By Susan Shinn Turner
For The Salisbury Post
All weddings are special. But when Christopher Derrick married Lauren Franks on April 25, he became the fourth generation of his family to be married in the sanctuary of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Downtown Salisbury.
His parents, Elizabeth and Mark Derrick, were married there April 17, 1993. His grandparents, Carolyn and Perry Hood, were married there April 21, 1963. His great-grandparents, Juanita and Floyd Williams, were married there in June 1939.
Carolyn and Perry Hood
Carolyn and Perry met in gym class at Boyden High School. He was a junior and she was a sophomore.
“It had rained that day and we paired off and danced,” Carolyn recalled. “He saw me and asked somebody who I was. He called a couple days later and we’ve been together ever since.”
They were both 21 when they married, and Perry served four years, four months with the Marines at Quantico. They then returned to Salisbury, where Perry retired as a real estate appraiser. Carolyn worked part-time as a bank teller. They have two children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Carolyn’s mother, a well-known local caterer, made her own wedding gown as well as Carolyn’s. Her parents were Floyd and Juanita Williams.
“She made most of our clothes and our Easter outfits,” Carolyn said. “I did not inherit that talent at all.”
Carolyn remembers sewing Teletubby costumes for grandsons Christopher and his younger brother David. The fuzzy material clogged her sewing machine. That was the end of her sewing days, she says.
Carolyn said that she and Perry are thrilled that Christopher and Lauren married at St. John’s.
“It meant a lot to us,” she said. “It was very special.”
Elizabeth and Mark Derrick
Elizabeth certainly agrees with her mom.
“It was very special. I was not expecting that Christopher and Lauren would get married at St. John’s,” she said. “I did not think that even would be a possibility.”
Both Lauren and Christopher come from large, tight-knit families, and have many friends as well, so the sanctuary was perfect to accommodate the crowd of 260 attendees.
Mark reminded Christopher, “Be sure to breathe,” and he got along just fine.
“We are not big attention seekers,” Elizabeth noted.
Elizabeth and Mark met through his brother John, a former associate pastor at St. John’s.
“Every New Year’s Day, Mark and his brother-in-law Bill played golf, no matter what the weather,” Elizabeth said.
Margaret Meek, Bill’s wife, invited Elizabeth over to watch the ballgames on New Year’s Day. They were living in Salisbury at the time.
“I knocked on the door, not knowing a soul,” Elizabeth said.
That was Jan. 1, 1992. She and Mark became engaged in June 1992, then married the following April.
Mark was working in Columbia.
“I moved there,” Elizabeth admitted, “but I did not like Columbia.”
They both found other jobs and returned to Salisbury. Mark now works as a bookkeeper for a commercial real estate company in Charlotte, while Elizabeth works as a real estate appraiser and reviewer for First Bank.
She and Mark are enjoying getting to know their new daughter-in-law.
“From the first time that we met Lauren, we could tell that she was a good fit with our family,” she said. “She is kind and respectful, and she joined us in family events, trips and vacations. She, like Christopher, has a close-knit and loving family, and she and Christopher are both very family-oriented.
“I thought going through the whole wedding process from engagement, to finding a dress, to planning the wedding, to the actual wedding went very smoothly. She kept us involved in everything and we were very appreciative of that. We are very excited about having a daughter in the family!”
Lauren and Christopher Derrick
Even though Lauren and Christopher grew up only 10 miles apart, they met on a dating app in March 2024.
“I ghosted him!” Lauren admitted, meaning she only sent a few messages to him. “I wasn’t really trying that hard.”
But in January 2025, the app matched them again.
“I told him, ‘I know I ghosted you before, but I won’t do it again.’ And I kept my promise!”
“I didn’t think too much about it,” Christopher said of the earlier online meeting. “You get used to getting no more than yes. My ego wasn’t shattered. But the second match, we hit it off.”
Their first meeting in person was at a brewery in Kannapolis, where they talked for three hours.
“We found out we had a lot of things in common and the conversation just flowed,” Christopher said. “I left quite happy. I thought, this definitely has potential.”
The couple dated about three months when Christopher began to think about a long-term relationship.
They became engaged at the Bell Tower Green gazebo on Dec. 13, 2025. Lauren’s sister Leslie hid and took photos, and then everyone went to Elizabeth and Mark’s home for an engagement party so the families could meet.
“We both have a close-knit family,” Christopher said. “That’s one thing I like about her. Her friends are like family. It’s a good group to be invited into.”
The couple chose to get marred in April, so they had a short engagement. With most venues already booked, it quickly became clear that St. John’s would be the perfect choice. Since Christopher is a lifelong member, the fees were greatly discounted. Additionally, the couple chose to have their reception in the recently renovated Ritchie Hall, just downstairs from the sanctuary.
“I’ve always wanted to get marred in a church,” Lauren said. “I wanted to go the more traditional route. We heard so many positive comments with having the reception there.”
For now, the couple is living in a home Christopher bought six years ago at The Reserve at Eagle Heights.
“Lauren is redecorating to make it less like a bachelor pad and more like a home,” Christopher said.
Most afternoons after work, the couple will jump on their golf cart so Christopher can get in nine holes of golf at The Country Club of Salisbury. Lauren brings along whatever knitting project she is working on.
On Sundays, they attend her home church, First Reformed of Landis, where her dad is senior pastor.
Lauren and Christopher both love to travel. They spent time at Disney in January with her mom and dad, Dawn and David, and they’ll head to Nags Head with his family at the end of this month. They’ll visit Ocean Isle in July with her family.
Lauren owns New Things, a fair trade artisan gift shop in Downtown Mooresville, a business she’s had since 2017.
Christopher and David are both with Cheerwine. Both will be working the Cheerwine Festival in Downtown Salisbury on May 16.
Here’s wishing Lauren and Christopher — and their parents and grandparents — many happy years together!
Freelance writer Susan Shinn Turner lives in Raleigh.
