So so excited for Allison and Eric’s wedding at the Omni Grove Park Inn this May.  We have been planning for a while now, and I have had so much fun getting to know them and their families.  They have been dating for three and a half years now, and they are so sweet together.  Read more about these two below…
How did you meet each other?
We met on OkCupid in December 2012. Allison had recently moved to Durham that summer to begin graduate school at Duke and Eric was in his 3rd year of medical school, also at Duke. Eric messaged Allison first, thinking she was cute (even though her profile was pretty brief)! Allison was very interested in his profile but was also unsure about the whole online dating thing so waited a few days to respond to his message. But when she went to respond, Eric’s profile had been deactivated. Fortunately, after logging into the site daily to look for Eric, his profile was activated a week later and Allison messaged him back immediately. We first met for coffee on Duke’s campus and we were very comfortable talking right away. We planned our first real date 2 days later – we started out going for a hike in the morning and then ended up spending the entire day together.
When did you get engaged, and how did he ask?
We got engaged February 28, 2015. We had been talking about getting engaged for a little while and started to look at rings together in early February. We pretty quickly got a sense of the rings that Allison liked so Eric said he would take it from there. Allison figured it would take him a few months or so to get the ring, so wasn’t expecting anything for a while. Well, just a few weeks later, Eric had just gotten the ring and Allison’s dad happened to be visiting us in Durham. Eric asked him for his blessing, and then decided he didn’t want to wait any longer – he proposed that night at dinner! Allison was very surprised!

What do you two do for a living?
Allison is a PhD student at Duke studying cognitive psychology. Eric is a medical resident physician at Duke.
What are some of the activities that you like to do together as a couple?
Anything that involves our chocolate lab, Maggie! We enjoy taking her on walks and playing fetch in the backyard. On weekends we try to be outdoors as much as and often go running or hiking. We also enjoy cooking together – Eric does all the cutting and chopping and Allison follows the recipe and puts it all together (and at the end of the process, Eric credits Allison for doing all the work!). There are a number of TV shows that we watch religiously together. The Bachelor is our favorite guilty pleasure show – we discovered our shared love for the show on our first date and have watched every episode together since!

Why did you choose Grove Park Inn as your wedding location?
We knew we wanted to have the wedding somewhere in North Carolina to make planning the wedding easier. With most of our family coming in from out of town, we wanted to bring them someplace really special. Eric and I went to Asheville for our first vacation together and loved everything about it (primarily the hiking and fantastic restaurants) and decided it would be a fun place for our guests to visit. And out of all the venues in Asheville, the Grove Park had everything we were looking for: beautiful mountain views, a central location for our guests to stay, and activities for our guests (the spa, golf course, etc.).
When you think about your wedding, what are you most excited about?
We’re most excited for our “first look”! It will be a special moment right before we get married for just the two of us. We look forward to sharing a more private and intimate moment before sharing our joy with all our friends and family. That, and the food of course!

What do you love about each other?
Allison: What I love about Eric is…
Eric is one of the smartest and hardest-working people I know, but he is incredibly humble about it. I am inspired by the way Eric cares for his patients all day (and often all night) long. Virtually every moment Eric isn’t in the hospital, he dedicates to us spending time together, something I appreciate very much. Eric is very supportive of me and is a true partner. But he’s not all serious – Eric is also wonderfully silly and always knows how to make me laugh (usually by making up a little song)!
Eric: What I love about Allison is…
I can be myself around Allison! She is one of the nicest and most caring people you’ll meet. She wears her heart on her sleeve and cares an incredible amount for the people she loves, but is also a very thoughtful and rational person. She is a fantastic partner and teammate who has supported me in good times and bad over the past 3 years. She’s beautiful, to boot!