BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times
JEREMIAH & EDEN COCKRELL
Live: Homewood
Married: Aug. 5, 2017
Met: Fall 2012, on campus at the University of Alabama at Huntsville [UAH], at a Charger Village dorm meeting. While the two did not formally meet, they were able to find out a bit about one another during the introductions, where Jeremiah discovered Eden was on the track team, and Eden learned he’d transferred in Christian Brothers University in Tennessee.
“The first time I actually saw Eden was on move-in day. And coming from Christian Brothers [University], I wasn’t used to having co-ed dorms, and Eden was the first person I saw, and I was like ‘there’s girls in this dorm?’,” Jeremiah laughed. “And then at the meeting, I found out her name and that she was on the track team.”
“One thing that always caught my eye about Jeremiah was his fashion sense. I wasn’t checking for him, but I always noticed the details in [his attire]; you never caught him going to class in sweats, he always had on a real outfit,” said Eden.
Eventually, the pair crossed paths when Eden attended an intramural flag football league game Jeremiah played in.
“It was a Sunday afternoon, we had just got out of church, and [UAH] is a small campus and there was nothing else going on on campus, the food hall was closed [as were other departments or hangouts] so going to the game was just something to do with friends,” Eden recalled. “Jeremiah’s team was playing against some of my track teammates and afterwards we started mingling and walking back to the dorm together and that’s when Jeremiah said something to me. I wasn’t checking for him, but we shared mutual friends and all became one big group of friends.”
“After the game I just started making small talk. I took that opportunity [during the group talk] to start talking to her and bring her into the conversation,” he said.
The two began hanging out frequently with the group, and then started hanging out alone. “I would ask her if she wanted to grab something to eat, or go to the movies, it was always informal,” Jeremiah said.
“But I think our first date was a double date with another couple after we came back from Christmas. We dressed up a little for that date,” Eden said.
First date: January 2013. They went to Bridge Street outdoor mall in Huntsville, and had dinner at PF Changs.
“I was always laid back and I tried to play it cool, but then I saw her and thought, ‘wow, she looks very very good’,” Jeremiah laughed. “But being out with friends definitely calmed my nerves and throughout the night I kept thinking she was a beautiful girl, and I felt lucky that she wanted to go out with me.”
“I guess I was feeling the same way. I wasn’t super nervous because we always hung out in group settings, and since this was a double date, it was still a group setting,” Eden laughed. “But he was nice, he wasn’t trying to force anything and he was always playful. It felt like I was in between being his homegirl and his girlfriend … it still felt like we were hanging out like friends, but it was more official. And at the end of the night, our friends were like let me take a picture of y’all, and I thought we looked good together,” Eden said.
The turn: Soon after the double date. “I was in the middle of track season, but we started [making more forward] gestures towards one another. We would give each other a hug first, but it was college, so we were always still in group settings,” Eden said.
“But then we started making more efforts to hang out together alone,” Jeremiah said. “Our schedules never [accommodated each other], so we had to make a real effort to hang out. We’d try to catch a matinee, or go get food…,”
But Eden recalls a moment when things felt real. “I was traveling for track, and we were texting each other, that was like our only communication, we never really talked on the phone… and I remember Jeremiah being like ‘I thought we been dating, I thought you were my girl since last fall’,” Eden laughed. “And it made sense, I wasn’t dating anyone else, and we were spending a lot of time together, so that’s when we became official in my mind, but in hindsight we had been official.”
The proposal: Valentine’s Day, 2016, at Firebirds in Hoover. “We had always talked about being engaged, and Eden always said she’s going to know when it’s happening [because of clues] so I made a point to catch her as off-guard as possible,” Jeremiah said. “So when I got the ring, I called her best friend, Bri, and she said, ‘how do you want to do it’? and we decided to use [Bri’s] birthday, which was Valentine’s Day, as the cover up. It would look like we’re going to celebrate Bri’s birthday, especially since Eden and I had already gone to dinner to celebrate Valentine’s Day [as a couple] the day before. And I had a ‘Will You Marry Me’ sign made that we had waiting in the back of the restaurant … and the signal we came up with for the waiter to bring out the sign was when we started asking about dessert.”
