Alesha and Eric – September 26, 2020
Fall Wedding in the Smokies
Eric and I met in the summer going into my senior year of high school and when he had just graduated. We did not attend the same schools, so we were introduced through our mutual friend. She and I were having a girls day and out of the blue, she says, “Oh, Alesha… by the way I forgot to tell you but I gave this guy your number- hope that’s okay!” of course I was surprised and gave her grief about it because I had no clue who this person was!
She said, his name was Eric Prewitt and that they have been friends for a long time, he was a great guy and she really thinks that we would hit it off. Of course, at this time I was at a disadvantage because Eric and already seen my picture and wanted to get to know me. When she showed me Eric’s picture, I was smitten! That same night Eric and I started to get to know each other and the rest is history. We have been together now for eight years and have a little girl together named, Emerson.
If you ask us about our first date we will say, “Which one?” The first time we met in person was a date, but it included our friend who introduced us because she and I had plans to go to the opening night of a movie. To Eric’s surprise, we were taking him to see the opening of Magic Mike. The poor guy had NO CLUE what the movie entailed, our friend had been telling him it was about Wizards… Eric was a total trooper about it all and you could tell how out of his element he was. I gave him a reassuring smile, grabbed his hand and I knew he had to be a great guy if he was willing to sit and watch this movie for a girl he only just met.
A few days later, we had our first “official” date. I was working at a local fine dining establishment and was counting the minutes to our first date. Like a gentleman, Eric picked me up from work and brought me flowers. We had dinner at Cheddar’s, and you could tell we were both nervous, but once the conversation started all of that went away. Talking to him was like talking to someone I had known for years; the conversation was easy and felt right
Eric proposed on December 15, 2018, at this point we had been together six years and we welcomed our gorgeous little girl Emerson to the world just two years earlier. I had always known that I wanted to marry Eric, I had loved him since I was 17, we both grew up and started this life together that I could not imagine sharing with anyone else.
Eric planned a date night for us in Indianapolis, he had said it was a surprise, but I knew he had to be taking me to my favorite Italian restaurant since he told me to dress nice. Before we went to dinner Eric said he wanted to take me down to the Canal Walk. As we walked Eric said, “why don’t we get a picture on the bridge.” Once we were there something felt off with him, he was nervous and just did not seem himself. We stood on top of the bridge for a moment when he began telling me all the reasons why he loved me and how he could not imagine a life without me by his side. Of all the things he said, my most favorite was him saying, “this is not the scene I had envisioned for proposing to you. It is cold, raining and I had no idea the canal had lowered the water levels, this is anything but perfect. But it is also so fitting because that is us. We are perfectly unperfect and I couldn’t imagine being unperfect with anyone else but you.” Of course, at this point, I was crying, and he got down one knee and asked me to spend forever with him.
Eric and I had originally planned a big wedding in our hometown, but COVID-19 changed everything. Ultimately, we decided that we needed to cancel our big ceremony because the future with the current pandemic was unknown. This was so disheartening; we hated the idea of not having all the people we loved at our wedding, but we knew we still wanted to keep our original date. Pandemic or not, nothing was keeping us from our day. When we had determined that we would have a small ceremony the race was on to find the perfect location. I was on Pinterest looking at elopement venues in Tennessee when I came across the Chapel in the Hollow. I WAS IN LOVE! Everything about this location checked off all our boxes and the idea of being married in the mountains, in the woods sounded magical and everything we didn’t know we wanted.
We are looking forward most to becoming Mr. & Mrs. Prewitt! This day has been 3007 days in the making, and we are thrilled and plan to celebrate accordingly with our loved ones! There is no significance to our wedding date. We wanted a time that would be in the fall but not too hot or cold and the last Saturday in September was the winner.
Eric and I love to travel together when we can. We have a bucket list of places we would like to travel to and slowly but surely, we are checking them off! Our typical date night is going to dinner and then to our favorite cupcake shop.
