East Chapel Hill High graduate Joey Hawkins met UNC alumna Christie Pennell while working in the after-school program at the YMCA. That summer they both worked at Camp Clearwater and soon Joey asked Christie out to a Durham Bulls game. Two years later, Joey completely surprised Christie with a proposal in the middle of a skit on the last day of summer camp. “A rush of children congratulated us, asked questions and generally made us feel incredibly loved,” Christie says. “I can’t think of a better, more fitting or more romantic way for us to have become engaged.”
Joey and Christie held their rehearsal dinner at Time-Out Sports Bar and Grill followed by the ceremony and reception the next day at the Chapel Hill Carriage House. Christie’s parents, Brian Pennell and Angie Reinhardt of western North Carolina and Joey’s parents, Russell and Elizabeth Hawkins of Chapel Hill, were in attendance. Local members of the wedding party included Patrick Fahy and Rusty Hawkins.
In a nod to Camp Clearwater, they named each table at their reception after a different location at the camp. Their first dance was to the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Come to Me” – the song Joey had played when they had a moment alone in the camp office after the proposal.
The couple resides in Carrboro. CHM
Ed. Note: This article first appeared in our December 2014 issue.
