‘It Was Short and to the Point … ‘Will You Marry Me?’ and She said, ‘Yes’’

BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times

APRIL AND JEFF WORFORD

Live: Hoover

Married: Aug. 29, 2009

Met: November 2005. April was in anesthesia school pursuing her clinical studies at UAB Hospital. She worked alongside Jeff’s mom, Angela Worford, who took a liking to her, and thought she would be perfect for her son.

“[Angela] would always ask me if I would give her my number to give to her son, every time I worked clinicals,” April said. “And one of my friends from high school [Miesha] was also a nurse there and worked with [Angela too] and she was the first one to say that I would be perfect for Jeff. Then one day [in a group discussion], Jeff came up and Miesha and Angela [double-teamed me] about giving Jeff my number. So I finally asked Miesha what Jeff looked like, and when she said he was cute, I went on and gave [Angela] my number to give to him.”

“My mom described April to me and asked me would I call her, but I was hesitant at first because I didn’t really want to date anybody that worked with my mom,” Jeff laughed. “So, I held out a little bit, but eventually I called her. The call went fine, but I’m not a big phone person so I preferred to meet and get to know each other better that way, which is what led to our first date.”

First date: Late November 2005, at a restaurant called ‘The Mill’ on the Southside. Jeff picked April up from Lister Hill Library on UAB Campus and rode over to the restaurant together. Although in its infancy at the time, social media did exist, and both April and Jeff had Myspace profiles, but neither took to the platform to get a glimpse of one another before the date. “We were flying blind,” said Jeff.

“When she walked out, I thought she was pretty,” he said.

“I was like ‘he cute, I can work with that’,” April laughed.

April and Jeff have differing opinions on how the first date went. “To me, it went fine,” said April. “But I didn’t,” Jeff laughed. “There was no chemistry. There weren’t any awkward pauses, there just wasn’t any spark. And I was just thinking, ‘I did what my mom asked me to do, I called her, we went out, it didn’t work, the end.’”

Although the first date was stale, things would change. “When we got back to the library for me to drop her off, we ended up talking in the car for a couple hours,” Jeff recalled.

“I don’t remember the exact conversation, but I think the thing that [went wrong] during the date is that I kept talking about what my preacher said,” April laughed. “But once we got back to the library I started talking about other things.”

The turn: February 2006. April’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day and they went on their first weekend trip to Atlanta to see a jazz concert and celebrate both occasions. The pair said things went well.

“For me, we were already serious before Valentine’s Day. I felt like we were exclusive when he invited me to his company’s Christmas party. I was like ‘I got him’,” April laughed. “I went to his grandma’s house for Christmas, and he came to my aunt’s house [Christmas Day], and my family liked him from the very beginning. But on the trip I felt like he really took initiative and put a lot of effort into planning the trip. He wanted to make sure I enjoyed myself. He’s always been a nice person, but I saw that he really did all he could to make sure I was happy and that meant a lot to me.”

“We had a really good time spending the weekend together… I fell in love with her and felt like we were really exclusive,” said Jeff.

The proposal: Christmas Eve 2008, at Jeff’s place in Hoover. Jeff proposed on the exact day April said she never wanted to be proposed on “but he did it anyway,” she laughed.

“April had told me that before, but I didn’t take it seriously,” Jeff said. “But [with that consideration] I did it on Christmas Eve and not Christmas Day. We were sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV and I had the ring on me, and I got down on one knee and proposed to her. It was short and to the point, I asked her ‘will you marry me?’, and she said ‘yes’.”

“We had already looked for rings and discussed it, so I had been wondering when it was going to happen and how it was going to happen. And even though it was practically on Christmas, I was happy anyway,” April said. “And he did get the one I liked best. We had narrowed it down to two choices and he got the one I really wanted so I was thrilled.”

The wedding: At The Beach Club in Gulf Shores, Ala., officiated by a local pastor. Their colors were pink and yellow.

Most memorable for the bride was being overwhelmed with emotion. “I was boo-hooing because I was so happy I was about to marry this man that I loved so much,” April said. “And, since our wedding was kind of a destination wedding, I felt like we were working the whole [wedding] day. So for me, it was the rehearsal dinner that was memorable. It was a party, we had a luau theme and it was really fun. We all had a good time together.”

Most memorable for the groom was “April standing behind me, and when I turned around and saw her for the first time, I thought she looked so beautiful. I was just happy and smiling. And also the reception. We both had family from come to Gulf Shores from out of town, so being altogether as one big family was really memorable,” Jeff said.

The couple honeymooned in Jamaica. “We stayed at a small resort that only had a few guests… I enjoyed the intimacy of the resort,” said Jeff. “You could go to the pool and there would be nobody else there, and if we went to the beach there would only be a few other people there, so that was really nice,” April added.

Words of wisdom: “People always say when you get married, make sure you’re marrying your friend, and that’s important because you should be able to have fun together and get along. You should be able to talk about anything. And make sure [your connection] is not based on superficial things like looks, because looks fade,” said April.

“Marriages can go through tough times, but when you’ve married someone who’s your friend and partner, who you can talk to and share anything with, it makes that journey a lot easier,” said Jeff.

Happily ever after: The Worford’s have two children, Jaden, 13, and Camille, 7.

April, 48, is a Tarrant native, and Tarrant High School grad. She attended The University of Alabama, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and works as an anesthetist for UAB Hospital.

Jeff, 44, is a Fairfield native, and Pleasant Grove High School grad. He attended The University of Alabama where he studied aerospace engineering and owns a software development company, JWEB Development out of Hoover.

“You Had Me at Hello’’ highlights married couples and the love that binds them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello’’ column, or know someone, please send nominations to Barnett Wright bwright@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s) and what makes their love story unique.

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