It was love at first sight for Georgia natives and residents Elizabeth Hoehn and Patrick Hartman, who met during their sophomore year at Georgia Southern University. After four and a half years of dating, Patrick teamed with his and Elizabeth’s moms to plan a surprise proposal set in the Holy City. Both sets of parents live or have lived in Charleston, so it has become a group family tradition for all to convene there for the annual Cooper River Bridge Run. And as the 2015 race fell on Patrick’s birthday, he asked the moms to enlist Elizabeth in planning a “surprise party” for himself while all were together. The ruse worked, and, thanks to a suggestion from the mothers, Elizabeth took Patrick to the Daniel Island Club that Saturday evening as a pre-surprise party distraction. It was there that Patrick led her to a stunning scene by the marsh and dropped to one knee to propose. After a “Yes!” from Elizabeth, the couple and their families celebrated with a surprise birthday party turned engagement fête. The pair will marry on June 18, 2016, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist downtown—the same church Patrick's parents were married in decades ago.
Photograph by Donna Shoaf