As the moment grew closer, Jeremiah said his heart was pounding. “The whole time I’m trying not to tip off Eden, and Bri was looking at me like it’s about to happen, and I’m looking back at her like ‘I know!’,” he laughed. “I could see the waiter getting closer with the sign and I started clutching my jacket to get the ring out without Eden noticing and I slid out of the booth and got on one knee. And when Eden saw the waiter, she was frozen, I almost couldn’t get her to move,” Jeremiah laughed. “I had to pull her from the table to stand in front of me, and I told her how much I loved her and asked her if she would marry me. And she said yes. The only person in her family who knew I was going to propose was her father because I didn’t want anyone to blow it.
“At that point I felt like the whole restaurant was in on it because everyone started clapping, “Eden said. “I was super nervous. And looking back on it. I hate attention, everybody was watching, and I was so nervous. But we went to my grandparents’ house and my parents’ house afterwards and everyone was so excited for us. It was a good day. And my best friend was so selfless to share her day with me. She’s still my best friend and knows that I would have done the exact same for her.”
The wedding: At Metropolitan Church in Birmingham, officiated by Eden’s father, Pastor Edward Williams of New Vision Christian Church in West End. Their colors were blush and tones of brown, and their reception was held at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover. The couple’s wedding was also profiled by ‘Alabama Weddings’ in their 2018 edition.
Most memorable for the bride was walking down the aisle. “I was really nervous, and also, my bouquet was really heavy,” Eden said. “Seeing our family and friends who came from near and far in the audience was comforting, and seeing Jeremiah up there looking so handsome, and my girls looking so beautiful, and having my dad beside me… I just remember feeling comfort and ease, like everything was exactly as it was supposed to be. Also, that was my first time seeing the sanctuary [decorated] and it was so beautiful. My grandmother, Judith Harris, was our wedding coordinator and she killed it. I could have never imagined that it would be as breathtaking as it was.”
Most memorable for the groom was becoming emotional when he saw his bride. “The crazy part is I was actually calm all the way up to the point of knowing she was about to come out. Tears welled in my eyes, and a lot of emotions and happiness was going on within me, and when I saw her, tears fell,” Jeremiah said. “I thought she looked so beautiful.”
Both also remember the New Orleans 2nd line procession at the reception. Jeremiah is from New Orleans, and it was customary to have a celebratory 2nd line, a New Orleans tradition where a brass band leads a celebratory procession through the streets for events like weddings, birthdays, or funerals. ‘The second line set the tone, the whole reception was one big party. It was so much fun,” said Eden.
Honeymoon: The couple had just purchased their first home before the wedding, so Eden’s moving in and taking residence alongside her new husband was how they honeymooned.
Words of wisdom: “As cliche as it sounds, communication is key. It’s how you communicate when you have conflict to come to a resolution that’s important,” Jeremiah said. “And, always work as a team.”
“Stay friends and always treat each other kindly, ” said Eden. “Jeremiah and I have so many marriages to look up to. Our grandparents had just celebrated 50 years at the time of our marriage, both of our parents have beautiful marriages, we knew what to aspire to,” Eden said.
Happily ever after: The Cockrells attend New Vision Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in West End, where they serve as Deacon and Deaconess, and Eden as the church moderator. They have two children, Jeremiah ‘Deuce’ Jr., 7, and Jiana, 5.
Eden, 32, is a Homewood native, and Homewood High School grad. She attended The University of Alabama at Huntsville [UAH], where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business management and a minor in marketing. Eden works in operations for a national non-profit and is a high school track coach at Homewood High School.
Jeremiah, 33, is a New Orleans, LA native, who relocated to Huntsville, Ala. with his family after Hurricane Katrina. He attended Sparkman High School in Harvest, AL, and the University of Alabama at Huntsville [UAH], where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Jeremiah works as an electrical engineer at BL Harbert International in Birmingham.
“You Had Me at Hello’’ highlights married couples and the love that binds them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello’’ column, or know someone, please send nominations to Barnett Wright bwright@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s) and what makes their love story unique.
