“When I saw my wife walk down the aisle, I couldn’t stop crying until it was over.”

BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times

HEATHER AND CHRIS WILLIAMS

Live:Hueytown

Married: July 12, 2015

Encounter:August 2008, at Tuskegee University, during their freshman year. They were introduced in the parking lot of Younge Hall (boys’ dorm).

“Chris was playing football and I had spotted him at the pre-season training game a few weeks before. “That day I went to Younge Hall with my friend to see the guy she was talking to and his friend (Bruce) called Chris to come meet me,” Heather recalls.

“Bruce called me and said there was a girl downstairs looking for me, and I asked, ‘Is she cute?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,’ and I asked, ‘Should I wear a T-shirt or not?’ And he said, ‘Don’t wear a T-shirt,’” Chris laughed.

“He actually came down shirtless, and I’m 5’10” and Chris is 6’10”, so the whole time I was facing his muscles, I had no choice but to look at them,” Heather laughed. “And he pulled out this razor (flip phone) and put my number on it and that’s how it all started.”

Although the two exchanged numbers, it wasn’t until two years later, during their junior year, that they reconnected.

“As a nursing student, I had required classes that summer and Chris stayed at Tuskegee to work, and very few people were still on campus and in town and when we did see each other, we ended up hanging out all summer,” Heather recalls.

First date:Fall 2010, in Auburn, at a local bowling alley. “We went in and didn’t stay long… we bowled a game but the atmosphere was really bad, so we left and hung out on the strip in Auburn and then went out for pizza and just talked,” Chris said.

Heather remembers contemplating how different the date would be from their seemingly incognito summer outings. “We were going to go public,” she said. “People were speculating and now they were going to see me leave and get in Chris’ truck… He picked me up at my (on-campus) apartment in his GMC Sierra, which he still drives… and it was a 25-minute drive from Auburn and I remember being excited and thinking, ‘Is this my boyfriend now?’” Heather laughed.

Round:Fall 2010. “We were already a couple by the time we went on our first date. We had talked about being a couple a few times over the summer and by the fall we were already together,” Chris said.

“And it’s funny because the whole way there on our first date, I was sitting there wondering if we were together and in her mind, we were already together,” Heather laughed.

“You already told me we were together, so that’s it,” Chris laughed.

“And if Chris thought someone was looking at me or even trying to breathe on me, he made it clear that we were together,” Heather said.

Proposal:May 2013, after Chris’s white coat ceremony on the Tuskegee University campus, in an area between the men’s and women’s dorms called “The Valley.” Heather had already graduated the year before, as she was in a four-year program, and Chris was in a five-year program.

“I had a photographer lined up and I told Heather we were going to take pictures in the valley after the ceremony. Her family came, my family came, and while we were taking pictures I gave a speech, but to throw Heather off (when I pulled out the ring box) I said ‘I bought Heather a pair of real pearl earrings’ and then I got down on one knee. When she saw me down on one knee she got excited because she knew what it was then, and I said ‘Heather, will you marry …?’ and (before I could finish) she jumped up and hugged me,” Chris laughed. “It was also one of those tackle hugs, it wasn’t a gentle hug.”

“All day I was wondering why all my family was there, but they’ve always been very supportive of Chris, they used to come to his games, so it wasn’t unusual for them to want to be there for his white coat ceremony. It also made sense to go take pictures in the valley because we were both (done with that chapter of our lives) and that’s where we hung out. But I noticed the atmosphere changed a little bit while we were taking the pictures. Everyone got quiet like they didn’t want to ruin anything… And then for a pose, the photographer told me to turn around and when I turned around, Chris was on one knee and I knew he wasn’t there to give me pearl earrings, so I was excited,” Heather said, “and I said ‘yes.’”

The wedding:At Yorktown Missionary Baptist Church in Mobile, Alabama, officiated by Chris’ father, the Rev. Christopher Williams Sr. Their colors were peach and khaki.

The bride’s most memorable memory was “having family and friends help me get dressed… (they did) my hair and makeup, they helped me put on my dress and shoes. It was a moment where I saw all the women in my village pouring over me, from my mother and grandmother to my sisters, aunts, cousins ​​and friends, they all helped make sure I looked perfect for that day,” Heather said.

The groom’s most memorable memory was: “When the doors opened and I saw Heather, I started crying and I couldn’t stop until it was over; I cried the whole time,” Chris said.

Honeymoon: “We didn’t officially have a honeymoon after we got married, but we’ve traveled a lot over the last 10 years,” Heather said. “We’ve been to the Bahamas, New Orleans, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Detroit, we’ve been all over the United States.”

The couple celebrated 10 years of marriage with a vow renewal on June 7, after which they will embark on an official honeymoon to Jamaica in July.

Words of Wisdom“My grandmother told us when we got married that the magic is not in getting married, but in staying married, and that resonated with me,” Chris said. “Another thing that resonated with me was something Heather said. She said, ‘It’s not how you talk to me when you’re happy with me that matters, it’s how you talk to me when you’re mad at me that matters, and that’s true and it’s stuck with me.’”

“We let God lead our marriage, stay true to ourselves and honor each other. We allow each other to be who we naturally are, we don’t try to change each other into what we want them to be. We don’t give up on each other in the face of challenges and we love who we are as a team,” Heather said.

Happy forever:The Harrises attend 45th Street Baptist Church in East Lake and have three children: Hailey, 9, Carter, 7, and Hope, 3.

Heather, 34, is from Fountain Heights and graduated from Ramsay High School. She is a graduate of Tuskegee University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science and nursing, respectively. Heather is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Inc. sorority and a nurse practitioner who works as vice president of student health services for an educational institution.

Chris, 34, is from Mobile, Alabama, and graduated from John L. Leflore High School. He attended Tuskegee University, earned a master’s degree in occupational therapy, became a member of Omega Psi Phi Inc. fraternity, and works as a certified occupational therapist and hand therapist in Birmingham.

“You Had Me at Hello” shines a spotlight on married couples and the love that unites them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello” column, or if you know someone who is, please send your nominations to Barnett Wright [email protected]. Include the couple’s name, phone number(s) and what makes their love story unique.

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