how we met
Meghan and I met in March of 2013 through a mutual friend. I worked security at a few local bars and I was working the door at Tapp Room when Meghan came out with her friend. We got to talking that night and hit it off from that point on but it took me more than 2 weeks to convince her to go on a date with me. Our first date was April 20th 2013 and we hiked to MacRae Peak at Grandfather Mtn (the same exact spot of the proposal). I knew she was a keeper from that day forward!
how they asked – his side
I’ve owned an aerial drone business for a little over 3 years. Since our very first date was to this same peak 3 years prior it was a symbolic location and why I wanted to do it there. One month after dating we camped out on top of another peak at Grandfather Mountain (Calloway Peak). Since I do drone videos for a living Meghan didn’t think anything was out of the norm when I decided to take the drone with me and I also always take pictures and videos of our hikes. I had been planning on how I was going to propose for about 2 months and I knew I wanted to utilize my drone in some way to do so. It wasn’t until the night before that it hit me to also use my phone to record video and audio of the moment. Once we arrived at the peak, about a 1 mile hike, I set the drone to an autonomous orbit around the peak. I exited out of the app that controls the drone and opened my camera to start recording video/audio in which she did not know was happening. I set the remote down beside us for us to “pose” together for what I told her would be “cool video footage”.
I spun her to the spot I wanted her in and began to tell her how much I love her. She thought it was a late April Fools at first because I am a jokester on occasion. Once she realized it wasn’t a joke she went really quite as if she had lost her breath and then began to cry. I couldn’t have imagined it going any better. The timing of everything was a sign it was meant to be. As we were approaching the peak a man and his son were eating at the peak but once we got to the ladder they were coming down. Next, a group of about 4-6 college kids arrived at the bottom of the peak and saw what was happening and stopped and stayed at the bottom to not interfere. As we came down from the peak a large group of about 30-40 college kids on a trip were arriving and they told us that their bus driver was late that morning or they would have been there before we arrived meaning that the peak would have been packed and things wouldn’t have turned out like they did.
how they asked – her side
Jordan and I typically do something outdoors for our anniversaries. This year we were going to be on vacation for our first date anniversary so we celebrated a little early. Little did I know it was going to be a proposal. Since we live in the mountains we like to get out and hike as much as possible. On April 16th we hiked the same mountain top as our first date. The weather was great and the tourists were at a minimum. When we reached the top of the mountain, there was a father and son just getting down and at that point were had the entire top to ourselves. The views are always so amazing atop the mountain. Since Jordan takes his drone with us everywhere we go, I didn’t think twice what it was for this reason. I figured it would be cool to get aerial photos of us since we didn’t have any from this spot. He got the drone started and pulled me near him to take pictures together then he stepped away and placed me in a certain stop. I thought it was strange for him to do that but again a proposal was not my first thought, I thought he was going to play a trick on me.
Then he started telling me that he loves me and reached down into his backpack and pulled out a ring box that I was very familiar with. As we were leaving the house I made a joking comment “don’t forget my ring”, and literally he did not forget my ring. I was completely shocked to see him pull a ring out and propose. It took me by surprise at first and really thought it was a very late April fools joke. I’m a very emotional person and I cry about everything happy or sad, so it was no surprise that the water works came full throttle. I was so shakey that after he proposed that the hike back down was harder than usual. I could not have asked for a more perfect proposal.