Love: Erin Coleman & Cord Campbell

In fall 2004, Voorhees native Erin was not impressed with the men she was meeting in Greensboro, N.C., where she worked as a broadcast journalist for the CBS affiliate. "There are no good men out there," she told her fellow reporter Frank. Frank suggested a solution: "I want you to meet my friend, Cord. He's cool. I just see you guys hitting it off."

Naturally, there was a catch: Cord lived just outside of Detroit, where he worked in Ford's finance department.

Frank continued to mention Cord from time to time. But Erin thought little of it.

Then one Friday in September 2005, Erin was on her way to the Raleigh airport. From there she would catch a cheap flight to Philadelphia, and then drive to New York for a wedding. Frank flew past her in the left lane. She called him. "What are you doing in Raleigh?" she asked.

Frank was also going to the airport - to pick up Cord.

Erin couldn't believe it. "I won't get to meet him," she told Frank, detailing her plans.

Oh, yes she would, Frank said. He and his pal from back home in Jackson, Miss., were going to a Coldplay concert in Charlotte, then driving to New York City for a total guys' weekend.

After the wedding, Erin met up with Frank, his date, and Cord, and ended up at a diner.

Erin was a little nervous at first. This was essentially a blind date. And the friend who set her up could watch its progress from across the booth! But Cord, who is both outgoing and a great conversationalist, soon got Erin to open up.

After about 2 1/2 hours, Frank and his date went their own way, and Erin offered to drive Cord to his cousin's place in Harlem. They talked more in the car. Cord asked Erin for her number. "Oh, Frank's got it," she said.

Erin got to the Villanova home of her parents, Everod and Beverly, at 6 a.m. Sunday. They were a bit perplexed at her arrival time. "I met this really nice guy," she told them. "We'll see what happens."

Later that night, as Erin was hoofing it up the stairs to her apartment, laden with luggage, her cell phone rang with a number she didn't recognize. It was Cord.

That first phone call turned into many long conversations, then monthly trips to each others' cities. In 2004, Erin took a job with CBS in Raleigh. By the time Cord moved to New York in 2007 to work in finance for General Electric, the distance didn't matter. Soon, Erin and Cord were seeing each other every other weekend.

As weekend morning anchor, Erin was working some crazy hours that required her to get up at 3 a.m. When Cord was in town, he would get up with her and drive her to work. One early morning in May 2009, they were running late. Erin was running around frantically searching for the car keys, when Cord said, very nonchalantly, "Hey, let me ask you something."

"What?" asked the somewhat frantic Erin. She turned around to find him down on one knee.

For a few seconds, her mind, clouded by the fear of being late for work and the earliness of the hour, did not comprehend what was happening.

Then she saw that Cord was holding a ring.

At 3:30 a.m., Erin and Cord called his parents, Ruth and Leon, and her parents. Everod already knew - Cord had taken the train to Philadelphia the week before to ask his blessing. The men didn't tell Beverly because she has a hard time keeping big news from her daughter.

Erin rushed off to work, where her excited colleagues repeatedly announced her engagement on the air. "A lot of Raleigh/Durham found out before our really good friends and family did," Erin said.

Erin and Cord were married at Mother Bethel AME church by four ministers. Erin's childhood minister, now an AME bishop, flew in from South Africa, where he is serving, to be the couple's primary officiant. He was assisted by Cord's childhood minister from the church in Mississippi where he grew up, and the two current pastors of the couple's home churches.

It was very important to Erin and Cord to include the men who gave them spiritual guidance through their childhoods. "This is the guy who watched me grow up in the church, who gave me a Bible when I went to college," Erin said. But it was also important to include the pastors who helped them into adulthood, she said.

The couple's ceremony included Holy Communion. Afterward, they and their 220 guests headed to a reception at the Four Seasons.

Erin and Cord walked in to "Clocks" by Coldplay - the band Cord and Frank saw the weekend the couple met.

The couple squeezed in two lessons for a choreographed dance to Anita Baker's "Sweet Love" - no small feat considering that Cord, now finance director for NBC Universal, still lives in New York, and Erin, a weekend anchor and reporter for the ABC affiliate, lives in Atlanta. They are working hard to land in the same city.

For Erin, cake beauty is more than skin deep. So, underneath that cream fondant icing was a moist, mildly spiced sweet potato cake, a nod to Cord's Southern heritage, from Sweet Jazmines in Berwyn.

There was no question that Cord would wear a Hugo Boss tux, in classic black. He designed a tie for the groomsmen, which was handmade in Italy from stripes of sangria-colored silk that matched the bridesmaids' dresses.

During the vows, Erin began to cry. Cord reached into his jacket, pulled out a handkerchief, and wiped her tears.

A bargain: Swoozie's was closing stores as part of a bankruptcy reorganization, and Erin regularly checked nearby locations for sales and availability to decide whether she could wait for a bigger discount. She got place cards, menu cards, thank-you cards, welcome-bag tags, and wedding tissue paper, all between 50 percent and 90 percent off.

The splurge: Erin's soft-white, satin strapless dress with a fitted bodice was about 25 percent more than she originally budgeted.

Cord surprised Erin with a week in Exuma, Bahamas. He loved keeping a secret from his favorite journalist.

Officiants
Bishop Jeffrey Leath of the 19th District of the AME Church, Johannesburg, South Africa; the Rev. Johnny Barbour, general officer of the AME Church, Nashville, Tenn; the Rev. Mark Tyler, pastor of Mother Bethel AME Church, Philadelphia; and the Rev. Samuel Boyd, pastor of Pearl Street AME Church, Jackson, Miss.

Venues
Mother Bethel AME Church and the Four Seasons, both in Philadelphia

Music
The Keith Benson Band, Cherry Hill

Photography
Ken Luallen Weddings, Washington

Videography
Sean Bernard, Philadelphia

Dress
Ulla-Maija Couture, purchased at Nicole Bridal, Jenkintown

Flowers
Fleur, Philadelphia

Invitations
Papyrus, Philadelphia

Planner
Janis Burrell, Philadelphia

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