How We Met
This Is Us. Our very first date – the very first time we met.
Rivers and I knew about one another, but only through social media posts (LOL). All I can say is that the quote “The best relationships usually begin unexpectedly” is nothing short of the truth- at least when it comes to us. The start of our story was just that, unexpected. I was friends with Rivers’ cousin’s girlfriend at the time ( Shout out to Chelsea Buchanan) and Chelsea and I had run into each other one night mid-August 2014. That night, Chelsea told me that Rivers had been asking her about me and to “hook him up”. I didn’t give it much thought as I wasn’t really LOOKING or EXPECTING to be in a relationship anytime soon.
A couple of weeks went by and for some reason, Rivers’ social media posts began catching my eye more and more often.
One social media post in particular, on August 26th, 2014, which read and is now one of our favorite quotes and will be used at our wedding “God, thank you for the closed doors. Thank you for not allowing me to settle for second best. God everytime I thought I was being rejected from something good, you were re-directing me to something better. God, I pray you will give me peace when frustration creeps in. I pray you will give me the strength to press on when I’m told “no”. God, I thank you for teaching me that “no” is just a step to a bigger and better, “YES”. Amen.” I just knew this was a sign that I had to get to know Rivers!
After a couple of hours of contemplating whether or not I should go out of my comfort zone and “DM” him, I made what is now one of the best decisions of my life.
Rivers and I exchanged numbers and began texting back and forth daily. On August 29th, 2014, Rivers asked me on our very first date where we went to The Oak Table in Columbia, SC. The conversation was easier than it had ever been and we just knew this was something special!
How They Asked
We had been in Colorado for 4 days with Rivers’ brother and sister in law, Colton and Carson. We flew into Denver on Sunday and drove to Breckenridge Monday to stay until Friday. Everyone knew what was going on except me, naturally.
Rivers had mentioned a breakfast place (actually a coffee shop) he wanted to go to which was in Dillon, CO while in Breckenridge. Wednesday night, he told me he had made a reservation at this particular place for the 4 of us to go to Thursday morning (which I found out later was completely made up). I was thinking to myself “Wow, a reservation for a coffee shop! This place must be pretty popular.” – but of course, didn’t think much about it because nearly every place we had gone always had a wait.
Thursday morning rolled around and Rivers told me his brother and sister in law would not be coming with us to the breakfast place because they didn’t feel well and they wanted to sleep in. Of course, I thought nothing of it as I knew they had felt a little under the weather all week.
Rivers and I went on our way to breakfast and on our way there Rivers mentioned needing to call this restaurant since there would only be 2 people instead of 4 for the reservation now. He asked me to get the number for the place. My independent self insisted I would call to make the restaurant aware of the change. Rivers then tells me he got the number and would call himself. Rivers calls and when he gets off the phone, he tells me they said we would have to wait 30 minutes since our group number changed. I thought “we have to wait LONGER for fewer people?” But again, didn’t think anything of it and Rivers reassured me that they probably just didn’t want to take up a big table for 2 people. I agreed.
Now, since we had more time, Rivers mentioned wanting to stop at a MUST SEE while in Colorado – Sapphire Point Overlook. Rivers has always been so adventurous and wants to see new things so this was not unusual for him. I typed Sapphire Point Overlook into my GPS and it showed that we were about 10 minutes away. Rivers made sure to let me know that we couldn’t be there long as we had to get to breakfast.
We pulled up to Sapphire Point Overlook. There was a pathway covered in snow (also it was 3 degrees Fahrenheit) that you took to the overlook point. We were practically the only 2 people there, except for a photographer (not a part of the proposal) and another photographer (hired by Rivers to shoot the entire proposal + 45 minutes after). We got to the overlook and we were just in awe of the beauty this place had to offer (we are from SC and don’t see snow or mountains like this). Rivers had gotten pointers from the photographer he hired – things like angles, where to stand, and to make sure if I had sunglasses on to get them off so he could get my full reaction. And if you know me, you know I had sunglasses on. The first picture is a selfie Rivers wanted to take – really to get my sunglasses off. But of course, I put them right back on after the picture. The second picture was right after he took my hand and said “take your sunglasses off” and when I knew something was about to happen. The third picture is when he got on one knee and asked me to be his wife after the sweetest words anyone has ever said to me. And the fourth picture is after I became the luckiest girl in the universe.
Rivers has always been the most thoughtful guy in the world and this proposal showed off all of his thoughtfulness. We have felt so blessed ever since!