Alexis Merijanian & Joseph Lyons: A Hoover Wedding

Sept. 15, 2018

How You Met: Joe and Alexis met through friends at a Samford University sorority function at the end of Alexis’s freshman year and Joe’s sophomore year. The function was in the gardens at Park Crest Event Facility, where they got married eight years later. Joe was determined to talk to Alexis before the night was over and get to know her. He asked her on a date the next day!

Favorite Moment: The Air Force has always been a part of their lives, and they were honored to have cadets from Detachment 012 at Samford University, where Joe was commissioned as an officer, to help perform a traditional military wedding saber arch.

Favorite Wedding Details: Joe was deployed eight months this past year, and the name tag he wore was sewn into Alexis’s dress. The first roses that Joe ever sent Alexis while he was gone to field training as a cadet eight years ago were orange, and although orange was not one of their wedding colors, a small preserved orange rose was placed in the back of the bouquet. Alexis wore her late grandmother’s pearl earrings in remembrance of her. Alexis’s veil was handmade in India almost 30 years ago; Joe’s grandparents were missionaries in India for almost 60 years and his parents had veils handmade for both of their sons’ future brides. Joe and each of the men in the bridal party were given cufflinks specially picked for them as well as “party” shirts made by Joe’s mom to wear.