When I (Liz) first asked Briggs to write our story in 2 paragraphs for the website, he laughed and said “there is no way because our story is 7+ years deep!” When I started to write mine, I ran into the same problem. You may need to pour a cup of coffee or glass of wine for this one - we hope you enjoy reading the stories!

Liz’s Story

Briggs and I both grew up in Greenville and went to J.L. Mann High School. I never hung out with Briggs in high school since he was a grade above me, but I always thought that he was a great guy and so easy to be with. Fast forward past high school, and I started to see more of Briggs when we were in college. My brother, John, and Briggs are close friends and they became closer friends when they went to The Citadel. Because of that, Briggs would occasionally either be at my parent’s house or the lake with us and John. Again, I always thought he really cute, a great guy and easy to be with.

2015 - Spring of my sophomore year of college, I last minute needed a date to my KD formal that was 3 days away. I decided to text Briggs and ask him if he was free and could drive up to Columbia that Friday. He got ‘leave’ from the Citadel, found a tux, and got to join me. We had the absolute best time that night. We didn’t keep in touch after that, but later that summer, I asked him to be my date to my cousin’s wedding. To no surprise, we had the best time again. My entire family came up to me that night and said we needed to date and thought Briggs was the “cutest thing.” I didn’t disagree by any means, but nothing happened after that again! For several years after Emily and Blake’s wedding, really until Briggs and I started dating, my family often brought up Briggs and how we needed to date. Family really does know best - they all knew he was ‘the one’ before I did.

Now we have entered into the fall of my junior year. I went to Kiawah with one of my best friends Rollins, and I asked Briggs to come hang and drive from Charleston. We hung out all weekend…had the best time.. but again… NOTHING happened! Shortly after that weekend, I was asked out on a date by someone else, and I continued to date someone for several years after that. I found this out years later, but after our Kiawah weekend, Briggs had asked my brother if he could take me on a date. Rumor has it that John said “Yes!” and started crying?! But I guess that is another story. For Briggs and I, the timing just wasn’t aligning yet…

There were a few other times in the years that I would randomly run into Briggs (Notre Dame game in South Bend, Columbia, Charleston, etc) and again I kept thinking… “he is so cute, easy to be with and a great guy”… but nothing ever happened!

2018 - Briggs and I both moved back to Greenville, and we were running in the same circle. Briggs lived with John, and I was living a block away with 2 of my best friends, one of whom is my sister-in-law now. It was evident when Briggs and I were together that there was something between us. Conversation was SO easy and he was super fun to be with. I just kept telling myself he was a good friend. However, all of our friends knew that there was something between us and knew that one way or another down the road, we would be together…. they (along with my family) were not wrong. I just wasn’t aware of that yet. Briggs ended up letting me know how he felt later that fall on my parents back porch, and I couldn’t reciprocate those feelings back to him at the time. I never felt “peace” from that conversation. We didn’t keep in touch or hang out much after that, and now I can really understand why!

June of 2020 - John and Rebecca get married and I recently got out of my long relationship. Briggs and I were both in the wedding and I knew we would be with each other all weekend. It was definitely a little bit awkward between the two of us that weekend, but I knew why. I was slightly over-served at the wedding :) and decided that after the wedding, I needed to let Briggs know how I felt about him and that I was sorry. If it wasn’t for Trevor and Caitlan pushing me out of the car in the Sir Abbott driveway, I wouldn’t have told Briggs how I felt that night.

July 2020 - I didn’t hear from Briggs after that night until 4 weeks later during our annual July 4th weekend at Lake Toxaway. John decided to invite him and didn’t tell me (I think that this was a continuation of John’s plan for us to be together!) and I was a nervous wreck when he got there. It was of course, a super fun weekend. I hardly talked to Briggs that weekend because it felt like every time I started to, all of our friends would start smiling at me!

At the end of the weekend, the crew went into Brevard to grab lunch and drinks. Briggs and I got a moment to be just the two of us. I didn’t want to stop talking to him!!

He called me a couple of weeks later and asked me out. We had our first date (that lasted 2 days) in Asheville. It was the best weekend ever. I knew he was the one. I was ready to marry him like 4 months in!

July 4th weekend of 2021 - Briggs gave me a letter that he had written to me back in 2018 when he told me how he felt about me on my parents’ back porch. He had planned to give it to me back in 2018. He kept it all these years. He asked me to marry him on our Lake Toxaway dock. A holiday weekend and place that is so special to us. I had NO idea and was so surprised! I started screaming ‘yes’ way before he was even on a knee.

In God’s perfect timing and 6+ years in the making, Briggs and I started dating, got engaged, and finally get to marry one another. Briggs is the most thoughtful, kind, God-fearing, adventurous man. We can’t wait for April 30!!!!

Briggs’ Story

Liz and I officially first met at some point in high school, likely through Young Life. We ran in different friend groups and dated other people so there was never much interaction. I became good friends with her older brother John after we went to Crooked Creek and 2 years later ended up in the same company at The Citadel. In spending time with him, I got to know the family very well and Liz was always around. I do not remember much of these times with Liz, but I am 100% certain we clicked when we talked. Maybe I would have been very interested then, but this girl ALWAYS had a long standing boyfriend (to be continued :)). Fast forward to spring of junior year, I got a text from Liz on a Wednesday asking me to be her date to her formal that Friday. I had no tux and "rec day" was early Saturday morning which I was supposed to participate in and not leave campus Friday night. But down in my gut, I knew I wanted to make it happen. I had already gotten pretty good at asking my way out of things at The Citadel so that was no problem. The tux though? Who in the world was the same size as me? Miraculously, I had a friend in Charleston who had one that fit well enough. I was on my way to our first date. We hit it off from the start and had a blast dancing the night away. It was easy and the chemistry was effortless. However, the perfectionist in me held me back from jumping in. I did not want to hurt another friend so I somewhat just let it ride out. Nevertheless, the first seed had been planted.

