Church service leads to altar Owens, Jordan plan ‘special’ wedding date

Mary Evelyn Owens was looking for a place to attend church while she was away from home at college. She decided to ask fellow student Matthew Jordan—a theology major—if she could attend church with him.

That is how it all began.

Owens and Jordan were both students at Snead State Community College in Boaz in 2013. The Enterprise native was there on a tennis scholarship. Jordan was majoring in religion.

“I knew that he led the campus ministry at Snead State so I knew that he would know,” Owens said. “And it was a good excuse to finally talk to him,” she added with a smile.

“I went always knowing that ‘love’ meant ‘nothing’ to a tennis player,” Owens said referencing the tennis term. “But when I met Matthew I knew that he was the exception.

“We had served as student ambassadors together but we had never really talked,” Owens remembered. “One weekend I was looking for a church to go to and I decided to message Matthew to attend church with him.

“We met up at the grocery store parking lot on a rainy Sunday and Matthew had walked me to his car with an umbrella,” Owens said. “I came back that afternoon for the chili supper and we had our first date on the following Wednesday.”

The couple ate at Chick-Fil-A on the way to Jordan’s church youth group meeting for their first date. “We are actually having Chick-Fil-A at our rehearsal because it is our first date—and favorite—food,” Owens said.

“After our first date, I came back to Enterprise for Christmas break,” Owens said. “I was home for an entire month and there was never a time that we weren’t talking on the phone, texting or face timing.”

“I will never forget when Mary Evelyn asked to come to church with me,” said Jordan. “I was astonished and a little nervous since my church didn’t have any college students attending other than myself.

“I knew she was special and I was just trying to not mess anything up,” he added. “Things were going well so I officially asked her out the following Wednesday.”

The couple are getting married June 16, the same day as her parents wedding anniversary. “It’s such a special date because my parents and I are very close,” the daughter of Doug and Deborah Owens said. They are getting married at First United Methodist Church in Enterprise, Owen’s home church.

Owens is the granddaughter of Jimmy and Carole Martin of Enterprise and Sue Morgan of Hanceville.

Jordan is the son of Danny and Cindy Jordan of Arab and the grandson of Jim and Angelyn Cochran of Gadsden and Sam and Kathryn Jordan of Boaz.

Owens graduated from Enterprise High School in 2013. She attended Snead State Community College on a tennis scholarship and continued her education at Auburn University where she graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Special Education. She teaches at Harrand Creek Elementary School as a resource teacher.

Jordan is a 2012 graduate of Brindlee Mountain High School in Guntersville. He graduated from Snead State with a degree in theology. Jordan then graduated from the University of Mobile with a theology degree and is now working toward a masters of divinity in apologetics degree from New Orleans Seminary.

Jordan decided to mask his plans to propose to Owens under the guise of an Enterprise High School class reunion for Owens’ grandfather. “We spent weeks getting everything ready, from painting the fences to planting new flower beds in the yard,” Jordan said. “I told Mary Evelyn that I was not going to be able to make it to the reunion because I had a church conference in Atlanta.

“It was so hard for me to be in Enterprise and her not to notice,” Jordan recalled. “While she and her family were adding the final touches on the house for the reunion, I was meeting with Mary Evelyn’s friends finalizing plans.

“Mary Evelyn was lighting candles around the tables and my roommate came out of the house onto the porch playing our favorite song, ‘Forever Like That’ by Ben Rector,” Jordan said. “After the song played, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.

“After she said yes, our friends and family came out of the house and we celebrated by having an ‘I-do-barbecue.’”

“I knew that Matthew was ‘the one’ after the first few months of dating,” Owens said. “I came home and told my parents that I could see myself marrying him.

“Matthew is one of those people that when you come in contact with him you feel like you have known him forever,” Owens said. “And that was a feeling I never wanted to lose.”

“I came home after our first date and told my mother that I was going to marry Mary Evelyn,” said Jordan. “Mary Evelyn has something special about her that can easily be seen when you first meet her and I knew that it was something I never wanted to live without.”