I’m not sure what it is about coffee shops, but I was recently reminded while on a coffee date with a friend (that lasted three hours!) that there are few better places to cozy up, relax, and enjoy some great conversation. Y’all may remember Melissa and Will from their wedding feature a few months ago, and now that they’re well into their first year of marriage, we were excited to catch up with them and learn about a few of their favorite date ideas. At the top of the list was a coffee date, and with a place as cute as Not Just Coffee to frequent, I can’t say I’m surprised!
Thank you so much to Allison Kuhn Photography for these beautiful photos!
The couple: Melissa and Will Mackvick
By day: I was recently laid off from my job (a true blessing in disguise from the sweet Lord), so I currently spend my time trying to figure out what my niche is career-wise. Will spends his days working as an associate at an investment bank here in Charlotte. He is a busy bee, but is doing a great job managing his work/life balance, which means so much.
Where they live: I was born and raised in Greensboro, and Will grew up in Raleigh–a place near and dear to our hearts, as that’s the city where we met during our junior year of college. For the last few years, we have been calling Charlotte our home and are absolutely smitten with the Queen City! We are Southerners through and through!
Their love story: Our love story is simple but sweet, and my all-time favorite. In January 2010, I was introduced to Will by some of our mutual friends. We spent some time getting to know each other that night, but ended up going our separate ways. A few days later, I couldn’t stop thinking about Will and reached out to him over Facebook. I invited him to a Valentine’s celebration that my friends were hosting, and the rest, as they say, is history! We were engaged in July 2014, and tied the knot in June 2015.
Melissa and Will’s five favorite date nights:
1. Coffee Talk: It’s almost impossible to begin our days without a cup (or two) of coffee, and we love starting off our weekends by heading to one of our favorite spots in Charlotte to “sit and sip,” and sometimes do our devotional. Not Just Coffee, The Mayobird, and Sunflour Bakery are some of the shops we frequent, depending on the mood we are in and the atmosphere we desire.
2. Game Night: Will and I are both competitive, so games let us get that side of ourselves out in the spotlight! You can often find us playing Scattegories or Checkers, or having friends over to play a few rounds of Balderdash or Wits and Wagers. We always lose track of time laughing and having fun…never acting our age!
3. Walk it Out: Our schedules always seem to fill up with never ending to dos, so we try to carve out time to spend together by doing something good for our health, like going for walks. We usually bring along our dog to give him some exercise, too, and love using this time to explore our neighborhood, find cute trails to walk, and just spend uninterrupted quality time together (my love language).
4. Root for our Home Team: Will is a huge sports fan and I love people watching, so it’s always a win-win for us when we go to sporting events. Going to baseball games to root for the Charlotte Knights is a summer favorite.
5. Movie Nights: Since Will often has to travel for work, there are nights (and even weekends) when we don’t want to leave the house…so we don’t! Instead, we pop some popcorn, make ice cream sundaes, pour a glass of wine, and watch movie after movie. We make a day of it! I’ll generally pick a movie to watch, then Will gets to pick one, so we both get to watch something we find entertaining. The number of movies and shows we have watched is A LOT!
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