Underwater – Rock The Frock

Photos In Cancun – Underwater – Rock The Frock – Love Story Contest #2

This is couple #2 of our 3 winners to our “Love Story Contest !” You can find the link here. The winners all received a FREE Make Up and Hair Session By Lorena and TTD Photos by the both if us.

Audra & Jeff – sent us this incredible story, Lorena and I just knew we wanted to share a day with them, it was fate that brought us together for the wedding a few days earlier and as they say the rest is history for our new friends who we can’t wait to see again.

Enjoy their story-

Every little girl dreams of her special day, wishes to fall in love and have a fairy tale wedding.  I know I did, but I was a realist. I knew I wouldn’t have a white knight show up on a horse and whisk me away to live happily ever after. I modified my fairy tale. In mine I would go to college where I would meet my future husband and fall in love. We would get married in our 20’s and live our lives happily together. You see that is how it happened to my parents and that even happened for some of my friends. However it didn’t happen for me. 

I was living my life and never put it on hold to find someone. I assumed this would happen at the right time for me. So during my 20’s I enjoyed my family, my friends and my life. I was even the infamous “always the bridesmaid, but never the bride”.   I was in 8 weddings and have the bridesmaid dresses to prove it ! One by one my friends all fell in love and were getting married. I just waited for my turn to come along.

In my mid 20’s I met a man and I thought “this was my time.” But others knew I was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and that we were not meant to be. When I was 27 my father passed away suddenly and my mom was left to pick up the pieces and try and move on with her life. She had never imagined being widowed young and knew that my dad was her true soul mate and they would be together forever. It was a difficult time and experiencing the death of my father and a very intense break up from the man I was hoping was my soul mate all within a year made me question if I really did want to find love. I had seen the very best and the very hardest part of love.

When I was 29 I had the opportunity to move to England with my job.   I was ready for a change so I took it.   I dated during my years there but I never felt that spark of being with my one true love.   Everyone had advice to me on how to go about finding the right person.  I was even told at times to just settle.  I was being too picky.   I would turn into an old maid.    But that wasn’t me.  I decided many years ago that I would rather be single than with the wrong person.

After being in England for over 7 years I decided I was ready to move back to the US. My company  worked with me and I eventually ended up in Georgia. I didn’t know anyone in Georgia and I worked out of my home, so meeting people was not easy, but gradually I transitioned into a life that was happy and fulfilled. But I still didn’t have that special someone with whom to share my life.

In July of 2010 I was travelling with a customer and she asked me about my dating life. I expressed to her that it was not anything to would write home about. I told her I had turned 40 earlier in the year and it was too late for me to think I would ever find my true love.  She told me I should try match dot com. She said she met her husband there and she thought it might work for me. I told her I didn’t really think that online dating would work. She asked me to at least think about it and maybe give it a try.

About 30 days later I was sitting at home one weekend and decided I would try match and see what happened. I didn’t put a lot of faith in it, but what the heck. So I wrote my profile in about 30 minutes. I was very honest and expressed I wasn’t looking for a man who was playing games. I also decided that I would not be the first one to go after a man. They would have to contact me first. After only a short time I was contacted by a few different men.  It was a fun time and I was quite flattered.   But none struck that special chord with me. Then one night I got an e-mail from match that said someone had saved me in his favorites. He hadn’t winked at me or e-mailed me, but he did save me. After looking at his profile I knew I wanted to contact him.

Jeff and I started e-mailing and I found myself looking forward to his fun and flirty messages. He had definitely risen to the top.   However, I was still holding back and not sure if I wanted to talk or even meet.  We figured the best thing would be to set a “phone date”. It was the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. I was nervous but I called him and eventually his phone went into voicemail.   I left a message and thought he would call me back that night, but he didn’t. It was at this point that I became disappointed that I didn’t hear from him.  It made me realize I DID want to talk to him. The next day he e-mailed me and explained that he had gone camping and his cell phone didn’t work in the mountains. He apologized and we made a new date to talk.  This time we actually did speak. The conversation was easy and relaxed. It made my heart skip a beat. I knew I wanted to meet him face to face.

We made a date to meet the following Sunday for dinner. I was impressed when he made the date for 5pm. I had told during a previous conversation that I needed to be up early the next day to travel for work. He was a true Southern Gentleman.

Jeff claims it was love at first sight! He and I went for fondue dinner and we immediately clicked. After 3 hours together I knew he was someone I wanted to see again. We started dating exclusively immediately. By the second date Jeff told me that he loved me and was going to marry me. I wasn’t quite as sure. I still had those walls built up and I wasn’t ready to let myself fall that quickly.  I did however know that I hoped things would continue going along well.

For me it happened on our fifth date. We were at his house and listening to music on his IPOD. I asked him if he had a song on there that made him think of me. Without batting an eye he started playing the Racal Flatts song “God Blessed the Broken Road.” It is a song about two people who had tried love in the past but it never worked out.Then they find each other and realize that God blessed their broken road of love and brought them together in the end. He said he thinks of me and thanks god every day that we met. That was the very moment I fell in love with Jeff and knew I wanted to spend my life with him.

After only two months Jeff and I got engaged. It was in front of an old mill in Rome GA.  Jeff and I had planned on taking some photos for Christmas cards so we hired a photographer. It was November 20, 2010 and the leaves had turned color and the setting was magical.   It was during this photo shoot that Jeff surprised me and got on one knee. He asked me to marry him. It was a breathtaking moment and we got it all on film. We even have photos of Jeff dropping the ring in the dirt as he got nervous right before he asked.

Jeff and I are anxiously planning our destination wedding in Cancun. Often times we comment on how lucky we are that we found each other and it happened at exactly the right time for us.

I guess fairy tales really do come true! My prince did arrive, swept me off my feet and now it is my turn to plan my fairytale wedding.