Shelley and Matthew’s East Tennessee Elopement

Shelley and Matthew November 3, 2019

Shelley and Matthew brought their two children for our second elopement on November 3rd. These two were high school sweethearts, and they’ve been together 13 years! They battled the chill to get some fabulous photos, and the kiddos were troopers. Congratulations Shelley and Matthew!!

From the Bride:
We met in High school, I (bride) was a freshman and Matthew was a senior. We caught each other’s eye during afternoon break and seeing each other in the hallways. We both swear it was love at first sight. We later started hanging out by seeing each other at football or basketball games, parties, and school dances. We have actually now been together for 13 years and have had two beautiful children a long the way.

I can’t pinpoint a very certain first date since we had already been hanging out a lot before officially dating. I do remember the very first few times we went out on a date we would usually go out to eat at Olive Garden, grab some ice cream, and then see a movie.

Matthew proposed to me in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in October 9 years ago when we was pregnant with our first child. He always says he wanted to ask me by taking me on one of the carriage rides they have in Pigeon Forge, but when I told him I didn’t want to go on one I kind of messed up his plans. So instead he randomly asked me in our hotel room one night. I always tease him for how he proposed. Almost every year since we’ve come back every October.

We chose Tennessee for our wedding because we absolutely love it there, it is our home away from home. We visit every year and Matthew always says he wants to move down there some day when we retire. We love the atmosphere, the beautiful mountains, and all the fun things to do there.

We are most excited about finally tying the knot after so many years and getting the opportunity to have our children be a part of the big day. Our daughter will be the flower girl and son will be the ring bearer. We decided to elope since we have been together for so long and wanted it to be extra special with just our kids. They have wanted mommy and daddy to get married for years but the timing has never been right. They had no idea about it until we left for Tennessee because neither one would’ve been able to keep it a secret from our families.

We chose this wedding date because we knew we wanted to get married in Tennessee during the fall time and thought the trees, and fall scenery would make for perfect pictures. Also since we are eloping we kind of just worked around our kids school schedules.

We are are such homebodies and love staying in and watching our favorites TV shows and movies. We live on a farm so we also like riding our 4-wheeler, and taking care of our cows, sheep, and bunnies. When we do go out to do fun things it’s usually with our kids since we rarely have a night alone but when we do we love going to eat at our favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse. Otherwise we enjoy going to the movies, Holiday World, or the zoo with our kids. We would love to start visiting the mountains more than once a year.


Chapel Florals: Melissa Timm Designs
Bouquet and Boutonniere: Bride
Wedding Dress Store: Rice ‘N Ribbons – Sherri Hill
Menswear: INC (Suit), Nautica (Shirt)
Shoes: Journee from Macy’s
Rings: Kay Jewelers
Cake: Cakes by Bakin’ Bishop
Hair and Makeup: Kristi Dorcas from Eye Candy Salon & Boutique
Earrings: Persimmon
Veil: Etsy

chapelinthehollow@gmail.com 865-696-5348