Courtney McManus and Sam Adams might credit a fantasy football draft for kickstarting their love story, but theirs is a romance rooted in spontaneity, deep connection, and a little bit of fate.
It all began September 5, 2022, when Courtney, a vivacious Auburn graduate enjoying a night in with her roommate Hayley, got roped into an impromptu phone call. Hayley’s boyfriend Phil Parrish, a friend of Sam’s from back home in Phenix City, Alabama, thought his outgoing buddy might hit it off with Courtney. He wasn’t wrong.
“They just handed me the phone,” Courtney recalled with a laugh. “Phil said, ‘Sam loves to chat on the phone.’ So, we called him, and we ended up talking like we’d known each other for 20 years.”
Sam Adams and Courtney McManus tied the knot at the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa in April of this year.
Sam remembers it well. “I had just gotten back from a Braves game with some college buddies in Atlanta, where I’d been living after graduating from Auburn. I got a call from Phil, answered it, and suddenly I’m talking to Courtney – someone I’d never met. We just clicked. I was immediately drawn in.”
He was so “drawn in” that when Courtney invited him to her birthday party, conveniently timed with his fantasy football draft, he came to the party. “I drafted the league-winning team and met Courtney the same day,” Sam said. “Talk about a winning day.”
Sam and his groomsmen, from left to right: Charles Adams, Blaine Rosier, Sam Adams, Bug White, Dalton Johnson, and Devin Denny. Not pictured: Reece Bader, Brandon Parsons, Phillip Parrish, and Brett McManus.
Both Courtney and Sam attended Auburn University, although their time there overlapped just briefly. Sam had graduated a year earlier, while Courtney stayed to complete her master’s. Though they never met on campus, the Auburn spirit clearly played matchmaker in retrospect. Their early romance involved long-distance travel between Auburn and Atlanta, about two and a half hours apart.
Courtney admiring her dress, purchased from Wedding Angel’s Boutique in Roswell, Georgia, in the Presidential Suite of the Westin Resort & Spa, where she, along with her bridesmaids, grandmothers of the bride and groom, the mother of the bride and groom, and the flower girl all got ready together.
Courtney soon decided to take a leap. “After I graduated, I moved to Atlanta and actually moved into the same neighborhood as Sam. It was a very bold choice,” she admitted. “But it just felt right.”
The groom and his family from left to right: Maggie, Jay Adams, Sam Adams, Katina Adams, Charles Adams, and Annie Adams. They had to shut down their family- run chicken restaurant, Yardbirds, for the occasion.
Sam couldn’t help but admire her adventurous spirit and her magnetic personality. “Courtney just radiates fun,” he said. “Her smile and laugh are contagious. At her birthday party, it was like everyone was lining up to talk to her.”
The bride and her bridesmaids, from left to right: Savannah Wood, Haley Lozak, Sophie Scartz, Annie Adams, Courtney Adams, Maggie Adams, Abby Hearst, Lainee Freeman, Reagan Barfoot, and Braylee Clack.
Courtney with her mom, Lori McManus.
First Impressions and First Dates
Courtney’s first impression of Sam was – quite literally – “big.”
“I was shocked by how tall he was!” she said. “I’m 5 foot 2, and he’s over a foot taller. But I also immediately noticed his personality. He’s outgoing, funny, and makes me laugh – a lot.”
The groom dancing with the bride during their first dance to the tune of Steve Moakler’s “Suitcase”. Local favorites Deas Guyz performed at the event.
Their first date didn’t go quite as planned, but it became a charming metaphor for their relationship. Sam, self-admittedly “not the best planner,” had lined up dinner at Bow & Arrow in Auburn. Unfortunately, it was closed. So was his second choice, a nearby pizza place. Finally, the two ended up at a Japanese restaurant called Kabuki.
“It was kind of perfect,” Courtney said. “Everything went wrong, but it was still fun. That’s how life is – you roll with it. It felt easy.”
The wedding cake was created by D’Flavour.
That ease of connection persisted, even as their relationship grew through months of long-distance calls and visits. Sam officially asked Courtney to be his girlfriend in the most festive and Courtney-esque way possible.
