Liz + Jason {Four Seasons Wedding}

Let’s start with The College Chapter. Jason and I met in college at the University of Georgia. We were both at a concert at the Georgia Theatre and I lost my purse. This was not the first time (or the second or the third…) I had lost my purse and my concerns to my friends were met with little more than an eye roll. Jason was chatting with one of my friends he knew and stepped in and offered his services (prince charming). We found the purse in no time (spoiler alert: the bartender had it all along). That summer I studied abroad in Spain. I can now admit that I spent the entire summer thinking about that sweet boy I met in Athens. At the beginning of the next semester, we kept running into each other downtown. After quite a few times hanging out (read: dragging my friends to whichever bar I thought he might be frequenting), he asked me on a date to my favorite restaurant, The Last Resort Grill. That was almost 7 years ago.

We dated the rest of college. Jason was a year older than me and had a job already lined up in Atlanta, GA. I told him that I knew I wanted to move to NYC after college, no question. Jason was able to put in for a transfer and soon we were both working in New York City. Enter: The New York Chapter. Those were some of our favorite years together. After many adventures and lots of exploring, we both came to realize this was more than a college fling. I will never downplay how grateful I am that we had the chance to grow up together at the same time in a place like New York. After much deliberation (and more pro / con lists than you might think possible), Jason decided to move back to Atlanta, GA to join his family business. Enter: The Long Distance phase. We spent about a year going back and forth between Atlanta and New York. Jason knew it was going to take a while to get New York out of my system and he never tried to pull me away. Long distance brought a whole new set of challenges and a whole love of travel and skype and we continued to grow together.

Enter: The Engagement. After almost three years in New York, I moved into my third apartment. The day after we moved in, amidst the hurricane of boxes everywhere, my roommate woke me up bright and early by handing me an ice coffee and an envelope that read: “Letter #1.” Inside, I found a letter in Jason’s handwriting and I embarked on the most fun game I have ever played–and I had a sneaky suspicion I knew how this was going to end. Very long story, short, I was given 10 envelopes and precise times I was allowed to open them. Letter #1 had the packing list, Letter #2 had a plane ticket, and so on. Eventually I found myself in a car with a driver on the way to a city that looked a little too familiar. Remember where we met, Athens? I was on my way back to our college town. The last letter, #7 ended with “I’m taking you back to where it all began.” As we pulled into Athens, I was about to burst. The driver drove me around all through downtown until we were in front of the Georgia Theater (where the famous lost purse brought us together 6 years before). The marquee above the theatre read, “Where It All Began.” My heart lept out of my skin. I slowly got out of the car and opened the theater doors to find Jason sitting alone on the stage. I remember very little after that. I saw a ring, Jason on his knee, and a lot of tears. Later that night we went to dinner at The Last Resort Grill, where we had our first date. To say I was impressed is an understatement. It still feels like a dream.

Looking back, the night of our wedding seems equally dream like. We always knew we wanted to get married in my hometown, Austin, TX. I am one of the lucky few who actually grew up in the center of Austin and really wanted it to be downtown. We wanted it to be a magical night outside, right in the center of Austin, by the water, under the stars, with lots of dancing and that’s exactly what it was. It was the most fun night and the most perfect way to start our lives together. The days leading up to the wedding night had some of the worst weather Austin has ever seen: tornados and monsooning and it all cleared up just in time to have our perfect wedding. Our families were so supportive and my parents really made our dreams a reality.