Bride | Will + Emily
Love the Second Time Around
-Liesel Schmidt
While their high school romance might not have lasted through the first year of college, Emily Tarlton and Will Killion found that love lasts when they reunited in 2019 and spent the first year of their newly rekindled relationship in quarantine. Then, one hot Saturday in May of 2021, Will asked the question that changed their future forever. “I could tell something was up when I came over to my parents’ house to lay out by the pool,” Emily recalls. “Both my mom and dad were frantically cleaning. I didn’t think too much of it and went outside to lay out. My sister and best friend had planned for Will to come over to the house to get me for drinks before the proposal and then a small engagement party at my parents’ house in Fairhope. When Will arrived at the house, my hair was in a topknot, and I was sweaty from the pool. He asked me if I could be ready in 30 minutes. My reply was, ‘Ummm, have you met me?’ I frantically got dressed and tried to make my hair decent. We arrived at Sunset Point, and Will ordered a top shelf margarita—which was the first sign that something big was happening. When we left, Will asked if I wanted to look at the new retreat center at Sacred Heart Chapel. We got to the chapel, and Will dragged me down to the bay, where he got on one knee and popped the question.”