The Story of Us : High School Sweethearts

Every aspect of our job revolves around love and our clients’ sweet love stories. We got into the wedding photography business because we are total suckers for a good love story!! We are obsessed with hearing all about the mushy-gushy details, but our favorite love story to tell is our own! Follow along with us on our new six-part series “The Story of Us” starting with a giddy new romance that blossomed in the halls of our small town high school!

 

Small Town Charm

 

We went to a very small school in the rolling hills of Southern Indiana in the tiny town of Rockport, Indiana. It doesn’t seem possible, but South Spencer High School was even smaller than our three stoplight town! We have a local pizza place where everyone congregates after sporting events (Angelo’s breadsticks for the win) and the nearest Target is at least twenty minutes away. It’s one of those towns like Stars Hollow (where are our Gilmore Girls fans at?!?!) where everyone knows literally EVERYONE! Growing up in quaint little Rockport was charming, comforting and cozy.

 

It’s funny how life sometimes comes full circle. Bret and I have always known who each other were. It was hard not to! Growing up, both of our sisters played softball together. We had mutual friends throughout the years and we typically even hung out with the same circle of friends! To look back on it now, it is bizarre that the two of us never even had the slightest crush on each other in our earlier years with as much as we crossed paths. Had you asked me at one of my sister’s softball games if I would ever date the skinny guy sitting across from me on the bleachers, I probably would have LOLed!! But, that alllll changed in high school.

Our First Class Together

 

Everything changed when we had our first class together. We took psychology at the same time with the Varsity baseball coach, Mr. Kuester. We always sat in the back of class and would giggle uncontrollably.  It was in that class that we first started REALLY noticing each other. We both could tell that there were feelings forming, but in high school, does anyone really have the guts to bring those butterfly feelings up?! 

The Homecoming Dance

 

Before we knew it, the basketball homecoming dance was approaching and I was on the homecoming court. In our school, dances were a huge deal!! During dance nights you could always feel a subtle magic in the air. Back then, dances were LIFE!! To be honest, neither of us could tell you what happened during that game, but I’d like to imagine that the South Spencer Rebels won! (Go Big Blue!) 

Once the game finished, we ventured up to the commons area. The commons area played many roles in our high school years. It was known as the lunch room, the upper classmen’s locker area, and every once in a while, it was transformed into a dance floor!!  All the tables would be moved out of the way, string lights would be hung, and there was always a killer DJ set-up!! Then the dancing would start and you could feel the giddiness erupt over the crowd! We were dancing in the ‘Pop, Lock, and Drop It’ days, so I’m sure you can only imagine the hysteria! I was busy dancing with my group of friends when ‘Love Story’ came on over the speakers. I saw Bret from across the room & we somehow floated toward each other. Taylor Swift is my all-time favorite artist so dancing with Bret to that song was so fun & memorable. We danced the whole night away! (We still love to tear up a good dance floor!!)  

Our DJ was calling for the last dance of the night. In true 2009 fashion, a Beyonce song came on and it was, drumroll please.…A SLOW SONG! You all know the kind of suspense that comes with a slow song, I’m sure! Our hearts were in our throats as we slowly swayed to the music. There could not have been a better ending to our night. Queen Bey started to fade out, but it was almost as if everything behind us faded too & time stood still. In that moment, we were the only two people in that room. Bret gave me a somewhat nervous look and leaned in with the quickest, but sweetest AND most memorable kiss on the whole planet!! When we both got home that evening, we officially started ‘talking’.  Love was in the air & a sweet new love story had formed.

 

High School Sweethearts

 

After that homecoming dance, we were together from that point on. We were inseparable. We carried on with our normal high school adventures. Bret would wait for me in the mornings by my locker so that he could walk me to class. We would always rush out of class so that we could spend the few passing moments together before the bell rang. We both got to experience prom twice — memories to last us a lifetime! We did Christmas dances, football games, and all the date nights in between. There were many late night phone calls, and too many notes passed to count! We shared a big, silly love. We spent our last few high school years side by side, growing up together in every way.  From our first kiss on the dance floor at homecoming to strolling the hallways hand-in-hand, we are the definition of high school sweethearts.

 

Stay tuned for The Story of Us: Part 2 | Off to the Real World

Part 1: High School Sweethearts
Part 2: Off to the Real World
Part 3: Building our Dream
Part 4: Our Disney Proposal