Years after their weddings, these couples reflect on marriage, growth and the moments that have shaped their lives
By Olivia Jarman
Hoke Family
Featured May/June 2006
When Christine Hoke and Trevor Hoke were featured in our first issue, they were newly married and still closely tethered to the town that shaped them – high school classmates, shared friends and a wedding that felt unmistakably local.
The couple met as students at Chapel Hill High School and married at Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, with a reception at Durham’s Croasdaile Country Club. Two decades later, Christine and Trevor are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary – a milestone that still catches them a bit off guard. “Time flies,” Christine says, “and is so much fun.”
Both were early in their careers twenty years ago, building professional lives while settling into marriage. Today, those careers are firmly established, as is their life in Charlotte. Christine is an attorney with the same firm, K&L Gates, which merged with Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, and is a partner in their finance group. Trevor has spent the past 18 years in wealth management, currently serving as a senior vice president with Wickham Cash Partners at UBS Financial Services.
Their most meaningful evolution, though, has come with family life. The couple is raising two children, Lucy, 15, and George, 13, and has found that travel is one of their favorite ways to spend time together. This spring break, the family is heading to Japan, adding a far-flung adventure to a routine that includes frequent escapes to the North Carolina mountains. Looking back on their early days of marriage, Christine offers this simple advice to newlyweds: “It’s an adventure – enjoy the ride. Things unfold in ways that are amazing and unexpected, despite the best plans.”
Robinson Family
March 2016
When Kathryn Robinson and Tarron Robinson talked about the future in our pages back in 2016, the Chapel Hill High School alumni were mapping out a life together just up the road in Mebane. A decade later, they have turned that plan into reality. Within months of their wedding, they moved into the home they had built there.
Now well into married life, their days look fuller than they once did. Kathryn is the chief nursing officer at Cary medical clinic Vascular Wellness, and Tarron is an insurance agent with Highstreet Insurance. Most weeks revolve around work, school and a steady rotation of activities that include swimming lessons and basketball practice for their children, Chloe, 7, and Cole, 4.
They still make room for adventure, marking their 10th wedding anniversary last year with a trip to Singapore and Bali. Kathryn and Tarron have found that this stage of life comes with its own mix of joy and logistics, and that balancing work and kids on top of everything else takes more intention than it once did. “Being open and taking time for yourselves and each other is very important,” Kathryn says. “Take the time to be present in the moment, and enjoy each other and your children.”
Carmody Family
Featured January/February 2013
Fourteen years into their marriage, Stephanie Carmody and Dennis Carmody are still happily rooted in Chapel Hill, where they have built a life that blends work they care about with the people and places they love.
These days, Dennis continues his work in clinical research as a project manager with the Duke University Office of Research & Innovation, and Stephanie is now a co-owner of her family’s prosthetic and orthotic business, Atlantic P&O. Both are also deeply involved in advocacy work that is important to them.
Outside of work, Stephanie and Dennis’ days are shaped by the things they enjoy doing with each other and with family. They seek out accessible destinations for travel, spend evenings listening to music on the Southern Village Green with friends and relatives, and rarely miss a chance to take their nephews to UNC games. They also frequent Cat Tales Cat Cafe with their niece, where four years ago, they adopted two cats, Baxter and Ollie, who quickly became part of the family.
Over the years, Stephanie and Dennis have learned that a strong marriage requires attention to both the practical and the joyful. “Have the hard conversations about things like finances,” Stephanie says, “but also prioritize finding ways to have fun together.”
Saye Family
Featured September/October 2011
Andrea Saye and Hank Saye were first spotlighted in our September/October 2011 issue as newlyweds beginning their life together in Chapel Hill. Nearly 15 years later, they find themselves in a very different season. The Sayes now live in Holly Springs, where they are raising their two daughters, Leighton, 9, and Scarlett, 5.
With an anniversary approaching in April, Andrea says she is still surprised by how quickly the years have passed. The most significant change since those early years has been becoming parents – the girls now shaping the pace of daily life.
Professionally, both Andrea and Hank have grown into expanded roles. Andrea leads communications and marketing at Carolina Alumni, while Hank works in supply chain systems at a global biopharmaceutical company.
When they can, Andrea and Hank try to squeeze in travel; they recently returned from a trip to Croatia. Closer to home, they have created quieter traditions. Andrea took up mahjong this past year, and once the house settles at night, she and Hank make time for a weekly game together.
Marriage, Andrea reflects, is not something you ever finish figuring out. Each stage brings new challenges and opportunities, and her advice to newlyweds is to keep growing – together and individually – while supporting each other along the way.
McInnis-Putney Family
Featured November/December 2011
John McInnis and Christopher Putney were building a life together across state lines when we first featured them in November/December 2011. Christopher was an associate professor of Slavic languages at UNC and John was working as an attorney in Florida – with plans to eventually settle in Chapel Hill.
They closed the distance in 2014, marking both a long-awaited union and a season of loss. In the months leading up to the move, John lost both his mother and sister; Christopher took a leave of absence later that year to care for his elderly father in southern France.
What began as a temporary stay soon became something more permanent. “Within a few months, it became clear that we were so comfortable and happy here that we started to plan our emigration from the U.S.,” Christopher says. He retired from UNC in 2015, and the couple settled in France full time a few years before Christopher’s father passed away in 2018.
Today they live just a block from the Mediterranean Sea in Nice and divide their time between there and the coastal village of Locmariaquer in Brittany, where they bought a small house in 2022.
Their days in Nice are filled with long walks along the Promenade des Anglais, museums, movies and dinners at home or with friends. Both are avid readers and belong to book clubs. In Brittany, life is slower with daily walks along the coast, bike rides, long seafood dinners and short trips to explore nearby villages.
Their dogs, Lucy and Tyler, spent the best years of their lives in France and have since passed away; in 2024, the couple welcomed Gaby, a new rescue pup, into their lives.
Looking back, John and Christopher say the most surprising part of their marriage has been “how pleasurable and comfortable it has been,” even through health challenges, distance and transcontinental changes. Their advice to newly married couples centers on honesty. Open communication, they say, is essential, and even the hardest times can be navigated with mutual trust.
If you live in Orange County or are from here, we’d love to spotlight your big day! Submit your love story here.
