Story By: Jayla Jackson
Photos By: Joana Vargas
Nashville Design Week 2023
The saying often goes life imitates art. For photographer, Daniel Meigs and architect, Heather Crabtree, they consider themselves a match made in heaven. The couple met in 2018 during the very first Nashville Design Week, but it wasn’t until now that the pair decided to give us a peek inside their story. “We normally have different accounts of how things went down,” Meigs jokingly said. “Normally she’ll correct me.” What was initially painted as a casual night out resulted as an unprecedented beginning to their happily ever after.
Jayla Jackson–
So, tell me your story.
Heather Crabtree–
We initially met at the first Design Week. We met really in passing first, Lindsey DeCarlo introduced us at an event at Alfred Williams.
Later that same year, both went to a small get together at a mutual friend’s house and sat next to each other during a group conversation.
We ended up having a really great conversation that he remembers little to none of which is fine but it’s funny because the conversation made a huge impression on me. According to Daniel, I asked him out, but according to me he asked me out. We went on a date which neither of us knew was a date of just two friends hanging out. About a month later, we went on a real date to Otaku in The Gulch.
Daniel Meigs–
All of that is factual. Heather was flirting with me and I think that was at the New York Times party that I was asked to shoot. I was like we should go look at Christmas lights together. Later, Heather came up to me and said “Well if we’re going to go look at Christmas lights, I should get your number.” And I was like, yeah, okay. For some reason I was really excited about this date. We went around saw the lights, had a couple of drinks, and it was really good.
“We went on a date which neither of us knew was a date of just two friends hanging out.”
Jayla Jackson–
What was your first impression of each other?
Daniel Meigs–
My first impression I remember was, I really like this person. I felt comfortable having a conversation with her. For me as an introvert, it was nice and refreshing to have a three-hour conversation with somebody and feel like, “wow, that was great”.
Heather Crabtree–
My first impression of him was that he was easy to talk to and I enjoyed that. He had sort of an adventurous, go-getter spirit.
For me as an introvert, it was nice and refreshing to have a three-hour conversation with somebody and feel like, “wow, that was great”.
While several consider 2020’s Covid-19 Pandemic as a lingering, dark, cloud paired with a nationwide lockdown, Meigs, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Crabtree, a native of Pawleys Island, South Carolina found a silver lining while spending time with each other throughout that challenging time.
Heather Crabtree–
We officially started dating December of 2019. It was about three months before Covid hit. In that time, we were the only people each other saw besides his kids. We were constantly spending time with each other cooking in Daniel’s kitchen and making absurd frozen cocktails. We just had such a positive experience amidst the negative happenings in the world.
Daniel Meigs–
I could talk about our experience during Covid for a long time. That was almost like our official time to get to know each other. You hear about divorces during Covid all the time, but we had the opposite experience.
Jayla Jackson–
What are you looking forward to the rest of this year?
Daniel Meigs–
Heather is designing a master bedroom edition for our house. That’s a big thing we’re looking forward to and there’s a lot of moving pieces to it. Also, we have our Gulf Shores, Alabama trip coming up, so we’re excited about that as well.
“I could talk about our experience during Covid for a long time. That was almost like our official time to get to know each other. You hear about divorces during Covid all the time, but we had the opposite experience.”