“We were driving back from dinner and Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ came on,” Courtney recalled. “I looked at him and said, ‘You still haven’t asked me to be your girlfriend.’”
Sam grinned. “I said, ‘Well, do you want to be my girlfriend?’ And she said ‘yes.’ So, thanks, Mariah.”
A year later, Sam was ready to propose. In December 2023, he asked Courtney’s father for her hand in marriage while visiting her family on Hilton Head. He lured Courtney’s father away from the family and into his car with a little white lie: Sam told her dad that something was wrong with his car and he needed him to look at it.
“I said ‘This is probably a really bad precedent to start this conversation with ‘I’m lying,’ but there’s actually nothing wrong with my car … I just wanted to ask your blessing for Courtney’s hand in marriage.’ Thankfully, he was all for it, so the planning began.”
Sam had Courtney’s engagement ring custom made at the same jeweler where his father had purchased his mother’s ring, another sentimental family touch that added even more meaning.
The proposal was simple, sincere, and perfectly them.
“It was March, I had the ring, and it was literally on fire in my pocket,” Sam said. “There was no way I could wait, so I proposed that weekend.”
Back in Atlanta, Sam invited Courtney on a walk around the lake that was situated between their residences where, unbeknownst to her, Courtney’s roommate was hiding in the bushes to snap pictures of the moment he proposed.
“It was a big surprise,” Courtney said. “And obviously I said ‘Yes!’”
The bride and groom with the bride’s family (from left to right) Haley Stevenson (Brett’s fiance), Brett McManus (brother), Steve and Lori McManus (mom and dad)
Saying ‘I Do’
On April 12, 2025, Sam and Courtney said “I do!” at the Westin on Hilton Head surrounded by 150 of their friends and family. The wedding theme was wildflowers, inspired by a Bible verse, Matthew 6:28, which states: “And why do you worry about clothes? Look at how the lilies in the field grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon with his riches was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers.”
Detail shot of the bride’s colorful shoes, along with her engagement ring, and favorite perfume.
The music was just as thoughtfully curated as the flowers. The ceremony started with a bagpiper as a tribute to Courtney’s Irish roots, and she walked down the aisle to a steel drum rendition of Elvis’ “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.” During the service, worship singers from Lowcountry Community Church performed; at the cocktail hour, the steel drums played in the background to set an island vibe; then at the reception, Deas Guyz were the featured performers.
The couple’s wedding was a reflection of everything they are: warm, joyful, and full of heart. Surrounded by family and friends, they pledged their lives to one another with the same natural ease that characterized their very first phone call.
“It felt surreal,” Courtney said. “Walking down the aisle, seeing Sam, knowing this was our forever. It was emotional, but also peaceful. Like, of course this is where we’re supposed to be.”
Sam echoed the sentiment. “There’s no better feeling than looking at the person you love and knowing you get to do life with them.”
Fittingly for this modern couple, a surprise twist accompanied their honeymoon. An episode of House Hunters featuring their home aired on TV while they were away.
After their engagement, the couple had bought a house in Atlanta, and they filmed an episode of the show during the process. “We didn’t even get to watch it live because we were on our honeymoon,” Courtney said. “But it was such a fun experience, and such a great time capsule of who we were right before the wedding.”
The bride with her dad, Dennis McManus, the man who spared no expense to make things perfect.
The reception was held at the The Westin’s Grand Ocean Terrace.
A Bright Future in Bluffton
Now, the couple is preparing for another new chapter: relocating to Bluffton. As they get ready to move into their new home, Courtney and Sam are embracing the same spirit of adventure that defined their early days.
“I think the best thing about our relationship is how easy it’s always felt,” Courtney said. “Even the hard parts, we’ve just figured them out together. And the thing I love best about Sam is how he relies on his faith in everything he does. That’s how I know this will last.”
“Courtney has the biggest heart,” Sam said. “I don’t know how it even fits in her size two frame. Plus, together we just don’t overcomplicate things. We laugh a lot, we support each other, and we always make the best out of whatever happens – even if the restaurant is closed.”
For a couple who began with a random phone call and a pizza plan gone awry, Courtney and Sam have built something beautiful, rooted in love, laced with humor, and ready for whatever adventures lie ahead.
