His search for a TV to watch football led him to his bride

Ashley Renee Hudson and Christopher Randolph Morgan/Sept. 23, 2017

THE INTRODUCTION: Ashley Hudson and Chris Morgan met on Sept. 11, 2011, in a Washington, D.C., sports bar. That day was the 10th anniveriary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the NFL's first game of the season. Delaware native Ashley and Lauren Beam Ottenhoff, her best friend from Indian River High School, decided to watch a game at the recently opened Mason Inn in Glover Park. Chris and his friends wanted to watch the Redskins at 1 p.m. and headed to another bar, but its television screens weren't working. They detoured to Mason Inn, sitting at the bar between the TV and Ashley's group. The two groups started chatting. Ashley was 23, had graduated from James Madison University in 2010 and was living with a friend in Arlington while working as a paralegal for a Virginia firm. Chris was 26, had graduated from the University of Miami's law school and was living with his sister in Maryland while working in D.C. Ashley and Chris liked each other immediately. She found out that Chris, who grew up in Richmond, Virginia, had gotten his bachelor's degree at Furman University in South Carolina. It was a family school for her because her grandfather and other family members had gone there. She was planning to go to law school and was intrigued that Chris had so recently graduated. "He seemed like a fun, nice guy, which are hard to come by in Washington, D.C.," she said. He thought: Hey, she's talking back to me. "It doesn't always work out that way," Chris said. Finally, as Ashley's group was about to leave, Ashley asked Chris if he wanted her phone number. He was surprised. He just wasn't thinking that way, he said. "It was the middle of the day on a Sunday," he said. "There's more pressure on a Saturday night." But he took her number. Chris called the next day and invited Ashley out with some friends that Thursday and to dinner the next Saturday.

THE FIRST DATE: Chris took Ashley to Martin’s Tavern in Georgetown, which is the restaurant at which John F. Kennedy proposed to Jackie. Chris wanted to order oysters and Ashley was embarrassed to tell him that she had never tried them and was kind of grossed out by them. She pretended to be a fan and surprised herself when she liked them.

THE FIRST KISS: When Chris dropped Ashley off at her Arlington apartment after dinner at Martin's Tavern, he kissed her at the door. They dated steadily from then on. They got along well and found out they have some of the same interests, such as running. Chris made Ashley laugh. Ashley made everything easy, Chris says. When Ashley was deciding where to apply for law school, Chris advised her to go to a school in the area where she wanted to work. She picked American University. When Ashley's roommate got married in 2013, Chris moved in to her apartment. Ashley jokes that Chris got to go through law school again with her. Chris also appreciated that instead of getting mad, Ashley just laughed at what an untidy roommate he was and bonehead moves like taking her shampoo out of the shower. By 2016, they were talking about getting married and had even casually scouted engagement rings. 

Are you sure, she asked when he proposed. 'Pretty positive,' he said.

THE PROPOSAL: On April 26, 2016, a Tuesday, Chris couldn't wait for Ashley to get home from a long day at the office. She didn't know he had just picked up her ring from a jeweler in Old Town Alexandria. He'd taken colleague Theresa Hoyt "to make sure I didn't do anything stupid." Chris chose a solitaire. Because Ashley is rough on jewelry, he took Theresa's advice and asked for double prongs to secure the stone. Once he picked the ring up, he thought, "Let's get it on that finger." He called Ashley's dad while she was on the way home to ask his permission to marry Ashley. When Ashley got home, they had dinner and then started watching "Fresh Off the Boat." As she does almost every night, she paused the show in the middle to go clean up the kitchen. Chris loves it when Ashley does that, he says sarcastically. But Ashley likes to get it done so she doesn't have to think about it. As Ashley started walking back to Chris, she noticed he was smiling a bit oddly at her. Then he stood up and walked into the back of apartment. "What is he doing that he couldn't have done while I was cleaning up the kitchen," she thought. Chris came back into the room holding a jeweler's box. "Oh, is he giving me a gift," she thought. Chris dropped to one knee and asked Ashley to marry him. She burst into tears and said yes. "It wasn't exactly a hot air balloon ride, but I would not have been surprised if we'd gone on a hot air balloon ride," she says. "I was very surprised the way he did it."  When they called their parents, hers were particularly shocked it had happened so fast.

