How We Met
Our love story is a Tinderella story. We actually met on Tinder. I recognized him as the former high school quarterback of another high school in town and we got to talking. The conversation flowed so easily and naturally that it lead to a first date. We went to Blues on the Green, a free outdoor concert at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, and we laid under the stars on a picnic blanket surrounded by live music and uniquely Austin vibes. We got so lost in conversation that we didn’t even notice the music had stopped and most of people in the park had cleared out already. That night, I got my very first kiss. From that night forward we both knew we had found something special, even if we weren’t quite ready to admit we met the love of our life on Tinder. It was the summer before I started as a freshman at the University of Texas and he was headed back up to Stillwater, Oklahoma for his sophomore year at Oklahoma State University. I had never had a boyfriend before, so long distance seemed like a crazy idea, but somehow, we already knew it would be more than worth it and decided to give it a try. It ended up being the best decision of our lives. Now we are both graduating and getting married!
how they asked
If you’ve seen our proposal video, you already know that I was caught completely off guard by Friday’s events. You can easily see that in my reaction to seeing my handsome boyfriend (now fiancé!!!) standing alone in the middle of the dance floor. It was my sister’s seventeenth birthday and I was under the impression that we were going to the Broken Spoke to celebrate with some country dancing. I remember walking in and hearing Then by Brad Paisley playing in the background and my eyes filled with tears. Shawn and I have always said that Then perfectly describes our relationship and hearing it, I missed him terribly. I hadn’t seen him for seven weeks at this point, and at the time, I thought I wouldn’t be seeing him for another two weeks.
I didn’t notice Shawn standing in the middle of the dance floor when I first walked in. I was too busy getting X’s drawn on my hands (not so cute for pictures). Imagine my surprise when I turned and saw my boyfriend standing alone in the middle of a cleared out dance floor grinning at me. My brain simply couldn’t process it. He was supposed to be in Oklahoma! He had even been texting me selfies and pictures of his apartment (shout out to Shawn’s roommates for helping him pull all this off) throughout the day to totally convince me he would not be coming into town. He pulled it off so well that it should probably scare me a little! He’s much better at lying that I ever gave him credit for.
Naturally, I couldn’t help but run to him and hug him tight as if to prove to myself he was really there. He actually had to push me off of him so that he could get down on one knee because I was holding on to him so tight! “This song says it all,” he said, “but I do have to ask you a question.” And he did – “Will you marry me?” As my best friend, he couldn’t help joking with me “…and I’m not showing you this ring until I get a yes!”
Just when I thought the surprises were over, I was ambushed my all of my best friends. I didn’t even see Shawn for the next five or ten minutes as I moved from embrace to embrace and posed for pictures with my closest friends and family. I cannot thank you all enough for being a part of our special day! It’s a night I will never forget and Shawn and I are so blessed to have so many wonderful people be a part of our life together!
