Love Story: Dawn & Maurice

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.

One day in February 2008, Dawn Kelley, 34, was called into her boss' office and introduced to Maurice Redd, 35, of Rockford, Illinois. Dawn suspects that her boss set them up. Her first impression of Maurice was, "he was so nice." Sparks flew like thunderbolts and the two began dating.

Dawn had relocated from Houston to Rockford earlier in 2008 to be near her father and his gravely ill mother. She landed a great job as head volleyball and assistant track coach at Beloit College (in Wisconsin, just across the state line from Illinois). Maurice, an adjunct professor and entrepreneur, was visiting the campus to be inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. He is also an All-American and one of the best football players ever to attend Beloit -- he even attended tryouts for the Green Bay Packers.

A month after Dawn met Maurice, her beloved father passed away from an aneurism. Unfortunately, Maurice never got a chance to meet Dawn's father. Maurice was in a brand-new relationship, and it could have gone either way. He "stepped up to the plate," gave Dawn some emotional support, and their relationship deepened.

Maurice's proposal on July 25, 2009, took Dawn by surprise. She had driven an hour to Madison, Wisconsin, to do some shopping when Maurice sent her a message. He asked her to return to Rockford and come for a walk in the park. Curious, Dawn returned for the walk. The rest is history: Maurice presented her with a card and flowers, telling her how much he loved her. As the couple stood in a garden surrounded by hundreds of roses, Maurice followed the gifts with a ring and a marriage proposal. Without hesitation, Dawn said yes. That evening, the newly engaged couple went to dinner at the restaurant where they'd had their first date -- but they were so busy calling family and friends to share the good news that they didn't get a chance to talk to each other!

Dawn soon found herself excitedly immersed in wedding preparations. She had never thought of herself as a woman who would get wedding fever or slide into the dreaded "Bridezilla" category and drive everyone around her up the wall and back down. She remained calm and pleasant. Planning her big day was not only a challenge, but a delight. She was surprised when she found the perfect wedding dress the weekend after Maurice proposed.

As Dawn got increasingly busy with wedding details, in December of 2009, she decided to start writing a blog. That way, she explains, she could be wedding-focused on the blog without letting it totally consume her day-to-day life and transform her into someone capable only of wedding discussions. With help from her mother and women at her workplace, Dawn planned her dream wedding and documented it while maintaining her sanity and sense of humor. Her blog also serves as a place for women of color to discuss their wedding plans -- serving as Dawn's way of counteracting the lack of coverage that women of color receive in many bridal publications. You can visit her blog at happynappybride.wordpress.com.

Maurice and Dawn were married on Friday, May 28, 2010. The ceremony took place on the campus of Beloit College, and was attended by 140 family members and friends. The reception followed at Briggs Mansion, a Victorian mansion in Rockford, Illinois. Maurice's six-year-old daughter was the flower girl and Dawn's brother walked her down the aisle. They will spend their honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The active couple enjoys going to the movies together -- Maurice has even agreed to go see Sex and the City 2 with Dawn. They also enjoy working out, bowling, listening to music and taking walks in the park. Maurice keeps busy on social-networking Web sites, and Dawn, who majored in English at the University of Wisconsin, makes herself a summer reading list each year. The newlyweds will settle in Rockford, Illinois, to start a family.

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Here are some photos from their wedding:

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Read more Love Stories:

College Sweet Hearts: Adrienne & Charles

An Office Romance: Krista & Philip

She Danced Into His Heart: Jessy & Marc

A Love of Football and Pita Brought Them Together: Beth & Graham

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Mary Monroe is the third child of Alabama sharecropper parents and the first and only member of her family to finish high school. She did not attend college or any writing classes, but taught herself how to write and started writing short stories around the age of four. She spent the first part of her life in Alabama and Ohio, and moved to Richmond, California, in 1973. She has lived in Oakland, California, since 1984.

Her first novel, The Upper Room, was published by St. Martin's Press in 1985 and was widely reviewed throughout the U.S. and Great Britain. She endured 15 years and hundreds of rejection letters before she landed a contract for her second novel, God Don't Like Ugly. It was published in October 2000 by Kensington Books. God Don't Play is her seventh novel, and it landed her a spot on the prestigious New York Times best-seller list for the first time.

Mary is divorced, loves to travel, loves to mingle with other authors and she'll read anything by Ernest Gaines, Stephen King, Alice Walker and James Patterson. She still writes seven days a week and gets most of her ideas from current events and the people around her, but most of her material is autobiographical.




Author Mary Monroe wasn't born with the strong, powerful voice that today draws fans into her best-selling novels. Watch the well-loved Oakland, California, storyteller share her very own story -- the story of a child born into an illiterate family who began writing narratives in secret at age seven. See Monroe explain how writing empowers her and how she draws inspiration from books and her environment, then check out the e-book of her first novel, The Upper Room, to see how it all began.