marriage.matthewthornton.info

Well, this is my side of the story to our first date. It is remarkably similar to his account, but I remember a few other things, ones that just stick in my mind.

We met at Christiansburg’s mall, which, if you don’t know where you’re going, is pretty difficult to find. I had left when I was supposed to. I followed the directions to a T. But, alas, I was 15 *coughs* 20 minutes late. We watched the DaVinci Code, and afterwards walked around the mall for a little bit. This was a welcome activity, since we had been sitting in the theater for close to (or a little over) three hours. We talked a bit and decided to go to dinner at Applebee’s. We had nice conversations, but things were a little different because we didn’t ask all the "usual" first date questions, seeing as how we had been talking most days online for the past three months. Neither of us were really ready to leave the date quite yet, so he suggested going over to the War Memorial, on Va Tech’s campus, which I had never been to. For those of you who haven’t seen Tech’s campus, it is almost like stepping back in time. The buildings all look like fairy-tale castles and it feels like it is nestled in a state park, with beautiful scenery. I reccomend seeing it for yourself. I was floored, even at night, at the campus. We sat on the ledge of the memorial and talked for HOURS. it was well past midnight when I ended up leaving Blacksburg.

I spoke to my friends and mom about the date in the following days and said that he was an interesting guy, but I didn’t really know if it would go anywhere. We were/are very different people. His intelligence intimidated me some, but more than that, it made me more interested in what he had to say.

We spoke the next day or so and decided to meet up once again, this time, him coming to Athens (which scared me, since he was living in the big city of Blacksburg). I figured, at the very least, I have found a new, very interesting friend.

Thank God for that second date…

Matt Jess

Allow me to put some context to this…I had been in a string of relationships that added up to about 15 hours.  Jess had just gotten out of a long-term relationship.  We met online and we talked for about 3 months before we actually met.  We knew a lot about one another before we even had our first date.

We decided to do the "typical" movie and dinner date.  We went to go see "The DaVinci Code".  She arrived 15 minutes late.  (Typical.  )  After that, we went to Applebees for dinner.   We had a good conversation but it was a tad forced in a lot of cases, because we knew a lot about each other and it was hard to shift out of "first date conversation mode."  We ended up that evening at War Memorial (Where we hope to get married) and we talked for a good while.

When we got tired of talking we walked back to to the cars and said good night.  I got a kiss on the cheek-unusual for a first date for me.  When Jess and I talk about it now, in retrospect, neither of us saw it going anywhere after the first date.  Jess just considered me a friend (She, in fact, told her best friend that she just viewed me as a friend).  I was concerned about the distance between the two of us (She is in Athens, I was in Blacksburg)

Not to leave you in suspense, but we ended up together.

Matt Matt

Matt was sweet enough to give me access to his site so I can keep you all updated, along with the ones he posts.

At this point, I’m compiling a binder of information and setting up a calendar of when things are due, or need to be started, so whenever I get organized, I will be posting that.

My first question to those of you who are reading this: Wedding etiquette says that the reception should involve an open bar. Neither Matt nor I are drinkers, and most of our families are not, either. So my question is: can we overlook etiquette and not have a bar available to guests?

Matt Jess

To those of you who don’t know, I proposed to the greatest gal in the world on May 19th.  It was our 1 year anniversary of dating.  (I’ll pause for your "Awwws"…..done?  Good.)  I was successful at keeping the wool over her eyes for 2 months.  Everyone else in both families knew but her.  When we were sitting after things settled down from the initial excitement, I asked her, "Aren’t you glad I’m on your side?"

In the coming months, we will be working on wedding plans, times for events, things to do at the wedding/before the wedding, and the like.  We will be posting as much information as we can on here so people can be kept up to date on our progress.  We’ll also be posting stories about us, and some pictures, if anyone is interested.

Stay tuned.

Matt Matt