High school sweethearts to be forever married: A homecoming dance leads to the love of a lifetime

Mary Catherine Ezzell and Trent Wood were in third and fourth grade together, but they did not start to get to know each other until 11th grade.

Their love story started in 2009, when Ezzell asked a mutual friend if Wood had a date to the homecoming dance. She learned that he didn’t want to go.

“To the friend, I said, ‘Just beg him,’” Ezzell said. “So, one day at break, he asked me to go to homecoming. We went to homecoming together and from then it’s just been great.”

Wood, whose best friend helped bring the two together for the dance, said she initially told him no as part of a joke.

“I’m not really a dance kind of person,” Wood said. “She was on the tennis team with my best friend, and he kept bugging me. I ended up asking her (to homecoming), and it was kind of frustrating at first. (My best friend) thought it would be funny if he went ahead and made a joke and had her say no. So, when I asked her, she actually said no.”

She eventually changed her answer to yes, and they began to get to know each other. They would go to lunch together with friends and would see each other at Bible study.

They started dating officially around the time of the homecoming dance. It’s been about seven years that the couple has been together.

The two graduated from Enterprise High School in 2011. They spent a year apart from each other when she was attending college at Auburn University and he was attending Troy University. Wood was later accepted to the School of Pharmacy at Auburn, bringing the two together again.

Wood said that there was no one moment that made him realize that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Ezzell.

“There wasn’t any defining moment,” Wood said. “I guess it was just the relationship built up over several years. Mainly, it was the time that we spent away from each other, that year that she was in Auburn and I was still in Troy, that I really (realized) it.”

So, Wood decided to propose.

He bought the ring and created a plan for the proposal with his and Ezzell’s friends. They were going to take a cruise to the Bahamas, and he was going to propose to her on the beach, a place she loves.

He asked for permission to marry her from her parents just a few days before they left for the cruise.

“I think I ended up buying the ring in November,” Wood said. “A couple of her friends in Auburn, we all talked about it, and kind of came up with a plan that we were going to go on a cruise for Spring Break. She’s really a fan of the beach, but I didn’t want to do a beach in Panama City. I wanted to do something a little bit bigger, so I decided I was going to do it on the beach in the Bahamas.”

While they were driving down to get on the cruise, Wood said she brought up marriage and proposals.

“On the way down (to the cruise), she brought up proposing and marriage and whatnot, and we’re in the car with all of our friends,” Wood said. “Everyone in the car knew we were about to be engaged except her. I told her, ‘Look, I’m sorry. I’m still in school, and I still have two more years of school left. It’s probably going to be two or three years before I propose.’

“On the way down there, I made it seem like it was going to be a while. She ended up getting mad on the way down there because it was going to be so long. It ended up working out.”

When they arrived in the Bahamas, their friends tried to convince her to dress up for pictures one morning. Though it took a while to convince her, she got ready and the couple and their friends walked to a secluded area of the beach.

“I looked on the map (of the area) and saw a nature trail that went all the way to the other side of the island,” Wood said. “I figured that would be a good secluded spot if we got off (the boat) early and went on ahead and did it.

“It was a pretty long nature trail. There were chickens running around, and she was getting mad because there were so many perfect spots to take pictures. She didn’t know what was going on. We finally got to a good spot, and there were some canoers in the background, so there were more problems. They finally moved out of the way, and we acted like we were going to take a picture, and that’s when I proposed.”

Ezzell said she was “in complete shock” that he proposed that day.

“I’m a very oblivious person,” Ezzell said. “You would think there would be hints along the way, like, ‘Hey. Something big is happening today.’ But, never did it cross my mind that he was going to propose to me that day.”

She said she remembered not wanting to get dressed up, and walking “forever” to make it to the beach for pictures.

“It just felt like we walked forever to get to the island so they could get the perfect picture,” Ezzell said. “Then, I feel like we took a lot of pictures before he proposed because they wanted to get the perfect picture and the perfect lighting. So, the whole time, I was just (thinking), ‘Why is it such a big deal? Just take the picture.’

“Out of nowhere, we’re smiling, and I see Trent turn to me, and he starts talking about how much he loves me and how he wouldn’t want to spend the rest of his life with anyone else.”

He asked her to marry him, and she said yes.

“It’s just been a long time coming, so I was just in complete shock that it was finally happening,” Ezzell said.

After almost seven years together, Ezzell said that she is just ready to take the next step to be with Wood.

“Not that (being married is) going to be completely different, but, I mean, we’ve been together for so long,” Ezzell said. “I’m just so excited for what’s next and what we’ll become. We’re finally taking that final step and getting married. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

Ezzell and Wood will be united in marriage at the First United Methodist Church in Enterprise on May 20.