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Nelson & Song BY ABBY WEBE R PHOTOGRAP HY BY COU R T N EY P OT T ER , COU RT NEY-P OTTE R.COM
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hile completing her Ph.D. at North Carolina State University, Runqiao Song, who grew up in Dalian, China, found more than education – she found love. Runqiao had moved south after graduating from Stony Brook University in New York and soon met Chapel Hill native and East Chapel Hill High School and UNC alumni Matthew Nelson. In the four years of dating, they grew to love cooking together, playing board games with friends and walking through Fred G. Bond Metro Park in Cary. After being referred to Creative Metalsmiths by a close friend, Matt and Runqiao went together to find a ring. Matt proposed in August 2021 during a walk through McCorkle Place on UNC’s campus. On Oct. 11, friends and family gathered at The Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist, the church attended by Matt and his family. His parents, Jeffrey Nelson and Bonnie Nelson, grandmother Carole Crotty, as well as several aunts and uncles, shared in the couple’s joy in person along with close friends, including Geoff Drake and Sarah Jaslow, coming in from around 134
chapelhillmagazine.com
July/August 2022
the area. The ceremony, led by Rev. Thom Belote, was described by the couple as perfect. Loved ones around the world were able to watch through Zoom. At The Carolina Inn reception, guests enjoyed dinner before the couple cut their classic wedding cake with strawberries and cream icing and closed out the night with a Champagne toast. Matt and Runqiao live in Cary. CHM