Taylor & Aaron met in college at James Madison University through mutual friends. Taylor was on the dance team and Aaron was in ROTC Army. The two groups at JMU have been planning events together since the 1980s. There was a party following the ‘Men of Madison’, an event where the dance team girls choose a partner to do a fun dance with at one of the basketball halftime shows. During the party, Taylor was hanging with her friends when Aaron spotted her from across the room and told me to come sit next to him. He then told her, “I’m Aaron and we’re going to get married some day,” and continued to introduce her as his future wife for the rest of the night. They went on a date a week later at Billy Jack’s Shack and sat and talked until the restaurant closed that night, and Aaron was right after all!
From Taylor’s perspective: “We got engaged at National Harbor in 2019. Aaron booked a hotel room at the Gaylord Hotel and told me we were “getting away for the weekend for my birthday.” We went to dinner and took a night stroll by the water. As we were walking, Aaron asked if I wanted to take a picture. First of all, I always have to force Aaron to take pictures and am the one asking him to take one with me. So, of course I was thrown off but happy to capture us down by the water with the lit up Ferris wheel in the background. I was all prepared to take our self-sufficient selfie when he asked a woman walking past if she could take a real picture of us. At this point I was real confused. She took his phone and he walked over to me and said, “are you ready?” As I go to say, “for what?” he gets down on one knee, struggles to get the ring out of his pocket, and proposes. After I said yes, Aaron says “What happened? I blacked out from nerves.” With many laughs and huge smiles on our faces we stopped in a restaurant, where we got celebratory cheesecake and champagne. Our last stop was at the restaurant next to the hotel, we ordered nachos to go and took ourselves back to the hotel for the night.”
Wedding Venue: Chesapeake Bay Beach Club
Videographer: Perfect F.O.R.M.
Florist: Scentsational Florals
Music: DJ Steve Moody
Cake: Blue Crab Cupcakes
Wedding Dress: Bridals By Elena
Wedding Tux/Suit: Men’s Wearhouse
