Grant Porter and Chapel Hill High School grad Hanna Root first met in 2013 at a UNC men’s soccer alumni event at The Crunkleton. Hanna tagged along with her brother, Chipper, a former player for the UNC men’s soccer team, and Grant was the varsity team’s assistant coach. Hanna thought she’d stay for only a bit, but after meeting Grant, she stayed for longer than she expected. The two UNC grads hit it off that night, and they’ve been together ever since.
On Easter morning in 2015, Grant and Hanna were taking their daily walk with their golden retriever, Cooper, when Grant suggested they go into a gazebo they passed by every day. “When we went into the gazebo, there was a vase of flowers and a card waiting,” says Hanna. “Then Grant got on one knee and asked me to marry him.”
The couple was married on May 28, 2016 at The Forest Theatre. Riding to their reception at the historic Horace Williams House, they savored their first moment alone as a married couple.
Hanna is a second-grade teacher at Morris Grove Elementary School, and Grant is still the assistant varsity soccer coach at UNC. They recently bought a house on Kenan Street, which Hanna’s dad, Bo Root, and his company, Bo Root Builders, helped remodel. The couple “can almost see The Crunkleton from [their] new house.”
Photography by Faith Teasley
