“We met like most,” Dawn Greene says about meeting her wife Christye Greene. “Online. She messaged me. She had a 10-mile radius search on her profile and thankfully I had used a different city in my profile, because at the time we met we were 30 miles apart. She says I was the only girl she messaged.”
Dawn, formerly Koch, is from Boise, Idaho, and Christye is from Lexington, Ky. “I decided to take her name and am now officially Mrs. Dawn Greene,” she says. “For me that was an easy decision, as a way to close the book on my previous life and move forward with my wife.”
Dawn is an RN at LHC Group. Christye spent 10 years as active duty coast guard in search and rescue, stationed in Cape May New Jersey, Miami and St. Petersburg, Fla. She is currently a reservist in The Coast Guard and manager of nutrition at Blake Hospital. The couple lives in Sarasota.
“We met about two weeks later for a quick drink,” Dawn continues. “After that it was walks on the beach and we fell in love. We have a 13-year age difference, but it doesn’t matter a bit.”
Christye remembers the duo’s dating days on the beach very fondly. “She paid attention to me like no one ever had,” she says. “I knew she was genuinely interested in what I was saying, what I was doing. It felt so natural to just walk slowly together and talk for hours, like we had been doing it our whole lives.”
“I asked her on the beach in St. Pete where we had our first real date at sunset,” Dawn says about the proposal.
The pair was married at Sunken Gardens in June of this year. “We had family fly from Idaho, Colorado and Kentucky. The weather was perfect. She was the most beautiful bride ever,” Dawn gushes.
Dawn’s best friend Jude served as the wedding officiant. The two wrote their own vows.
“Christye makes me laugh more than any human ever has, and I feel loved for all my parts. Even the ones that are hard sometimes,” Dawn shares. “I knew I wanted to marry her right after Halloween. She had set up a pumpkin carving for my 12-year-old daughter and I watched as she interacted with her and made Riley feel welcome and comfortable. I knew then that she was the one.”
Christye remembers another special moment from the day. “Planning our ceremony, there was only one image in my head that I played over and over again—walking down the aisle towards her,” Christye says. “It was my motivation for everything moving forward. I wanted nothing more than the world to stand still during the few moments we would first see each other.”
“I think the best kind of spouses are the ones who allow you to grow,” Dawn adds. “Who support your dreams and nurture your spirit. Christye is all of that for me.”
Engagement date: Jan. 11, 2019
Wedding date: June 9, 2019
Venue: Sunken Gardens, St. Petersburg
Colors: Navy blue and ivory
Wedding Song/Artist: “We Grow” by Elmo
Live Musician: Julie Paradise
DJ Service: Shoreline DJ
Caterer: Red Mesa Cantina
Officiant: Jude Smith
Cake Bakery: Cakes by Caroline
Photographer: Lisa Otto
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