‘It Was Straight to the Point. She Said Something About Marriage, I Said, ‘You Wanna Do It?’

BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times

CARRIE & LARRY WOODEN

Live: Hoover

Married: March 22, 2008

Met: October 2003, during Magic City Classic weekend, at Smitty City nightclub in Birmingham. Carrie and a group of friends were en route to an Omega party when they pulled over at Smitty City to use the restroom. Carrie said she was wearing a pair of very high heels that were difficult to walk in when Larry came to her rescue.

“He was parked outside of the club and I asked him if I could sit on his car and wait for my friends to come out of the restroom, and he helped me get up on the back of his car and that’s how we started talking,” Carrie recalled. “And when he smiled I told my friend ‘he’s gonna be my husband’. We exchanged numbers, but I didn’t know he was just visiting from Michigan. His brother went to Alabama State and played in the band, so Larry came down here to see him play [at the Classic].”

Larry said he and some friends landed outside of Smitty City nightclub because the streets were crowded and they wanted to get stationary in the midst of the action.

Larry said Carrie made the first move. “She actually asked me for my number, and I was thinking I don’t know what for because I don’t live here, but I gave it to her,” he said.

Despite the miles that would be between them, Larry called Carrie the next day to see if they could meet before heading back to Michigan, but she missed his call.

“I didn’t know he wasn’t [living] in Birmingham, or I would’ve made other arrangements… by the time I called him back, he had already passed through Birmingham.”

The pair made a connection over the phone that December after Carried reached out for a late-night conversation. It lasted for hours and became the first of many to come.

First date: February 2004, Larry drove down from Michigan the week after Valentine’s Day to take Carrie, who was a student at Samford University at the time, on a date. They went to the movies and O’Charley’s on Lakeshore Drive. They saw Barbershop 2. On Valentine’s Day, “he sent me a dozen coral roses with a cute little coral teddy bear. I cherished that teddy bear for so long, and when he would come to visit, I would spray his cologne on my bear,” Carrie laughed.

As for how their first date went, Carrie said Larry was as cute as she remembered. “He had really pretty teeth and a nice smile. He didn’t have a lot to say because he’s pretty quiet, but he was nice and respectful and he didn’t try to force anything on me so I was interested in what it could be,” she said.

“She was cool, she was easy to be around,” said Larry. “I wasn’t looking for anything serious, but my curiosity pulled me toward her.”

The turn: Larry and Carrie dated long-distance from 2004-2007 when she moved to Michigan after graduating college. Larry spent uncountable weekends on a 10-hour road trip driving from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Birmingham to visit Carrie. Eventually, they began taking turns flying back and forth to see each other for monthly visits, and they’d also opt to meet halfway in Louisville, Kentucky to spend the weekend together. Carrie spent her college summer breaks in Michigan, and they’d alternate spending holidays with each other’s families. After Carrie graduated from Samford University in 2007, she moved to Michigan with Larry to start their family,” she said.

Carrie and Larry Wooden met in October 2003 during the magic City Classic weekend here in Birmingham. They married five years later. (Provided Photos)

The proposal: February 2007, at their apartment in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Carrie had been in Michigan for one month and was pregnant with their first child from their union.

Carrie said the proposal was low-key. “It wasn’t a fancy love story, we were just at home chilling, laying in the bed talking about life and family when he asked,” she said.

“It was straight to the point. She said something about marriage, and I said ‘You wanna go ahead and do it?’ and she said ‘Yeah’.

“We had been talking about marriage since a year into our relationship because he asked me if I going to move to Michigan because [if I wasn’t] it didn’t make sense for us to keep talking if we didn’t have an end goal,” Carrie said.

By 2008, they had their first child, and Larry had built their first home, but in March of 2009, they sold it and moved back to Birmingham due to Carrie’s “lack of driving skills in snow, I couldn’t take the winters,” she said.

The wedding: On Carrie’s birthday in Mobile, Ala. at her home church, Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church. It was officiated by her pastor, Reverend Ralph C. Jones, and their colors were coral and white. “The same color as the dozen roses, he sent me on our first Valentine’s Day,” Carrie said.

Most memorable for the bride was their horse and carriage ride after their nuptials. “We rode on a horse and carriage to the wedding reception, and we both realized we were really married now. It was so sweet. It was like the first moment to breathe after all the hustle and bustle and it gave us a chance to recapture the moment. People were blowing their horns and congratulating us as we rode to the reception, it was pretty cool and exciting,” Carrie said. “Also, when I was coming down the aisle… it was the way he was looking at me that I’ll never forget.”

Most memorable for the groom was also the horse and carriage ride. “The carriage ride was my favorite part too. It gave us time to soak in everything without everybody being around. It was just us, the man driving the carriage and the horse,” Larry said.

Carrie joked that the honeymoon was the drive back to Michigan with all the gifts, and their new baby, Kye in the car. The couple went on a honeymoon in 2018 after their 10-year anniversary vow renewal in St. Lucia. They stayed behind and honeymooned for a week.

Words of wisdom: “Keep God first and surround yourself with positive, like-minded people. Have effective communication and keep your family out of your business. Pray, and love each other in the other person’s love language. And you have to make time to date each other. You have to be intentional with putting in time because life gets busy with work, kids, and their sports, and if you don’t make time for one another it will not be so great,” Carrie said.

Larry said ‘ditto.’

Happily ever after: The Woodens attend Rock City Church on Valleydale in Hoover, and have three children: Larry Jr., 25, Kye, 17, Karrington, 13, and granddaughter, Tatum, 6 months.

Carrie, 40 is a Mobile Ala. Native, and John L. LaFlore Magnent High School gard. She attended Samford University, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing, and Grand Canyon University, in Phoenix, AZ where she obtained a master’s of science in nursing, with an emphasis in health administration and leadership. Carrie works for a major insurance company and owns her own business, Transitions of Life LLC.

Larry, 45, is a Benton Harbor, Michigan native, and a Benton Harbor High School grad. He works for Alabama Power as part of the line crew.

“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.

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