About Us

About Us
The view from Table Rock

Summer

Summer grew up in Anderson, SC and graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing. She now works as the Marketing and Outreach Coordinator at the Center for Developmental Services, a local nonprofit in Greenville serving children with developmental delays and disabilities. She previously worked for GVLtoday, which fueled her passion for Greenville.

In her free time, she loves exploring Greenville, riding her bike on the Swamp Rabbit Trail with Bennett, spending time with friends and family, and babysitting her nephew, Jason Meares.

Bennett

Bennett grew up in Pawleys Island, SC, and graduated from Clemson University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science. He now works as a data engineer for a Charlotte-based technology company called Stratifyd. Like Summer, he is proud to call Greenville his home.

In his free time, he loves rollerblading, riding his bike on the Swamp Rabbit Trail with Summer, spending time with friends and family, and working on his open source data engineering project Meerschaum.

Our Story

We spent four years at Clemson together.

College Sweethearts

We met at Clemson in fall 2017 ― Summer was a freshman and Bennett was a sophomore. Summer sat down in class one day next to Bennett's friend from high school. They became friends, and one day, Summer saw a picture of Bennett and thought he was cute. She couldn't wait to meet him!

They decided to meet up with some friends in the student union to play ping-pong. Summer still remembers the moment Bennett walked in and she saw him for the first time. Their eyes met and he was even cuter in person than he was in the picture!

We spent that semester as friends before we officially started dating during finals week in December. In the five years since, we've embarked on many adventures, shared lots of memories, and grown up together.

So many adventures!

Adventure awaits!

Traveling is so much more fulfilling when it's with someone you love. Here are a couple of our favorite trips:

  • February 2018: Summer celebrated Bennett's birthday with her first trip to Pawleys Island. We would take many more trips to Pawleys to spend time with Bennett's family.
  • September 2018, April 2019, May 2019: concerts in Atlanta and Asheville
  • July 2019: weekend trip to Boulder, Colorado (where Summer had her internship)
  • March 2020: as COVID-19 was hitting the world stage, Bennett flew to Bilbao, Spain to be with Summer.
  • October 2020: trip to Florida with Summer's family!
  • November 2020: hiking Carvers Gap and stopping by Asheville
  • January 2021: all-day skating and biking on the Beltline in Atlanta
  • March 2021: trip to Austin, TX to visit best-man Aaron Jordan
  • June – October 2021: we lived out of a van and toured across the US, visiting friends, family, and national parks.
  • March 2022: train trip to visit friends throughout Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK
  • August 2022: Carowinds with Bennett's family!
  • September 2022: visiting friends and meeting Bennett's coworkers in Charlotte, NC
We proposed to each other one year apart.

Together Forever

After our van trip, we returned to SC with a new appreciation for the state we call home. We made it back just in time to go to Night of a Thousand Candles, the biggest event at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, SC. We had been several times before, but in November 2021, Bennett had a plan: to ask Summer to marry him. At the following year's Night of a Thousand Candles, when reminiscing at the site of the proposal, Summer too had a plan: to ask Bennett to marry her.

Home at Last

After college, we were ready to find the place we would call home. The primary mission of our van trip was to speed-run living in different cities: we checked out Savannah, GA; St. Augustine, FL; Nashville, TN; Chicago, IL; New Orleans, LA; Houston, TX; Boulder, CO; Ft. Collins, CO; Denver, CO (spent a lot of time in Colorado); Jackson Hole, WY; White Fish, MO; Spokane, WA; Seattle, WA; Eugene, OR; Portland, OR; and a whole lot in between.

We learned what we wanted most out of our city: walkability / bikeability and proximity to friends and family. It was on the streets of Portland where it hit us all at once ― "why not Greenville?" Every place we had visited we would compare to Greenville: "it's like Greenville, but the weather is worse", or "it's like Greenville, but way more expensive." Plus, earlier in the year, our nephew Jason was born, and it was tremendously important to us to be present in his and our loved ones' lives.

And so it was decided: the adventures would continue, but now it was time for a home base. We thought we knew Greenville, but even today, we're continuously surprised at all the incredible things our city has to offer. We hope you get the chance to experience a slice of Greenville for a weekend while we celebrate our wedding!