’s amazing,” Adam says.
His bride agrees.
“It’s not worth it to stress out,” she says. “Just make sure you’re marrying your best friend and it will be perfect. And I did that.”