THE CEREMONY: They married outside on the bay at the Rehoboth Beach Country Club on Sept. 23, 2017. She had long wanted to get married there, after attending a couple of high school proms there. Ashley’s uncle Mike Owens and Chris’s Uncle Scott Morgan did the readings. The first was the biblical scripture "Love is patient, love is kind" from 1 Corinthians. The other was the poem "The Art of Marriage" by Wilferd A. Peterson. A soloist performed “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri. The ring bearers walked to the top of the aisle, took a look down it and refused to budge. Brody Snyder, who was 4, and the son of Ashley's cousin Carrie and her husband Brandon Snyder, finally agreed to walk if he could carry his Paw Patrol action figure Rocky and go with his 6-year-old sister Audrey, who was the flower girl. Ring bearer Del Hudson, who was 23 months and the son of Ashley's brother Trey and his wife Megan Hudson, escaped and spent the ceremony walking around the golf course and looking for stray balls with his grandparents.

20 (or more) classic Delaware eateries, and alternatives to the same kind of dining experience

THE DRESS: Ashley wore a fitted ivory strapless Amsale gown with a sweetheart neckline and intricate lace on the bodice and train from Carine's Bridal Atelier in Washington, D.C. Her father had told her that he wanted to be involved in the wedding and he came with her and her mother to try on dresses. When she put on this one, the third she tried, both Ashley and her father started crying, and they knew it was the one.

SOMETHING OLD: A piece of the lace from Ashley's mother's gown pinned inside Ashley's dress.

SOMETHING NEW: Her dress.

SOMETHING BORROWED: A ruby ring that Ashley's father had given to her mother as an anniversary present.

SOMETHING BLUE: The bottom of her Betsey Johnson shoes, and a piece of lace from the royal blue dress that her mother wore to the ceremony.

He called her his wife well before first date

THE RECEPTION: The reception was upstairs at the Rehoboth Beach Country Club with a beautiful view of Rehoboth Bay. They had chosen lanterns lit with candles and surrounded with a few flowers as centerpieces and it created a romantic atmosphere. Ashley and Chris's cocktail hour raw bar had a generous helping of oysters but by the time they arrived, the oysters were gone. The wait staff brought Chris a plate of his own. The couple's first dance was to "Your Song" by Elton John. As Chris was dancing with his mom, she suggested that after they had danced a bit  to "What a Wonderful World," he should ask his mother-in-law to dance. When Chris did, Ashley's dad brought Chris' mom back out to the dance floor, and then Chris' dad brought Ashley back out. They had a table of glow sticks for a glow stick send-off, but guests found them and by the end of the night, nearly everyone was wearing glow stick necklaces and crowns, making for great photos.

THE MOST POPULAR GIFT: About a dozen Pottery Barn towels and all 12 place settings and serving pieces of their Kate Spacd flatware.

THE MOST SENTIMENTAL GIFT: A set of silver flatware and a silver chest that had belonged to Chris’ Uncle Scott and Aunt Linda Morgan. She had died before the wedding.

THE HONEYMOON: The newlyweds traveled to Bermuda, where they relaxed at the beach and pool and snorkeled over a shipwreck, which was a little spooky but interesting. They also explored the financial district in Hamilton and historic town of St. George’s.

THE FAMILY TREE: The bride is the daughter of Tracy and Frank Hudson of Millville. The groom is the son of Anne Morgan of Richmond, Virginia, and Susan and David Morgan of Portsmouth, Virginia.

WHAT'S NEXT: Chris and Ashley still live in Arlington, Virginia, in the same apartment Ashley was living in when they met. Ashley practices health care law in Washington, D.C., and Chris is a vice president and trust officer at a Virginia bank. The couple plan to stay in the D.C. metro area and are saving money to buy a house. They hope to start a family one day but until then, they have houseplants. "Chris has the green thumb," Ashley says. "I'm like the black widow."

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