Hello :) As most of you know, I am Melissa "The BRIDE"- this has been a long time coming!! I was born in a small town in Southeast Missouri, called Sikeston. Although my parents aren't together they are absolutely amazing and have been more than I could have ever asked for. They are the true definition of co-parenting and I could not be any luckier! I have an older sister, Amanda who is 16 months older than me. Like most sisters close in age, we did not get along very well growing up, but now it is safe to say she is my best friend. I have always admired and looked up to her, I just don't mind to admit it now :) She has blessed with with a gorgeous 17 year old niece Kailey, who truly rocks my world- and the most handsome sweet nephew Logan, who is 5. Even though we are not in the same state anymore- they are some of my favorite things about life and I always look forward to seeing them, in the interim face time and text messages get us through!  When I was 17, I moved from Missouri, to Columbia, South Carolina. That is where I finished up High School and started my college career. I went to what I think is the best college in the state- Columbia College- where I met some really great people and had the opportunity to do some amazing things- like travel to Helsinki, Finland to teach school at the International school there! While I was finishing up school I got a job at Best Buy, I spent several years working there and I met a lot of great people - one being one of my very best friends, and another one being my now fiance, Kenny! I remember first meeting Kenny- I remember him always being goofy and everyone liking him. As I got to know him more I realized how special he really was! We have so much fun together, he always makes me laugh- even when I am mad and I try hard not too, my life is better with him in it!  Kenny instantly took to my niece and nephew and would beg to go play with them on the weekends- I love the way he took to my family and always makes them a priority! Now that Kenny and I are planning a wedding, I spend most of my free time working on that. My favorite thing to do with Kenny is go to different parks around where we live with our dog, Piper. I love the University of Carolina Gamecocks, reality TV, my friends and family and sleep! I am so thankful to be surrounded by my family, Kenny's family, and our best friends during this time! I am REALLY looking forward to our wedding, and the celebration of it!

I was born and raised in Northern, Virginia. I have a younger brother- Mike, we kept our parents busy growing up with all of our extracurricular activities! From soccer to swimming to lacrosse we pretty much lived in the car! I graduated from Potomac Falls High School, and like most teenage kids- I wanted to move away from home. I decided to go to college at The University of South Carolina where I majored in socialization.. Or Civil Engineering according to my degree. During my time at South Carolina I met a lot of really great friends we spent alot of time going to football games, playing sports and spending time outside. Because of those things I decided I should get a part time job to help support some of my activities. That landed me at Best Buy- I worked part time in the computer department and I really didn’t think I would make a lot of long term friends there (let alone a wife) but I enjoyed some of the people that I worked with and after some time I started hanging out with them some. Every Tuesday, after work everyone would go to a local “Bar” for wing night. That is where Melissa and I really started talking, we would both go there- talk and leave, we would talk a little at work but it was several months before we started actually hanging outside of work. Even then we had no intentions of being anything other than friends- we liked things just the way they were! But, as time went on we realized how much we had in common, and how much we enjoyed being together so- on her 29^th birthday I agreed to go to Charlotte with her, her best friend Marilyn and her boyfriend (at the time, now husband, Travis) the night after her birthday I decided that it was a good time to make it official- so I did! Things were great and we had a lot of fun! We spend a lot of time with her family and hanging out with friends.. We both graduated from College and got jobs- after working for a year or so I realized that my job did not have any long term promises- I felt like I was settling and not meeting my potential. I knew that finding a job around where we lived was going to be very hard- but I also knew that getting Melissa to move away from her family was NOT going to be easy, if even possible. So, I just hung in there and slowly trying to plant the seed- at first she immediately shot it down but I didn’t give up and kept on. After several months she finally gave in- and she told me to “start looking” little did either of us realize that within a matter of weeks I would be offered a job with Fairfax County Government as an Engineer in Northern Virginia! I found out I got the job early one morning around 7:00- I went upstairs to wake her up and tell her and she instantly starting crying. Not quite what I was hoping for- I knew she was happy for me- but it really hit her then. After a few hours to process it she felt a little better and despite being sad to leave her friends and family we were excited about what the future held. I knew then that Melissa was really special, for her to agree to move away with me and leave her favorite people in the world meant so much to me- I knew then that she was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with! So about a month and half before we moved I asked her to marry me- and of course she said yes! Obviously this close to the wedding we are very busy with that- but outside of that, I love to be outside- I have started playing golf a lot more, I LOVE cheering on The University of South Carolina Gamecocks- and having our evening walks with Melissa and Piper. I want to thank you all for visiting our site to get to know us better! I am looking forward to starting our marriage and the future!