Lauren
Lauren was born and raised in Columbia, SC. She was raised to be a die hard Clemson fan from birth. Lauren loves anything and everything that has to do with college football, especially Clemson football. At 3 years old she began dancing, and in elementary school she began singing in St. Joseph’s Children’s Choir. With the choir, Lauren was invited to sing at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, Carnegie Hall in NYC, and Disney World. Lauren graduated from Cardinal Newman High School in May 2010. From there she went to her dream college, Clemson University. She graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Sciences and a Minor in Psychology.
Ken
Ken grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. He would spend his summers vacationing at the family lake house in Conneaut Lake, PA where he would sail and boat. In high school Ken was in the high school marching band and quickly realized he wanted to go to a big-time college football school. When his parents purchased their retirement home in Pawleys Island, SC in 2005, he began to look at southern schools. In 2005 Ken and his family attended a Clemson football game and from that point forward Ken was hooked. Ken started at Clemson in the fall of 2008 and was a member of Tiger Band for three years. Ken graduated in December of 2011 with a Major in Political Science and a Minor in Economics.
How we met:
Lauren’s view:
Freshman year at Clemson I was in Chemistry class, sitting alone. The professor announced our quiz was to be a group quiz and the red head girl sitting in front of me turned around and asked if I wanted to work on it with her. Kerri and I became fast friends at that point. Through Kerri, I met our good friend Tim. Sophomore year, Kerri and I were living together and she and Tim invited me to join their group of friends at the lake. I was told about this sweet, cute guy named Ken who was going to be there. While at the lake, Ken invited me to join him, Tyler, Tim, and Kerri for wing night at Wild Wing. Tyler swears I fell in love with Ken while he was eating those wings. After the wings, we continued to hang out and we just fit. It was natural and meant to be and the rest is history.
Ken’s view:
I was a senior going into my final semester at Clemson and had moved back to Clemson in early August to hang out with Tim and Tyler before class started. We went to Lake Hartwell one afternoon to go swimming and Kerri brought her roommate Lauren. We talked and hung out at the lake and later we all went to dinner. We started talking at dinner and I kept trying to get Lauren to go sing at Karaoke, but to no avail. Later that week Tim and I were downtown and he said that she had been talking to Kerri about me, and was interested in going on a group date. Tim, Kerri, Lauren, and I went to Ruby Tuesday’s later where we had our first “official” date.
Our Proposal
When it Happened:
January 31, 2015
Where it Happened:
The gardens at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC
How we got Engaged:
Ken’s view:
Lauren was adamant that pictures of the engagement had to be taken. So I enlisted the help of Jessica, Brynne, and Chris to go hide in the gardens and take pictures. Using Google Maps, I created an aerial map of the gardens and planned where I would drop to one knee, so they could plan where to hide. However, it was January, it was cold, and there were no leaves on any of the bushes or trees for them to hide behind. It also didn’t help that I completely blew past the spot I told them I was going to stop. Nonetheless, it all worked out and Lauren did not see them, and we were able to get some good shots. Oh, and she said yes!
After the proposal I told Lauren that we were going to go to lunch at Cedric’s at Biltmore. What she didn’t know is that I had her family, and my parent’s upstairs for a champagne toast. We got to the restaurant and had the toast, lunch, did a winery tour, and toured the house. The evening finished off at Wicked Weed Brewery in Asheville.