Engagement Story

Carson and Sara were both raised in the South. Carson is from Calhoun, Georgia, a small town north of Atlanta. He is one of six kids. Carson enlisted in the Navy after high school and a few years later picked up an officer package and was accepted to the Naval Academy where he met Sara.

Sara was raised in Clearwater, Florida. She has one sister. She attended the Naval Academy to pursue college sailing. Carson and Sara met sophomore year at the Academy in Ethics class and have been together ever since. After graduation they moved to Pensacola, FL together for flight training. Two years later they moved to Jacksonville,FL to continue training.

Carson and Sara were scalloping in the Gulf of Mexico, a tradition that they do with Sara’s family each summer. After a long day of snorkeling and diving for scallops. Carson was waiting under the water with a sign that said Sara, will you marry me? She said yes and the planning began.

Why did you choose the Outer Banks & The Black Stallion?

We chose the Outer Banks because we had visited before for Christmas and loved it. After we saw the Black Stallion, we knew it would be the perfect place for a Christmas wedding. The Christmas time worked well with our schedules but we also thought it was a good opportunity to bring both families together for the holidays.

Description of wedding

With the wedding three days before Christmas, it was a Christmas theme. Colors were gold holiday decor. Flowers were white with greenery, with red and gold berries. We also had poinsettias to decorate.

It was the perfect wedding and everything we dreamed of. It did rain and things didn’t go as planned but we were flexible and went with it and it turned out perfect. We are so happy and so excited for whats in store for our future. We spend a lot of time apart from each other, both deploying and away for the Navy. So we really value our time together and time with our families. Being able to bring our families together for an entire week to celebrate our wedding as well as Christmas was so much fun and everything we wanted and more. The event homes at the outer banks are such a great idea. It took the rush of the wedding and only getting to spend time with people who travel so far away to attend.

The First Dance was the favorite part of the day. We took dancing lessons. My uncle played our first dance on the guitar and sang the song. It turned out perfect and was a really special moment.