Love Is Blind and So Was Our First Date

I write people’s love stories on this blog all the time. How people met, their first impressions and then how they fell in love. It’s a beautiful thing and I love telling it. Well, today, I am so excited because I get to be the subject of today’s story…

I had thought for years that maybe I would meet my man at a wedding. I mean come on…I was at one practically every weekend and weddings are great places to meet people. Or, so they say.

Well, if you have ever seen me work, you know that I rarely have time to speak to anyone besides the bride and the groom…neither of which are exactly available! So I had pretty much written off meeting Romeo at a wedding. To add to this dilemma, it wasn’t like I could hang out with people my age much because when they were ‘off,’ I was ‘on.’ A wedding photographer’s schedule is not exactly made for prime socializing.

Well, on a random day at a random Starbucks I was scheduled to meet up with a couple who were interested in potentially hiring me to shoot their wedding. Since this happens often, I was definitely not thinking it would be super significant. Sure enough, I hit it off with this couple (they are awesome) and we quickly became friends. They were the kind of people I would naturally have been friends with outside of a working relationship so we laughed and talked for over two hours. A few days later, they hired me to shoot their wedding and we began to plan their engagement session.

On a warm Monday night in early October, we traipsed around Turtle Creek in Dallas and had a blast shooting some engagements. At the end of it, the groom turned to me and said, ‘Well, we think you are great. Are you single?’ At this, the sweet bride gently hit him and said, ‘Don’t assume she is single?’ I laughed and said, ‘No it’s ok…I am definitely single.’ Without hesitation they said, ‘Well, you will probably get hit on by a groomsman at our wedding so we would love to save you a step and set you up with one  if you’re up for it?’ In my head I started thinking about the awkwardness of blind dates and while I liked this couple a lot, I wasn’t entirely sure I knew them well enough to set me up! What if he was a total creep?!

Somehow my thoughts didn’t line up with my mouth though because I suddenly found myself saying yes! I now attribute that to God’s great plan. I had always been against blind dates and yet here I was agreeing to go on one…set up by people I didn’t really know! I got in the car thinking, ‘well, that will surely fall through.’ Instead, ten minutes later, they texted me saying ‘We have the guy we want to set you up with and he is AWESOME! Let us know if we can pass along your number.’ Thinking it was kind of crazy but also intrigued, I said, ‘why not! Go ahead and give him my number.’ 

Little did I know that they called Jimmy (my now husband) on the way home and said, ‘Jimmy, mark the time and date of this call…I just found your wife.’ True story. He called me about a week later and asked me out (major points for actually using the phone). He picked me up, (also major points) and after a few minutes of awkward exchange which we now laugh about, we felt strangely at ease. He was easy to talk to, funny, goofy and yet offered the deep insight that I so desperately needed in a man. We had the greatest conversation over dinner and I was amazed at how the date didn’t feel so ‘blind.’ As a side note, I was so nervous that I accidentally left my phone at home and so my roommates were panicked that if I wasn’t ok they would never know! I was having such a good time that I didn’t even notice until after dinner. At the end of the date, he took me home and I walked inside with the strangest feeling. This was different. I called my sister the next day to fill her in and I said, ‘You know, I think I am more scared that this IS it than that it isn’t.’  And I was right.

Over the next year, I had the privilege of dating the greatest man I know. It didn’t take long for us to fall in love and to realize that we were interested in forever.

More to come about that in the next blog so check back in on Monday!

This is us with the amazing couple that set us up!