This Biltmore Estate anniversary session has melted my heart in every single way.  Not only is Teresa my best friend, but she is also the kindest person you’ll ever meet.  She was my maid of honor 11 years ago and her daughter was my flower girl!

Teresa and Brandon recently celebrated their 20 year anniversary so we went all out for their session.  What better place for a glamorous session than Biltmore!  So for this post, I’m going to let Teresa do the talking because I just love the way she tells the story of how they met and how Brandon proposed!  It’s so sweet!

I first saw Brandon in the summer of 1998 on Main St., Forest City.  That was the hangout at that time.  I didn’t speak to him.  I didn’t even know his name, but I couldn’t get him out of my head after that night.

Fast forward to January 1999, my friend and I were out and decided to stop by his friend’s house because apparently that was the hangout in the cold months.  When I walked in, I was shocked to see the guy from Main Street!  It was his house!  My friend had no idea I had ever even seen this guy before!  As soon as I laid eyes on him I knew I wanted to marry him!

I’ve never been one to believe in love at first sight, but there was just this crazy connection and pull towards him!  I was 22 and he was 19.  He was a huge flirt so of course it didn’t take long for us to start talking.  We saw each other often over the next week and started dating shortly after.

We dated until the middle of March before he told me he needed a break.  We were apart for a month before he decided he couldn’t live without me (I already knew that).  That was the saddest month of my life.  After getting back together, he told me he loved me for the first time. We were engaged in December 1999 and married in shorts and t-shirts in August 2000, in a Horry Country courthouse.

The proposal was a great one!

Brandon bought me an engagement ring for Christmas.  I had no idea.  His brother accidentally slipped up and mentioned it in front of me.  Brandon was so mad that he didn’t even have it in him to propose anymore.  He let me open the ring when we got home that day (a couple of weeks before Christmas).  It was wrapped in a big box filled with rocks to throw me off.  When I opened it all I got was, “ you wanna get married or what?”  Brandon is a lot of things, but a romantic is not one of them.  It has worked for 20 years though so go figure!

XOXO,