Piedmont Park is a go-to destination for dates, couples photos, weddings and more. Parks have a special way of kindling relationships and creating lifelong memories. This Valentine’s Day season, the Piedmont Park Conservancy rounded up four absolutely adorable love stories.
A Park for All Your Special Moments
“My husband and I were dating back in Dec. 2012. We decided to make it “official” while we were on a date at Park Tavern’s skating rink. Since our first “Skate Date,” as we like to call it, the park has held a special place in our hearts. We have returned almost every December for a skate date since. We used to live in Buckhead and would spend weekends picnicking in the park wishing that we lived closer. In 2014, we took our engagement photos at the park and used them for our wedding save the dates. In 2015, we bought a Goldendoodle with our wedding money and started frequenting the dog park and sponsoring a bone each year. In 2016, we decided to move to Midtown and live near the park, which is where we are now, just two blocks away! We recently had our first child and amidst the pandemic world, found sanctuary walking our baby in her stroller around the park almost daily during my maternity leave and now as a family every weekend since I’m back to work. The park is my favorite place!” – Tyler Keenan
World’s Tiniest Ceremony
“I have been with my partner for six years, and while we were in quarantine, he proposed. But we didn’t want to wait until the end of the pandemic to get married. We decided to plan the world’s tiniest wedding ceremony for the month after. Come October 2, 2020, we were standing in Piedmont Park, overlooking the lake with the skyline as the backdrop. Our parents and one best friend were in attendance, and my now-husband’s best friend since childhood married us. It was the best day of my life, and every time we visit the Park, that lovely memory washes over me.” – Grace Dent
From Dreaming to Fruition
“My husband moved close to Piedmont Park right after we first started dating long-distance. We spent every other Saturday morning (then nearly every one after I moved to Atlanta) walking through with coffees, talking, dreaming and planning. Two years later, I took one of the first photos of my engagement ring in the park with the Midtown skyline in the background. After waffling between venue disappointments, we were again walking through when he suggested that we should be married at Piedmont Park. It was our favorite place, after all! We ended up shooting our engagement photos in the park a few months before the wedding, too. I love that we have photographs of just us bundled up in the sleepy, wintry park and of us with our family and friends enjoying a beautiful spring day. We still visit the Green Market and park just about every weekend – and now we bring a stroller, too. Piedmont Park is so integral to our lives here, and we’re excited for our baby to love it as much as we do!” – Anna Kay Cope
A Piedmont Park Game Plan
“When we first fell in love, she was in Houston and I was in Atlanta. I knew the other half of my heart was in Atlanta, so I set out to convince her that Atlanta was a place she’d like to move. We’d go to Piedmont Park every weekend she visited. We would walk down 10th street and enjoying some wine sometimes but it was always Piedmont Park. People watching in the valley, watching doggies at the dog park, and my secret weapon: the Botanical Garden. Once I unleashed it’s full power, she knew it was futile to resist. She moved to Atlanta, and we continued going to the park every week pretty much ever since. We were married in April 2018 at Park Tavern and all of our family from out of state remarked on how beautiful the view of the park was and how festive it was to have dozens of families in the valley enjoying a park as the back drop to our wedding party. I owe it all to Piedmont Park for being the best place I have ever known to go kill time until the end of the world with ones you love.” – William Smartridge
Looking to host your next date at Piedmont Park?
If you are inspired by these love stories and want to make a love story of your own, check out our self-guided tours and plan a picnic at one of our several lawns. The Piedmont Park Conservancy offers three venues perfect for weddings, proposals and anniversaries, and all proceeds benefit our nonprofit mission to preserve and enhance the Park.
