Emily and William Dobar met in ninth grade at marching band camp at Alcovy High School in July 2010. They started dating Nov. 22, 2010, after becoming close friends through marching band and mutual classes and friends at school. 

After the couple graduated in 2014, William went to Georgia State University (Newton Campus and then Atlanta), and Emily went to Agnes Scott College in Decatur. 

At the end of their sophomore years of college, after Emily went home for the summer, William surprised her with a proposal, featuring a Chick-fil-A breakfast, the morning of May 23, 2016, in Emily’s living room. 

The couple decided to wait to get married until both were finished with college. 

In 2018, Emily and William began to officially plan their wedding — after Emily had attended the Hornyhead Fish Festival and “fell in love” with the Newborn Schoolhouse as a potential venue for the wedding. But the pair planned slowly “to let us both get established in our careers,” and in 2020 they finally settled on a wedding date and started booking vendors. 

“We sent out ‘Save the Dates’ the same month everything shut down due to COVID,” Emily recalled, “so a lot of our plans had to change quickly over the summer in preparation for the wedding. Our guest list was decreased to only 35 people, strictly family and the original wedding party members as guests.” 

Despite obstacles the pandemic presented, Emily and William were married Nov. 7, 2020, just a few of weeks shy of what would be their 10th anniversary of dating. 

“Some of the things that made it special were that my sisters were both major parts in the wedding,” Emily said. “My youngest sister was my maid of honor, and my middle sister is ordained and was able to perform and officiate the ceremony for us. 

“I’m also part of a local horn group, then just a saxophone group called ‘The Sax Section,’ and we asked them to perform the music during the ceremony, which was super special to me, and to both of us since we met in high school band.”

The couple wrote their own wedding script, which included a quote from “Friends,” “one of my favorite TV shows,” Emily said, as an inside joke during the ceremony. She said it “took all we could not to laugh.” 

“It was all we could have asked for as a wedding,” Emily said, “and I think COVID honestly made it more special since it became such an intimate affair, as well as the fact we got some time-unique photos with face masks at the end. We really made the most of it and made it our own and perfect celebration.”

Both of Emily and William grew up and lived in Covington, but moved to Jackson after they married. 

More about their Wedding Day:

• Venue: Historic Newborn Schoolhouse

• Flowers: Becky Wooten Fantastic Florals

• Photos: Brian Dean Photography

• Music: East Atlanta Horns (Formerly The Sax Section)

• Hair/Makeup: Paris Coverdell

• Catering: Simply Southern Catering