Love Story: Beth & Graham

by Kevin O'Brien, Posted May 22nd 2010 10:00AM

Every week, thousands of couples say "I do," and each one of them has their own unique love story. Some are funny, while others will bring a tear to your eye. aisledash.com has found the most romantic love stories of recent brides and grooms and will share their experiences with you each week. If you are engaged and want to share your love story, e-mail your name, wedding date and a brief summary of how you met and got engaged to ideas@aisledash.com.

Beth Bratton of Hollywood, Alabama, and Graham Patterson of Vestavia Hills, Alabama, were married on May 16 in front of 375 friends and family members. Five years before she said "I do," the very first thing Beth said to her future husband was, "Your sandwich looks amazing."

They met at about one in the morning at a Pita Pit. A political science/communications major at Auburn University, Beth was visiting friends at another school to help cheer their team on against Auburn's rival, the University of Alabama's Crimson Tide. She hadn't eaten all day, and she was starving. The line for service at the Pita Pit went almost out the door. As Beth and her friends edged closer to the counter, she spotted a good-looking guy dressed in the Crimson Tide's red and white at the condiment stand. Rivalries and football games suddenly didn't matter to Beth. Yes, he was the enemy, but she was looking past that. She was looking at his sandwich.

She had to strike up a conversation. The man with the amazing sandwich was Graham Patterson. Though dressed in the enemy's red and white, Graham swore he went to Auburn too, and was in the Kappa Alpha fraternity there. Graham explained that he and his pals had dressed in the Crimson Tide's colors as a gag for the trip. Beth didn't believe him -- until one of her friends called a Kappa Alpha at Auburn and Graham's frat brother vouched for him.

Then Graham offered Beth part of his sandwich. "That's when I knew he was the one," Beth said.

The next day, Beth's best friend, Heather Armstrong, remarked. "Wouldn't it be crazy if you ended up marrying that guy?" Heather was Beth's maid of honor at the wedding.

But it didn't happen quite so fast.

Exactly who had whose number is still a matter of debate for Beth and Graham (perhaps they'll figure it out by their fiftieth anniversary). But they didn't talk for two weeks after that initial encounter at the Pita Pit.

Then Beth took another trip to another away game. The Auburn Tigers were up against the University of Georgia's Bulldogs. Beth and her friends were on the streets of Athens when she spotted Graham. "Hey, you're the Pita Pit guy," she said.

He smiled back at her. "You're the sandwich girl."

Beth and Graham chatted most of the night and found a Pita Pit, where Graham picked up the check and proclaimed it their first official date.

In the following five years, they found out a lot about each other -- all the endearing little quirks -- and only fell deeper in love.

"Graham is obsessed with Auburn football message boards," Beth says. "He's constantly on them, but the weird thing is he doesn't have his own screen name. He uses his friend's, so if he says something stupid, he can blame it on him."

"Beth really gets into those reality shows," Graham reports. "She also loves to 'play' American Idol in the car. But in her American Idol, it's always Broadway week, and she sings every song from Wicked, Aida, etcetera. I've never seen either of these plays, yet I still know every single word. She never updates her iPod. I swear it shuffles in the same order every time."

They'd come to know each other so well that Beth was fairly certain Graham would propose at Christmastime. She was working with her dad at Tennessee River Steel, and Graham had just finished classes at Auburn for his masters in building science. When he called from Atlanta to tell her he was Christmas shopping, Beth replied, "So what does my engagement ring look like?"

But Graham kept her guessing -- even though Beth had it on good authority that Graham had had "the talk" with her dad. Christmas Eve came and went, and no proposal. On Christmas morning, as Beth's family gathered around to open presents, she furtively checked under the tree for something the size of a ring box. But there was nothing. Graham made her wait until all the other presents were opened before she could unwrap his gift -- a yellow coat she'd been expecting. She'd even picked it out for him in the store. He asked her to model the coat for her family.

"Check the lining of the pockets," Graham told her.

That was when Beth found the jewelry box with the ring. That Christmas morning, in front of her family, Graham asked Beth to marry him.

Five years after a sandwich brought them together, Beth and Graham were married. The couple will honeymoon in Thailand.

And if there's a Pita Pit in Thailand, they'll probably find it.

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About the Author:

Can a onetime railroad inspector switch careers to become a best-selling suspense novelist? Ask New York Times best-selling author Kevin O'Brien, whose thrillers have been scaring readers since 2001. Learn how his adopted city of Seattle provides inspiration for his novels, and see how he incorporates famous local landmarks into his books. Watch as Kevin shares how his love of Hitchcock has influenced his writing over the years, then check out his e-books and see for yourself -- but be sure to keep the lights on.

Before his thrillers landed him on the New York Times best-seller list, Kevin O'Brien was a railroad inspector who wrote novels at night. His first thriller, The Next to Die (2001), jumped up the USA Today best-seller chart. He's been writing full-time ever since.

His last four thrillers -- the most recent is Final Breath -- have all been New York Times best-sellers. O'Brien grew up in Chicago and moved to Seattle in 1980. He loves Hitchcock movies and is hard at work on his twelfth novel. Pre-order his latest ebook, Vicious here. Learn more about Kevin O'Brien.