RIGHT TIME RIGHT PLACE

Job transfer turned out to be best thing for pair

Nick Dudley had only recently begun working at a Little Rock pizza place in 2003 when he found out he was being transferred to another of the restaurant's locations.

He wasn't thrilled about the transfer. He had applied for a job at the flagship restaurant because that's where he and his friends had hung out for years, and that's where he wanted to stay.

The first time I saw my future spouse:

She says: “I thought he was cute. And he was my type. But I thought he was like, way too smart for me.”

He says: “She was doing orientation. I thought she was cute, but we didn’t talk or anything that day.”

On our wedding day:

She says: “I dropped avocado on my wedding dress.”

He says: “We went to the little NASCAR Café and we saw the Man vs. Food guy eat some big burrito.”

My advice for a long happy marriage is:

She says: “Learn how to effectively communicate. You have to say what you’re thinking and don’t assume that the other person knows what you’re thinking or how you feel. You have to actually verbally tell them, ‘This is how I feel.’”

He says: “Pay for a professional therapist. It’s worth the money.”

As it turned out, though, the new job had an unexpected perk.

Autumn Fogle, then 20, had been hired to work in the new location.

Nick, then 21, had seen Autumn when she came to his preferred location for training and orientation before she started her job.

"I thought she was cute, but we didn't interact then," Nick says.

They officially met after he begrudgingly started work at the new place and they quickly became friends, hanging out with a group of co-workers. Even in a big group, though, each was intent on the other's presence.

"We hung out all the time," Autumn says. "Anytime I would be going to see a concert at a bar or something and I would call him up, or if I was having a party or get-together I would call him, and he'd come. He would do the same for me if he was going somewhere -- he would invite me. We were just friends, but we hung out, probably every single weekend."

Autumn and Nick got new jobs a year or so later, but they still hung out with the same group of friends much of the time.

On Sept. 3, 2005, they went to a big party at someone's house and at the end of the evening they followed their friends over to Midtown Billiards -- or so they thought.

When they got there, they discovered everyone else had scattered and they were there alone, together.

"At some point, she started holding my hand," Nick says. "I'm not sure why she decided to start holding my hand, but, I mean, I liked it. I was like, 'Oh, I guess she's interested in me!'"

Autumn isn't sure why she started holding his hand, either.

"It just felt natural, I guess," she says. "It was just like a natural progression. OK, maybe I thought about it before. It just seemed like the right time and it seemed normal."

If Nick was surprised, it was because he had asked her out a couple of times before that, and his queries were met with no response.

"She just kind of blew me off," he says.

Autumn says that's not really what happened.

"I don't even remember him asking me, honestly," she says. "I think probably I just thought he was kidding when he asked."

Regardless, things changed for them that night, and though they still hung out with their former co-workers it mattered less to them from that time on where the group was going.

They dated for five years before they got engaged. Both had divorce in their families and wanted to make sure they worked through any potential relationship problems before they got married, so they committed to couples therapy. Those sessions helped them not just learn the importance of talking to each other but practice techniques for doing it effectively.

"If I just said every single thing I was thinking, I might say some really mean stuff to him and not mean to say it," Autumn says. "You kind of have to learn how to tell your partner how you're feeling while also taking their feelings into consideration."

After all of their relationship work, it was only natural that their decision to marry was made through deep, reflective conversation rather than a flashy proposal.

Nick was working for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service by then, and he had time off around Christmas so they made plans for a ceremony during that time. He and Autumn celebrated the holidays with family in Missouri and left on a Christmas Eve to drive to Las Vegas for their ceremony.

"We were racing to get away from a snowstorm," Autumn says. "There were cars sliding off the road. I mean, it was really coming down."

They exchanged their vows on Dec. 28, 2010, in the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.

"I remember being so happy on our wedding day, like I had finally tricked him into marrying me," Autumn says with a laugh.

After spending a little time in Vegas they visited to the Grand Canyon, where Nick almost lost his new wedding band.

"I heard it fall off and I got it and gave it back to him," she says.

From the Grand Canyon, they went on to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., a surprise for their then 4-year-old son, Jackson, who had been the ring bearer in their wedding.

Autumn and Nick live in Little Rock, and both work at Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Life is hectic with their two boys -- Jackson, now 13, and Henry, 7 -- and though they rarely go back to the pizza joint where they met, they are still big fans of pizza.

"We pick up pizza about once a week," Autumn says.

If you have an interesting how-we-met story or if you know someone who does, please call (501) 425-7228 or email:

kimdishongh@gmail.com

photo

Special to the Democrat-Gazette

Nick Dudley and Autumn Fogle were married Dec. 28, 2010, in a ceremony at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. They went to the Grand Canyon and Disneyland with their son, Jackson, before heading back home to Little Rock. “I remember being so happy on our wedding day, like I had finally tricked him into marrying me,” Autumn quips.

photo

Special to the Democrat-Gazette

Autumn and Nick Dudley met while working at a pizza place in Little Rock and hung out with a group of friends and co-workers for a year before they found themselves out alone. Autumn grabbed Nick’s hand and the rest was history. “I’m not sure why she decided to start holding my hand, but, I mean, I liked it,” Nick says.

High Profile on 09/22/2019

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