What could be better than having a best friend who you love sharing your life with and making memories with every day? Falling in love and spending forever with them! This is exactly what happened for Caroline and Forrest during their college years. As of their wedding week, they will have been together 8 years! Caroline reminisced and told us the story of how their love story began – 

Forrest and I met at Wake Forest’s pre-orientation program, “Pre-School”. On the first night of this “camp style” program, we did one of those awkward square dances where girls are in the middle circle and boys are in the outer circle and we rotated partners to meet different people. We clicked instantly and hung out with each other for the rest of the pre-orientation program. We got back to Wake and kept seeing each other EVERYWHERE. His dorm was on the 3rd floor of Collins, just like mine, and he was also in my advising group of 10 students that we spent the entirety of orientation with. We became fast friends and proceeded to have weekly lunch dates at the Pit, Subway and the Mag Room. We gave each other relationship advice and talked about everything under the Sun; We were the best of friends. The chemistry between us was palpable, so much so that I frequently got the question, “Why aren’t y’all dating?” I would always respond with, “He’s definitely the boy that I’ll marry, so there’s no rush, maybe we’ll start dating junior year.” We parted ways for the summer after freshman year and as we neared the sophomore year school year, I could not shake the idea of having to wait a WHOLE OTHER YEAR (a parameter I had set for myself in my head for dating Forrest) to date this boy. I told my friends that I really wanted to make this happen but didn’t want to ruin the friendship that we had. Fast forward to the KD my tie dance where your friends pick your date…thank you Georgie and Celine…Forrest Gentry showed up at my Davis Dorm Room door for our pregame party and the sparks were flying. We danced the night away with friends and at the end of the night talked for an extended period of time about how we really thought there was something “more than friends” between us. I’ll spare you the details, but the conversation concluded with, “Let’s just kiss and if it’s weird we’ll go back to being friends.” Well we are here today because it was not weird…our relationship started that night and Forrest immediately asked me on a date the next morning and our relationship has been going strong since that night 8 years ago (as of the week of our wedding, “dating anniversary” is 9/26).

When we asked this adorable couple when they knew marriage was the next chapter in their love story, Caroline shared ” We have each known that we were each other’s person since before we started dating, but once we started dating, we both knew this was something really special. After being long distance while Caroline was in grad school at UVA and Forrest was working in DC, we got to see what our relationship was like outside of the college bubble, and our bond just kept getting stronger as we grew with each other through the post-grad phase of life. Upon Caroline’s graduation from UVA, we both moved to Greenville, SC together. Though getting married had been a conversation topic since early on in our relationship, our move to Greenville sealed the deal. Living in our own apartment together, learning how to operate as a unit while navigating new jobs and making new friends during a pandemic could’ve easily rocked any couple, but it just made us stronger. Moving in together solidified that we never want to be apart. Forrest proposed on his birthday 10/24/2020 and it was the easiest ‘yes’ of my life!”

The top 5 things they enjoy doing together as a couple are – 1. Cooking and trying new recipes together. We also LOVE to host our friends for dinner parties! 2. Hiking, running or playing with our dog, Remy…really anything that involves being with him…we are obsessed with him. 3. Trying new restaurants and cuisines, as well as breweries and wineries with our friends! 4. Going for walks, especially on the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville. 5. Traveling to new places, as well as our absolute favorite places, Emerald Isle, Smith Mountain Lake and Lake Blue Ridge

Above everything else, Caroline and Forrest value ambition, empathy and service.