True love stories about your neighbors, by your neighbors.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way

By Claire Stanley

Adam and I met in college at East Carolina University. I had mentioned at some point in our relationship that I had always wanted to get engaged at a Christmas tree farm.

The holiday season is my favorite time of the year. Unbeknownst to me, when Adam was ready to propose he searched everywhere around Smithfield/Raleigh area for a Christmas tree farm and couldn’t find what he wanted. So he made his own.

In the back of his parents’ 20-acre farm he set up more than 10 real Christmas trees with one in the center that was decorated with lights and ornaments.

There was a custom sign printed from his print shop, Hinson Printing, that read “Stanley Christmas tree farm.” He strung up lights up and had a portable generator.

When I walked up there was an ornament on the center tree that said “Claire will you marry me?” It was absolutely perfect. My own personal Christmas tree farm.

After a couple of days of admiring the farm, we donated the extra trees to families that couldn’t afford their own.

Not even a stomach bug can stop engagement plans for Clayton couple

By Nichole Silva

He had the ring hidden for some time when I lived in Pennsylvania at my old house. We were heading to Barbados, and I was so sick. But we were not going to miss the trip, so each day I was in and out of the bathroom, and on October 1, we had pictures scheduled for the night.

He knew he wanted to ask before then so the ring was included in the pictures. Well again that day I was sick and in and out of the bathroom. He tried to take me for a “walk” and I kept pushing him away saying, “no, I just want to go back to the pool,” and eventually had to race upstairs to the bathroom.

With little time to spare — and fresh out of the bathroom in true Nichole and Forrest fashion — he asked! I couldn’t be any happier.

I’m not a big party or bells and whistles girl, so I was thrilled he asked even if I had to race back to the bathroom after!

Kenly residents share details of their ‘fairy tale’ wedding

By Alison Hendrix

We combined our love of all things Steampunk with my love of the Alice in Wonderland movie and had a truly magical wedding!

We were living in Clayton at the time but decided to be married in our hometown of Edenton.

My mom and maid of honor helped me dress in an upstairs room of the the very charming, victorian-style, Granville Queen Bed and Breakfast. I descended the stairs wearing a soft, fairy tale gown with flowy sleeves, and felt something true, something right, the very best thing, was happening. D

ownstairs, my two flower girls — each in a blue dress and gloves like Alice in the movie — joined us, along with my ring bearer, who was of course dressed as the Mad Hatter. We stepped outside and into a horse drawn carriage that brought us to where I would become a Mrs.

The carriage stopped in the beautiful garden of a historic home, built in the early 1700s, and the garden was full of my family and dear friends. As my bare feet touched the grass, I looked up to see my husband to be, wearing a top hat and tails, and I knew this was the beginning of something perfect.

We were wed under an arbor of woven branches and berries, a true fairy tale, and our reception was a mad hatter tea party. The tables were helter skelter and decorated with lace and leaves and top hats.

Our cake was the Mad Hatter hat from the movie. It was all fun and quirky and definitely reflected our personality as a couple. We both adored our special day, six years and counting!

Benson bride springs surprise performance on her husband

By Amy Adams

In July of 2009, I walked into a little bar in Benson and immediately knew my future was at the end of the bar. He told me his name was John, but for the record, his name is Ray. That night was truly the start of a wonderful relationship, despite the whole name fiasco.

We got married on March 23, 2014 at The Preston Woodall House in Benson. As a singer, I was planning a surprise for my future husband that I worked on for weeks. We had chosen all of the music for our ceremony, but little did he know, the song I would walk down the aisle to would be sung live, by me.

I practiced for weeks, sneaking off and telling my future husband that I was going to the tanning bed. I even kept tanning lotion in my car so that when I came home I smelled like the tanning bed. The effort was worth it.

On the big day, I started singing “Look at Me” by Carrie Underwood before I even walked out of the foyer into the ballroom. When I turned the corner and finally laid eyes on my husband, he was a blubbering mess.

After 10 years together, I’ve only seen my husband cry once. We often joke that our relationship started with a little lie in Benson, and so did our marriage.

Kenly native keeps things simple in Goldsboro wedding

By Brandi Creech

On a beautiful October day at 1 p.m., I married my best friend, David Barfield. The Bethany House, in Goldsboro, has no electricity so everything was battery operated. A few hiccups happened with the music, but overall it was a perfect day! We met in Goldsboro in January 2017, so we knew we wanted to get married close to our meeting place.

Wilson couple improvises at Tobacco Farm Life wedding ceremony

By Ashley Amerson

It was one of the hottest days of the year, but there was a nice breeze in the shade of the country trees and the old country house. My husband left the ring in his truck. The violinist started playing “Marry Me” and I started walking down the gravel path to him.

He started making hand motions that “the ring was in the truck.” One of his aunts caught on and gave him her ring off her finger just in case she couldn’t find it in his truck. While she went to find the ring, I was already in front of him, wedding started.

