When Hurricane Katrina hit, Jeff was attending UNO.  He evacuated with his family to Baton Rouge and had to transfer to LSU where I was a student also.  This is where our story begins. Some of Jeff’s high school friends were a few of my college friends and we all had the same time off of class so we would meet for lunch.  Jeff and I sat next to each other at one of the lunches but did not say a word to each other.  Soon after that first meeting we started talking a little more and hanging out a little more. We instantly became best friends. Jeff would soon be moving to South Carolina to attend Chiropractic school and we both knew that a long distance relationship would be tough.  With our feelings for each other growing, we decided to take a shot at it.  Less than a year later Jeff moved to South Carolina and I stayed behind in Baton Rouge to finish my last year at LSU.  After graduating, I moved to South Carolina to be closer to Jeff. 

A few months after celebrating our 3 year anniversary, Jeff decided to propose. One Saturday morning we went for a walk around a creek that we visited together quite often.  There was nothing out of the ordinary that day and we started our walk before lunch. It was a very cold winter morning and we both were so cold neither of us was talking much. We continued on our walk around the creek until we reached the “proposal spot”.   Once we were there, I noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under a rock.  I immediately went over to grab it and Jeff said “It looks like a poem, do you want me to read it to you?”  I handed it to him and he began reading it.  It was titled “To The One I Love” and was a poem written about our entire relationship up until that moment. I still had no idea that he was about to propose until the end of the poem when he said “Today I get down on one knee, to ask you Jacki will you marry me?”.  He got down on one knee and brought out the gorgeous ring! Of course I said YES!  After all of the excitement we headed back home because we were so cold. When we arrived at his house, to my surprise, he had planned a party with our friends to celebrate!

I immediately started planning the wedding, which was difficult while living in South Carolina.  Upon his graduation, Jeff accepted a position with a Chiropractic practice in Mandeville and we moved back home at the end of 2009.

On July 10, 2010 we were married in a beautiful ceremony at Saint Peter’s Catholic Church in Covington. We were very thankful to have our friends and family share in that special day! With the talented work of Robin DePaula Photography, the memories of our wedding day will be ones we can look back on always.