Bluffton couple met when she almost hit him in Food Lion lot. Guess where he proposed
A Bluffton couple has a favorite grocery store. Not because it has the lowest prices or because they know where everything is.
Nancy Kate Pippin and Kole Suchecki love the Bluffton Food Lion on Fording Island Road because they got engaged there.
Suchecki popped the question May 23 in the Food Lion parking lot. Pippin, who was totally shocked, said yes!
To be clear, the location wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Suchecki proposed to Pippin in the grocery store parking lot because it was that exact spot where Pippin almost hit him with her car as she was pulling into a parking spot around three years ago.
Crashing into love
Pippin, a Macon native, had just finished work in Bluffton a few years ago when she decided to stop at the budget grocery store to get a quick snack.
As she pulled into a parking spot, Suchecki was walking across the spot on the way to his car with his groceries.
Pippin stopped before she hit him, but yelled out her window “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! I almost hit you and your car!”
Suchecki shrugged it off and told her it was no problem, but as she walked into the store, he decided to give it a shot.
He left a note under her windshield wiper with his phone number, urging her to reach out if she was available.
When Pippin returned to the car, she saw the note. She said she appreciated the gesture.
“I didn’t think it was weird at all,” Pippin remembered. “How he worded everything was super respectful, which attracted me to him.”
Outside of a quick thank-you text, the two did not connect after that initial encounter.
But about seven months later, Suchecki and Pippin exchanged a few messages.
They decided to grab drinks at Skull Creek Dockside — their first date.
“The rest, as they say, was history,” Pippin said.
Wedding bells
Fast forward three years: Pippin and Suchecki live in Bluffton together with their 2-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
Last weekend, they were vacationing in Amelia Island, Florida, with Pippin’s family. After a trip that Pippin described as “perfect,” they had rushed back to Bluffton to pick up their dog, Noonan, from the pet boarding house.
Suchecki said he had to stop at Food Lion to buy a leash to bring to the boarding house.
After coming out of the store, he tapped on Pippin’s window and told her something was wrong with her bumper. He said he thought maybe someone had hit it.
“My first thought was, ‘oh my gosh, did you and my brother hit my bumper when you were playing golf?’” she said.
As she got out of the car to check the damage, she didn’t notice the Food Lion manager filming.
“He got down on one knee and asked ‘will you marry me?’ and I was so shocked! I feel like it happened so fast,” Pippin said.
Of course, she said yes.
“Kole is just so amazing, and he thought everything out so perfectly,” Pippin said. “He is the most selfless man, and I can’t wait for our daughter to watch me marry her amazing father.”
The couple is planning a winter wedding.
Asked whether Food Lion will cater, Pippin laughed.
“I don’t think so. But maybe we’ll take a few engagement photos there!”
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 11:07 AM.
