How We Met: Leave it to me to find my future husband on Facebook. It was near the end of my senior year of high school and I was so excited because I had just found out that I had made the Pom Squad at the University of Texas. I had just gotten back home from our first-ever Pom meeting at UT in Austin and amongst my many friend requests from fellow pommies and cheerleaders, there was a request from a boy (who also happened to be a baseball player at UT) who I thought was pretty cute. I didn’t think anything of it that night, but the following day, I decided to do something I’d never done before–I sent him a Facebook message! I know it’s totally creepy, but I had nothing to lose, and after all, it was he who had asked to be my friend.
The Facebook messages continued back and forth. Also originally from the Dallas area, he was only going to be in town for one week before heading off to Wisconsin to play summer baseball. I thought it would fade out, but we exchanged phone numbers and began texting on a daily basis. Three months and hundreds of conversations later, Cole was on a plane back to Dallas and swore he would be at my door to take me on a date the very night he arrived. Sure enough, he showed up. He took me to a sweet dinner at The Gaylord (hence the reason for the proposal there), and from then on, we were dating.
how they asked: Friday, January 2nd was a fairytale. I’m still pinching myself at the realization that I’m a fiancé and will be a wife to my own Prince Charming soon. When Cole and I began talking about getting married, the only thing I requested was that he surprise me, because in the seven years that I’ve known him, he has never done such a thing. And boy, did he deliver…
The day started as any normal one would – Cole and I had spent the previous day lounging around and recovering from New Year’s Eve, so he mentioned us going on a date the next day. That morning, I received a group text from one of my best friends saying that our other bestie was receiving an award from her company and her boyfriend wanted to surprise her by having us all show up. At first I was hesitant to ask Cole because I knew he wanted to have a date night. It was only after another one of my friends in the group text asked if the guys could come that I decided to go ahead and ask Cole. As expected, Cole responded by acting uninterested and annoyed at the last minute plans. After some convincing, however, he said he’d come along.
Since my friends offered to buy flowers and a card for our friend who was receiving the award (we literally all signed it!), I said I’d buy wine and appetizers for us to have at Cole’s place before we headed to the Gaylord Texan for the exciting work banquet (or so I thought). So we all met up and were on our way! We were told to go to the Yellow Rose banquet room, so we followed the signs to the room once we arrived at the Gaylord (this just so happens to be the place where Cole took me on our first date in August of 2008, but since my family and I had just been there the weekend before, I was not suspecting anything at all). I still had no idea what was happening as Cole led me to a sign across from our ballroom destination…
(PS – My shoes help giveaway the fact that I had NO idea my engagement would be happening! I only had the dress in my car by chance, and the red booties were the only heeled shoes I had for the banquet. I figured we wouldn’t be taking many photos…)
To be honest, once I saw the “L & C” initials at the setup, my heart began pounding out of my chest, my face went flush and I blacked out. Thankfully, Cole wrote down what he said on a card so I can always remember it.
Cole pulled the ring from his sock – so clever! There was a pause after he asked because I didn’t hear anything he said!
Finally, I realized I should probably just say “YES!” and it was a sealed deal.
The ring was my absolute dream ring! It’s an oval setting with a halo on a yellow gold diamond band, and is the most sparkly thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. He did an AMAZING job!
I was still in for another surprise – I hadn’t worn my contacts that night because they always itch my eyes, so I heard clapping when I said yes and turned around to find over 50 of our closest family and friends! My heart was bursting with joy!
Our best friends had drove in from all over, from Nashville to Houston, to be there. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Cole and I are truly blessed with some amazing friends and family and it meant the absolute world to us for them to share this special moment. Cole and all of my friends and family who were involved could not have made this night more magical for me. It was literally my perfect version of a fairytale and to be able to share it with the people I love most is a blessing and a memory that I will cherish for a lifetime.
The proposal was followed by a beautiful engagement party at my future mother and father-in-law’s home and then a sleepover with our best friends that lasted until 5am.
Our start to happily ever after was truly one of the best night of our lives. I cannot wait to become Mrs. Lauren Vandiver Green.