Kelsey and Jason's Smoky Mountain Wedding Day

I think you will really like this adorable couple. Kelsey and Jason were so sweet together, and I had a blast spending time with them.

We met during graduate student orientation at Mississippi State University where we went for our master’s degrees. I heard someone behind me say he was here for meteorology, and I rudely interrupted his conversation to tell him that I was there for the same thing. We then walked to the library together during the group tour and had samples of Snapple.

We were friends for two years before we started dating, and we have been together for over six years. Jason actually knew the date we got together and wins brownie points: March 19, 2007.

They brought their sweet puppies along, and we snapped a few pictures with them before we headed off to focus on the two of them.

Since we were friends first, our first date didn’t really have any pressure. Jason took advantage of that by taking me to mexican food followed by Walmart for toilet paper shopping (seriously). I think the second date was mexican food followed by a movie. Mexican was also the first thing we did when we moved to Tennessee in June. There is nothing more comforting than refried beans and queso.

FYI, when you’re in the area, El Paso’s is a superbly delicious Mexican restaurant out on 66.

(Jason:) Kelsey loves to bake, and I love to eat those creations. We’re passionate about our dogs and treating them like our children, including day trips and long hikes. We share a love for college and professional football and were able to travel to Super Bowl 47 to watch Kelsey’s Baltimore Ravens bring home the title. Also, due to our education and Kelsey’s job, we love discussing the weather, forecasting and stormchasing.What do you do together for fun? (Kelsey:) Everything football and everything food. We enjoy the farmer’s market and we are obsessed with the food trucks there. That is also where I first saw flowers by Sevier Blumen and even though we weren’t engaged yet, I knew they had to do my wedding flowers.

(Jason:) Kelsey is a gentle soul that truly looks for the best in others. She’s worked on me to release my road rage and allow my kinder side to come out.

(Kelsey:) When I am around Jason I am so comfortable because I know he loves me for everything I am, with everything he has. It is the most amazing feeling. He also makes me laugh a lot (as you can see in the pictures), although it is usually at him instead of with him.

(Jason:) The wedding day was us from beginning to end. Seersucker, purple flowers, puppy dogs, not one, but two cakes, lots of laughs, some awkward moments and just loving each other in our own way.

After the wedding we stayed at our cabin in Pigeon Forge for the weekend and enjoyed our time there hiking with the dogs and eating lots of fun food. We hope to go on a big trip next summer as our official honeymoon.(Kelsey:) I loved the entire weekend and was depressed when it was over because I didn’t want it to end. One of my favorite moments was when during the ceremony I was watching Jason’s eyes so closely to see if he would cry so I could make fun of him, and I completely forgot that I was saying my vows. That’s what you get for making fun of people. My favorite material item is easily my flowers. I am obsessed.

(Kelsey:) I have been dying to make my own wedding cake and loved every second of designing and making it. Jason is lucky we didn’t have a giant wedding so he didn’t have to watch me freak out over making a giant tiered cake. I also wanted to bring pieces of our family with us since they wouldn’t be there, so I made fans out of artwork from our nieces and nephew (“our littlest fans”) and framed our parents’ wedding pictures. Both were a surprise to Jason and I am mad that they didn’t make him cry. I didn’t do much DIY other than that, and instead relied on the professionals at etsy to do it for me. If you are around us for a day you will realize we call each other “pig” and don’t even realize we are doing it anymore. It is pretty obnoxious. I think it came from Babe (“That’ll do, pig”) but the funny thing is that we have never watched that together. Now there are other renditions, such as “oinker”, or the more loving “piggy”. That is the reason behind the pig cake toppers. That was a fun surprise for Jason.

The Proposal — We were taking our dogs for a walk on the Neyland Greenway and the weather was really neat – it was sunny but raining. I was trying to get one of the dogs to swim in the river and he said “will you just sit down for a second?!” We sat down on the bench, he said a few words about how excited he is to start our lives in Tennessee, and asked me to marry him.We just moved to Tennessee this summer so I (Kelsey) can start my dream job at UT. We are so happy to be here, and our Pigeon Forge wedding was such a great start of our new lives in Tennessee.When we were finished, we all stopped at a farmer’s market in Wears Valley were they played around for a few minutes and picked out some deliciously fresh fruit. 🙂