Christen Sloderbeck & Eric Swope: A Homewood Wedding

June 1, 2019

How We Met: Although we were slight acquaintances beforehand, both Eric and I (Christen) attribute how we met and began our relationship to Mary Paris, a mutual friend and coworker. Mary invited Eric to join a coffee date she had previously planned with me. Both of us had our doubts about this potentially awkward three-person coffee date. After about an hour, Mary conveniently had to go, and we lingered for quite a while as conversation continued to flow.

The Proposal: Eric asked Christen to marry him in front of a beautiful oak tree with Spanish moss, one of Christen’s favorite sights because it always reminds her of her native home of Florida.

Favorite Moments: During the end of the congregation taking communion, we had the opportunity to look out and observe all our friends and family there. It was such a special and joyful moment to take in. During the reception, we loved seeing people of all ages having a great time dancing and laughing. Lastly, we loved leaving our reception by foot. Going for walks is one of our favorite things to do together, so it was very “us” to leave our reception like that.

Favorite Details: Since we are both teachers, we wanted to include some special touches for the children that attended our wedding. Eric drew a coloring page of the two of us for them, and we both designed a crossword puzzle about us for kids to do during the wedding ceremony. A good friend of ours, Jamie Johnson, also created a beautiful collage of dates and places that are important to us.

What We Are Doing Now: I am the gifted education specialist at Edgewood Elementary, and Eric is the art teacher as well as the cross country and track coach at Homewood Middle School.