Bride: Cori Lanae Greer, 34, Language Arts and History Teacher
Groom: Anthony Banks, 44, Entrepreneur
Married On: October 13, 2012
Wedding Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Wedding Style: Whimsical Romance
A New Start
In 2008, Cori moved to Raleigh, North Carolina from Virginia to earn her doctorate in communications. A young widow with two kids, a new job and a new house in a new city, she had no friends or family to fall back on when she got there. When she found it hard to make new friends, she took matters into her own hands. She created a social group called Interracial Singles Meetup in June of 2009 hoping to create an environment where she could hang out with other diverse and open-minded people and make friends in the process. It worked out even better than she had imagined. The group grew fast, and before long, it had over 900 local members and several members began to meet, connect and marry.
Every other month, Cori would host a party in her home called Dish and A Bottle, where members of her group would bring a dish and a bottle of wine to share and “dish” about current events. “The first time I hosted one in 2009, only 17 people showed up,” she tells us. “By July of 2010, it was ISM’s most popular event, and my house was chock-full of people, sometimes 70 plus, who appreciated a night out promoting conversation rather than just loud music and drinking.”
In July 2010, Anthony showed up at her doorstep to attend one of her D&B parties. He was new to the group, but everyone made him feel right at home. They noticed each other but didn’t get a chance to interact much. Luckily, they bumped into each other a month later at another event. He was the first to arrive and this time she walked right over to greet him. They talked, drank and danced the night away. From that moment on they were inseparable. “If anyone would have told me that my future husband would quite literally show up on my doorstep, I would have laughed uproariously in their face,” Cori tells us. “But it happened!”
Fantasy Football
It was a typical Saturday afternoon in January. Devoted football fans Cori and Anthony were having friends over to watch the NFL playoffs. Anthony came into the house a bit flustered after spending most of the morning at the store buying food for the party. Cori was on the couch filling out report cards and her son and daughter entered the room too. “I want us to be a family,” Anthony suddenly said to her. The kids started to scream as he brought out the ring box. Cori’s son exclaimed, “I’m getting a stepdad!” He told his soon-to-be stepfather to get on his knees and ask his mom the right way. Anthony did, and she happily accepted. “My friends came over shortly after his proposal, and we celebrated with football, friends and love,” says Cori. They jumped right on the wedding planning and their charming outdoor wedding was one to be remembered. Share their love.