They said “I Do” to a SOLARIS Wedding! Our wedding planners are thrilled to announce that Valerie and Richard will be getting married on the SOLARIS yacht next year!
Antoher Destin Wedding Coming Soon – April 2017, Valerie and Richard
Their love story as told by Richard:
I moved to Lanett, Alabama from Ohio in the Fall of 2009 to work for an Automotive Manufacturer. Val and her family moved from Brookwood, Alabama (near Tuscaloosa) to LaGrange, GA shortly thereafter in January, 2010. Her Father and I are coworkers and have worked together since January, 2010. Val’s Father (Scott) and I quickly became friends and he’s been a great “mentor” to me since we’ve met. If it weren’t for Scott, I certainly would have moved back to Ohio within a few years.
Since that time, I’ve been around the Beard family doing various activities (fishing, Country music concerts, Football/Baseball games, etc.) but Val and I were both in different stages of relationships and “life” until the Spring of 2015. At that time, Val ended her relationship with her then boyfriend of 2 years, I sold my house of five years and moved to LaGrange, GA and our lives seemed to intersect.
Our first official date was at the Atlanta Braves game in March of 2015. Since then, her and I have been inseparable. We’ve gone to ten concerts, Vegas twice, numerous NFL and MLB games, Ohio, Cancun, Blue Ridge Mountains, Panama City, Gulf Shores, etc. We’ve done more in 16 months than what most couples I know have done in a lifetime.
The moment I knew she was the one was one of our first trips together to Gulf Shores, Alabama within a few weeks of starting to talk. We were driving down together to meet her parents down there for a fishing trip Scott and I were going on. During this trip, Val and I were standing on the balcony at night watching the ocean and we saw a bright sparking light in the water that looked like the reflection of a star, only it was moving around the water like a fish. To this day, we have no idea what that light was, but in that moment, I had no doubt her and I were meant for each. It made me so nervous because it was so early in our relationship and I didn’t know if she had the same feelings.
In March of 2016, I purchased her engagement ring and started planning on our engagement trip (the longest month of my life without question). I asked Val to let a carpet cleaner in my house during her lunch break on Thursday June 9th, 2016. Her mom packed her luggage without her knowledge and I left a note on her luggage to go to the airport and gave her flight information. She had no idea where she was going, but she went the airport and found out she was going to VEGAS!
I had taken my flight a few hours earlier to prepare for her arrival. She was met at the airport by a chauffeur that took her to our hotel at New York New York in Las Vegas. The room was staged with flowers, pictures and champagne. I asked her to close her eyes when she entered the room and when I left her open her eyes I was kneeling behind her on one knee. I had rehearsed a thousand times in my head what I wanted to say, but all that could come out is “Will you marry me?”.
Congrats again to Valerie and Richard – we are honored to be part of this once in a lifetime day and are excited to plan all the details together!