My husband told the preacher quietly the ring is “in the truck.” Pastor Maultsby stalled with a very long prayer. Once my husband had the ring, he tried to motion to the pastor that he had the ring and we were good to go!

Clayton couple waits for the stars to align

By Cathy Delano

Chris and Cathy dated briefly in high school in Maine in 1987. Upon graduation, their lives would find different paths. Fast forward to 2005 when Chris tracked Cathy down through the pioneer social media website, classmates.com.

Chris was in Florida and Cathy, by this time, was in Clayton. They rekindled their friendship via AOL chat and a couple of visits, but once again the timing wasn’t perfect. Another 10 years would pass before Cathy took to social media through LinkedIn to find Chris.

Finally, the stars aligned and Chris found himself in North Carolina for good on Christmas Day 2014. On December 10, 2015, Chris asked Cathy to marry him. They had a rustic themed wedding on April 29, 2017 at Brick & Mortar in Clayton, complete with whiskey barrels as a cake table and as an altar of sorts. Bouquets of baby’s breath in cowboy boots marked the aisle.

Chris made the arch and hanging cross where they took their vows. Cathy even wore wedding cowgirl boots for the ceremony with her bridal dress. At the end of the evening the bridal couple took a romantic ride through the streets of downtown Clayton in a horse and buggy.

New Jersey couple finds happiness in Clayton

By Elaine Rodriguez-Buz

After being divorced for 10 years and raising my son as a single mom, and after much heartache, challenges and kissing a few frogs, I finally found my king!

Both being from the undesired and stressful hustle bustle of the North, we decided to move to JoCo to recreate our life two years ago. Since then, we both left corporate positions and took a leap of faith to go after our life’s callings.

I am an alternative healing provider and Joe is a small business consultant. We both love helping people and impacting lives. We are a blended family residing in the Flowers community in Clayton. Live big, laugh hard and love much!

The secret to a good marriage? A weird wedding weekend

By Randy Capps

The opening bit of the old show Dragnet always starts with, “Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”

Well, I’m not going to change any of the names when I tell the story of our wedding day and weekend. It’s been 20 years, after all. What harm could it do now?

To set the scene, think back to January 22, 2000. There was a nasty winter storm that weekend, as you may recall. It wasn’t quite as bad in Mullins, S.C., but it was enough to keep all of our North Carolina friends from making the trip.

No problem, right? It’s a more intimate setting.

So, we schedule wedding party pictures before the ceremony. That way, we can actually attend our reception. Well, my Dad was late. So, we did some of them beforehand and the rest afterward. More on that later.

After my good friend Kevin stopped Shanna from slipping out the back door (she was just unhappy with how the day was going, she assures me), and I declined my Dad’s invitation to take his truck and duck out the side door (tempting for the same reason as my soon-to-be wife’s), we got started.

Somewhere in the middle of the preacher’s speech about love and commitment, my mother walks in. “Sorry, y’all,” she announced to the room. “I was getting my hair done.”

OK then.

So, we get through the ceremony with nothing other than a minor wax burn for me from the unity candle, and rush off to finish our pictures.

During this time, the guests made their way to the reception and, since this was late in the afternoon, they began eating. We finally roll in, I’m guessing, 45 minutes later.

By then, the very limited selection for our over-priced, under-delivered food spread was gone — as were a fair number of the guests. Remember, it was sleeting outside at this point, and people wanted to get home before dark.

We cut the cake, throw the garter and all that. So, it’s time to leave, right? Shanna and I, leaving triumphantly for our honeymoon as people clap and blow bubbles? Not quite.

Part of our agreement to get married at Marion-Mullins Freewill Baptist Church was that we had to clean up after ourselves. So, when we looked around and saw only the maid of honor, Tia, and Shanna’s parents, we changed clothes and started cleaning.

Less than two hours after professing our love and devotion in a wedding dress and tuxedo, respectively, Shanna was pushing a vacuum through the sanctuary while I took out the trash out from the kitchen — both in blue jeans.

We finish up, and it’s dark by this point. We dodged freezing rain and snow as we headed to Murrell’s Inlet to our favorite seafood place — one of the few places actually open during what passed for a blizzard on the S.C. coast.

We talked the hostess into sitting us by the fireplace in the otherwise empty restaurant to enjoy our first meal as a married couple.

A normal story would be over now. But wait, there’s more.

Later that night, one of the diamonds fell out of Shanna’s ring as she was getting out of the bathtub. Not a great omen, to be sure.

The next morning, the phone rang in our hotel room before 8 a.m. It was Shanna’s grandmother, who got us the room, wanting to take us to breakfast.

The cherry on top for the weekend happened later that day when we got back to Marion. After driving back from Myrtle Beach, which had three inches of snow on the ground, to Marion, which had seven, we stopped to pick up the other car.

My ring, which was a tad too loose, fell off my finger and into the snow. I wouldn’t see it again until the following Sunday, when the snow melted enough for me to find it.

I wouldn’t trade my marriage to Shanna for anything, but anyone planning a big, complex wedding should consider eloping.

Otherwise, you might wind up with your own weird story to tell.