Fast forward to that summer, Liz reaches out to me and asks me to be her date to her cousin Emily's wedding. It was on a Saturday the day I returned from taking middle school kids to camp for a week. I knew I would be exhausted BUT I knew I wanted to go. As I was wheeling into Greenville from Charleston that evening, Murphy called and asked me if I had my tux ready. My tux?? I still didn't have a tux. "No problem, just wear a dark suit and tie." I did not have a suit either... I had the navy sport coat I'd worn since high school and some dark gray slacks. It would have to do. Though we really had not spoken since the formal, we picked up right where we left off and had a BLAST. Natural, easy chemistry. We danced, we laughed, and I managed to insert myself into every family picture. The next day Liz flew back to Colorado and again we went our own way.

In the fall of senior year Liz came down to The Citadel with her friend Rollins to visit Rollin's boyfriend at the time. Causally, at the game, she invited me to come with them to her family's place at Kiawah for the night. I had a load of things to do that Sunday, but I went... I had not said no to her yet. I remember sitting at the kitchen table, her smiling back at me and thinking "I really like this girl." We would stay up LATE that night talking in the living room, but I didn't make any moves. WHAT WAS I THINKING!?

The truth is I was a BUSY guy and I over-thought it. "What if I hurt one of my friends? What if it doesn't work out? Will it be awkward with John and her family? I don't think I have the ability to give her the time she deserves in Columbia, etc." I certainly continued to think about her and eventually decided enough time had passed and I was ready to make my move. Out of courtesy, I called John and asked him if he was OK with me asking his little sister out. Our conversation was affirming and I was excited.

It had to have been in the next day or two... I logged into instagram and saw Liz posted a picture with a new boyfriend. At first I couldn't believe it, but the reality was I could. She was a CATCH and in the time I spent dragging my feet, somebody else had been taking her on dates. I had missed my shot and would have to wait. Little did I know I would be waiting a LONG time...

I graduated, moved to Hartsville and then to Wisconsin. We did not talk much, but I still visited John and the family when I was in town (which meant she was around). We would end up moving back to Greenville around the same time in Spring of 2018 and this time we were running in the same friend group. She still had the boyfriend (who never seemed to be around) and I was seeing someone myself. It did not take long after being around Liz regularly for me to put an end to mine. Deep down, I was confident her relationship was not going to last and we would get together. There was SOMETHING between us and I knew it... it was just a matter of time. Well, my "matter of time" and hers were not exactly the same.

Sure, I was a little confused. I had several friends both in Charleston and in Greenville who chirpped in my ear that it was obvious we both liked each other. Looking back, it was great to hear it but I almost wish I hadn't because it made it nearly impossible to get this girl out of my head. Eventually, after a few conversations with some close friends, I decided that I needed to tell her how I felt and that I could no longer just be her friend. I went over to "drop something by her parents" and laid it all out there in the front of the driveway. I wanted her, and it was either us together or I had to remove myself from her. Well, it was the latter BUT a bigger seed planted.

About a month later, I received a similar text from the one I had last sent her. "Can I drop something by your house?" I KNEW IT! The plan had worked. Liz shows up to me and a friend, asks me to come outside and lets me know she is now a single woman. Though I was pumped, I was composed because I knew some time needed to pass. So instead of saying anything out loud to her, after she left I went to my room and I wrote a letter. I put on paper words I wanted her to read and I was confident in everything I said. In my head, I thought I would give her this in the very near future. It just seemed right. But you know what? My plan was so weak compared to the one God had in store for me, and for her. That note would sit at the bottom of my desk drawer and collect dust for two years.

Though I could not understand at the time, Liz reconnected with the other guy and I was ready to move on. I had laid it out there, shot my shot, saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and then a boulder had fallen and covered it up. Little did I know, this boulder was weak and it was just there to do its job until God was ready to move it.

I received an opportunity with my company to move up and move to Asheville, NC and I took it. Five months in I was enjoying being away from Greenville and honestly thinking less about what I had left behind. Then, literally two days before John and Rebecca's wedding, I get a phone call from the bride to be. "Liz is single." About 30 minutes later I get a call from the groom... "Hazel is single." At the time, I DID NOT WANT TO HEAR IT. I had heard it before and did not want to entertain it again. And why is the bride concerned with my love life?? and her brother? It is because they KNEW.

Liz would end up telling me how she felt late that Saturday night after the wedding, in the same place she had a year and a half earlier. Though it was everything I wanted and needed to hear, I had to collect myself the second time and give it a minute. I knew once I went in, there was no coming back. One month later after a July 4th weekend at Lake Toxaway, I would officially ask her to come visit in Asheville for our first (or 4th) date. From there it was nearly all downhill.

One year later, the same weekend at the lake, I got down on a knee and asked Liz to spend the rest of her life with me. I still had the letter that I had written back in 2018... and I gave it to her to read minutes before she came running down to the dock. The timing could not have been more perfect.

I spent most of the time above telling "our story" from before we even dated, but the truth is you have to know it to understand why I am so in love with Liz today. I spent 6 years pursuing the girl I felt deep in my gut that I would get to love for a lifetime. But I am confident this was all in God's plan for me, for her, and for us to be together.

I may have been missing a tux on our first two dates, but I certainly won't be missing one on April 30th. Liz, I cannot wait to make you my wife and love you for the rest of my life. What a joy it will be to celebrate!

I love you Liz!