How we met: Chandler and I met when we we were both around 12 years old. We were introduced at a friend’s halloween party, and became close friends soon after. We would see each other at youth group every Wednesday night and talk on the phone whenever we had the chance. I never knew he liked me as more than just a friend! Chandler always says that he was trying so hard to get more of my attention, but from where I stood, all of my other friends at the time had a bit of a crush on him, so I just never really paid attention to it! He chased me for almost 2 years, put up with me talking to him about my middle school crushes, and all without me knowing that he was just waiting for me the whole time. Our friendship had continued to grow and one night he finally called me to tell me exactly how he felt about me. I was really caught off guard and really surprised! All I said to him was “I have to pray about this”. After a few more weeks of making him wait, I finally agreed to be his girlfriend. Right off the bat he would tell me he loved me, and that he had known I was the one he wanted to be with the moment he saw me. When I was really young, that was very intense to me and a little scary, and I wasn’t ready to say “i love you” to anyone yet. He would always say “I love you Faith. I know you can’t say it back yet, and that’s ok. I’ll wait.” And he did. It did not take long though. After being with him for only a few weeks, I knew there was something so different and so special about him, and I was falling fast. He was such a gentleman and from day one he has treated me like a princess. :) My parents were very protective so we rarely saw each other outside of the occasional movie night with friends and youth group so our time together was very precious and very sparse. My family travelled to Ohio a lot, which is where I’m from, and Chandler’s family went on quite a few cruises, so there would be weeks on end that we were separated. Our love for each other only grew stronger with distance. Within our first year of being together, we were already talking about marriage. We both knew that we wanted to marry each other one day. We were both raised in God loving families and with the knowledge that saving ourselves for marriage was extremely important, and expected of us as Christians. It was such a blessing that we were able to build our young relationship on the same solid ground, with the same values. We made that commitment to each other to wait, and 7 years later, with a ring on my finger, that commitment stands strong. :) Our first kiss was one of our favorite moments together. We were both very new to this and very nervous. We shared our first kiss on a ferris wheel one night after a movie with a group of friends. The special thing about it is that we were each others first and only kiss. There is something so sacred about that to us, on top of being each other’s first love. :) Growing up being in love with your best friend is such a beautiful thing. Chandler and I are ridiculously blessed and couldn’t be more thankful to have each other to experience life with. I cannot wait for our future! how they asked: So our friend, pastor’s wife, & photographer, Avery, asked me to be a part of a staged wedding photo shoot that she was doing. I was so excited and agreed immediately! After thinking about it for a little while we decided it would make sense if Chandler was the “groom” in the photoshoot as well! We were both excited about being a part of it. A few weeks before the photo shoot I had been getting very impatient with Chandler. I am 20 and he is 21 and we would always talk about marriage and our future. I was trying so hard to be patient, but I was so ready to be engaged to him! Every time we would talk about it he would always say he was waiting on Gods timing and kept telling me “God’s timing is perfect, we need to be patient.” Which honestly kind of just irritated me, because in my mind, God’s timing was now! We went about a week without really talking about it again and that whole week before the photoshoot I had been becoming ok with the fact, and getting it in my mind that he was probably just waiting until I was done with college (which would be 2 years from now) and was still trying to save up and everything. So when I went into the photoshoot, I was not expecting ANYTHING. (Chandler’s plan the whole time..) So we all met at the shoot and he and I had a lot of time to hang out before our shoot started. Avery, the photographer, knew the whole time that he had been planning on proposing to me that day. She was talking to me about all things proposals and weddings all morning long while myself and the other models got our hair and makeup done. I just kept telling her that I knew it would be a while before he proposed but it was fun to talk about it all with her. It’s hilarious looking back at it, because she knew the entire time, and even though we were talking about all things wedding related I still had NO idea what was to come later in the day! Fast forward a good 5 hours or so and Chandler and I are starting our photo session.
It was so much fun! We were laughing and posing, and genuinely having a really great time getting to pretend it was our wedding day. After 20-30 minutes of photos we were finishing up and walked down to a bench where Avery told me to sit down so she could get a few pictures of me alone. Chandler went over and stood by a tree and I kept seeing Avery look over at him. I thought it was weird, but I was still completely oblivious! So then chandler comes over and joins me on the bench and takes my hand and squeezes it really tight. He looks into my eyes and starts telling me how much he loves me and how he wants us to continue our lives together. At this point I was thinking “Is he just getting really into the photoshoot?? What’s going on?” Then he walks away and grabs something from behind the tree. Things start to click, and I look to Avery who is still taking pictures of us and say “Is this happening??” I really couldn’t believe it. I thought I was dreaming. Nothing felt like real life! He came back over with a little grey box, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him.
My heart was in my throat and my head was spinning! I SO did not think it was really happening. I had just told myself that it would probably happen in a year or so, so the fact that he was down on one knee in front of me right there was absolutely crazy! I was completely and 100% shocked!
I didn’t even know how to talk anymore and I just wanted to hug him and kiss him but I felt like I couldn’t move! I managed to get a breathy “yes!” out of my mouth and then Chandler took my hand, slid my purity ring off, and put my engagement ring on. Ahh!
I was finally able to take a breath, stand up and throw my arms around him. I kind of felt like I was going to pass out! After everything set in, and I was convinced that it wasn’t a dream, the waterworks began. I was going to marry my best friend, the most handsome man in the world. The one created for me. I was so beyond excited! I just kept asking him “Is this real? Are you sure it’s real?” As I stared at the GORGEOUS ring on my shaky hand.
All 7 years, we had dreamt of this day and of our wedding day, so to know that this journey was beginning was so crazy exciting and shocking to me! I am tearing up again just typing all of this out. Afterwords we jumped in his truck and drove to meet our families at one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate. I don’t remember eating much that night, but I do remember my sore cheeks from all the smiles and laughs! We were surrounded by so much love and the night could not have been more perfect or more surprising. I love this man with all my heart and cannot wait to be his wife! 1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”
Photos by Capture Life Photography