Claire Hand & Joe DeLozier: A Vestavia Hills Wedding

August 21, 2020

Photos by Eric & Jamie Photography

How We Met: Joe and I (Claire) met sophomore year at Vestavia High School when we were class officers together, and we started dating later that year. We dated throughout high school and shared the most fun memories. We decided to break up for our freshman year of college because we were attending different schools (I attended Auburn University and Joe attended Birmingham-Southern College). Given the rule followers we both are, we started dating again exactly a year after we broke up. We dated long distance throughout the rest of college and were so ready to get married and start our lives together.

The Proposal: Joe told me that we had gotten invited to his friend’s wedding at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. I didn’t really recognize the name of his friend, but that was still somewhat believable because we went to different colleges. He made a fake “save the date” for the wedding and sent it to me among other details to make sure that I fully believed that we were attending the wedding. When we arrived at the Botanical Gardens, we walked to a beautiful gazebo where he got down on one knee and me to marry him!

Favorite Moment: One moment that we will never forget was walking into our reception right before our first dance. We had just left the wedding ceremony as husband and wife, so we were already on cloud nine. I cannot describe the joy and excitement we felt as we walked into the reception surrounded by our loved ones.

What We Are Doing Now: Joe and I are living in Birmingham and have spent our first months as newlyweds both working from home! We know we will always look back on this time we are spending together as the most fun way to start our marriage.