Welcome Family and Friends!
Jon and I are so excited to share this special time of our lives with you all! I guess this section of the web page is to tell our story, for those of you who do not already know it.
Jon and I met while working at Wyndham Capital Mortgage in Charlotte. I always say we met at work, Jon always says we met at the bar -- I guess we officially met at a work gathering at Angry Ale's -- but that's a technicality that doesn't matter.
The first time we ever saw each other I was interviewing at Wyndham. While I was being given a tour of the building, Jon and his work co-horts were emailing "Hot girl touring the office!" and began to sneakingly follow me around on my tour. Jon's friends threw an eraser at me and ducked behind a cubical. When I turned to see what was thrown at me, I saw Jon standing in the hallway, eating a bag of chips, looking like an idiot. That is the first time I saw him, or so I'm told. I don't remember this event, but this is what he tells me.
We met a few weeks later at Angry Ale's. A big group of people were meeting after work for drinks and a guitar hero contest. Jon spends most of his time winning the guitar hero contest to try to impress me, but I didn't notice because I was too distracted by the other guys who were spending their time hitting on me. Ha! After he won the contest, he made his move, and we chatted for the rest of the evening.
I had two tickets to a George Strait concert in Columbia, SC that weekend that were given to me as a Christmas present by an ex-boyfriend. I broke up with him about a month before, kept the tickets, but had no one to take. After telling this to Jon at Angry Ale's, he suggested that we go to the concert together. I jokingly agreed (as we were both several beers deep by this point), thinking our conversation was meaningless bar talk. The next day at work, however, I arrive to open up an email from him with a picture of George Straight, saying "Are we still on"???
"What the heck?", I tell myself. The worst that could happen is I have a bad time, the best that could happen is I discover the man of my dreams. So I agree. Without any more than a random bar conversation under out belts, we embark on our first date, a weekend in Columbia, SC to see George Strait.
We drive down on Friday night, and have a good time getting to know each other better during the drive. The plan was to meet up with his friends Alex Bates and Jessica Holloway and go to the concert with them. When we get to Alex and Jessica's house, however, we discover the George Straight concert was cancelled b/c George was sick! We end up going out in Columbia that night, and we have a wonderful time the rest of the weekend.
We pretty much have been together ever since! We go out the following weekend, three weeks later we spend Valentines weekend with friends at Wintergreen skiing, and I meet the rest of the wonderful Daly family Memorial Day weekend at HIgh Rock Lake (with a full mouth of metal braces, I might add, but that's another story).
During my first trip to Athens, GA to see the bulldogs play is when Jon first said "I love you". We had spent the evening hanging out on Broad Street with friends, and as our evening came to a close, we decided to sit underneath The Arch (famous historic landmark on UGA's campus). As we are sitting there enjoying the evening, I get a text message from Jon that said "I love you". I immediately begin balling, and text him back "I love you, too".
I was finished from that moment on! I knew Jon was the only guy for me, so I spent the next two and a half years waiting on him to propose! That wonderful moment came on December, 24th, 2010. For those who have not seen the DVD of the proposal, you must! It was the most beautiful proposal that I could have ever imagined.
We now prepare to formally commit our lives to each other, before God, family, and friends, and we could not be more excited! We look forward to our wedding, and sharing the wonderful memories with you all!
We love you all,
Rachel and Jon
