Burlington cops in love; need community’s help to win dream wedding – Burlington Times News

Rachel Berry|Times-News

Some people meet their future spouse at a bar or on a dating app.Phillip Baulding and Raven Hazelwood met while responding to a late-night burglar alarm call at a laundromat.

Baulding and Hazelwood are both officers with the Burlington Police Department. Soon after Hazelwood began at the department in summer 2018, she went on a call with Baulding.

They hadn't met before, but after working together that nightthey began to talk more and became friends. They soon began spending time together outside of work, and they began to develop feelings for one another.The couple began dating in November2018.

"We could really talk to each other about the job," Baulding said. "It's definitely important to have somebody who understands law enforcement. It's hard to talk to somebody who knows it, but doesn't really know some of the stressors that we have to go through."

Hazelwood said she knew from when they started datingthat Baulding was the one.

They dated for two years and had a son together in February 2020. They had talked about the possibility of marriage, but once their son was born, he became the priority, and marriage fell to the back burner.

In September2020, Baulding proposed during a vacation at Carolina Beach.He had planned in advance to propose during the vacation, but spent the whole tripwaiting for the right moment.

"I was a nervous wreck all the time. I don't know how she didn't notice it," Baulding said.

It came down to their final day there, and he suggested they go for one last walk along the beach.

They walked down a boardwalk, and at the endwas a gazebo, where he wanted to propose. Once they reached the gazebo, they saw it was full of people.

This worked out well, though, as they had a crowd of strangers cheering them on, Baulding said. He asked a woman to take photos, and he got down on one knee.

"I didn't expect it at all," Hazelwood said. "It wasa huge surprise to me."

Baulding was so nervous that he tried to put the ring back in his pocket after Hazelwood said yes.

"I was like, 'Well, are you gonna give me the ring?'" Hazelwood said.

After becoming engaged, the couplebegan to make wedding plans. They didn't have a lot of money saved up for a large ceremony and at first thought, they would only be able to afford a small wedding with close family. Hazelwood has family members who aresick, so they want to have the ceremony soon, so they're able to come.

It hurt them not to be able to invite their friends, especially the other officers they work with.

"There's a special bond and a special friendship that comes with the people that we work with," Hazelwood said."It's indescribable. I would take a bullet for these people, and it wouldn't feel right celebrating our wedding day without them."

When they began touring wedding venues, they fell in love with the Bella Collina Mansion in Stokesdale. It was out of their price range, though, and they wouldn't be able to afford a wedding there.

Then Hazelwood's mother heard about a contest the venueis doing to give away a free wedding. The coupleentered, and they'renow finalists for the prize along with three other couples.Once they discovered the contest, they realized it might be possible for them to have the wedding of their dreams and to invite all their friends.

After receiving around 540 applications, the Bella Collina Mansion's owner narrowed the pool down to the top 10 based on essays written by the applicants. The top 10 applicants went to the venuefor interviews with a panel of judges.

The judgeswere supposed to narrow the pool to three couples after the interviews, but the owners said it was such a hard decision that they chose four couples instead.

Voting runs from Feb. 7-14 to decide who will be the ultimate winner. People can vote on the venue's website as many times as they want.

Baulding and Hazelwood said one reason they decided to do the contest is to engage with the community. They knew if they made it to the final stages, their hometown would need to vote for them to win.

They hope by hearing about their story, people will realize police officers are human, too. Although the uniform can sometimes put people off, Baulding and Hazelwoodare members of this community just like everyone else, and they hope this contest helps them connect with the community and helps people to look beyond the badge.

"We're not there for the money. We don't get paid that much," Hazelwood said. "We're not there because we're malice people who want to cause harm to anyone. We're there because we want to help. And we want the community to be able to see that we're their friends. We're on their side."

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Breaking news reporter Rachel Berry can be reached at rberry@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @racheldberry.

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Burlington cops in love; need community's help to win dream wedding - Burlington Times News