how we met – groom
We met in the summer before 9th grade at a friends birthday party. Melissa came with another guy, who happened to be one of my friends. This friend had been talking about Melissa for a long time… So I was very curious to see what she was all about! The first time I saw Melissa was when all of us were in my friends room playing video games. I don’t know if I believe in love at first sight, but I was definitely in awe at how beautiful she was. My goal for the entire night was to get to know as much as I possibly could her, all the while placing myself in a prime position to come in and steal her away as soon as things didn’t work out with my friend. After awhile Melissa, my friend and I all decided to get in the hot tub. By the time all was said and done and the night was over, I had the BIGGEST crush on Melissa!
As I knew they would, things with my friend and Melissa didn’t work out. There were two problems that arose in my plan to woo Melissa, however. First, was that we went to different schools. And because we were only 15 I couldn’t drive, which meant I didn’t get to see a lot of her at all. Second, I may have been too good at putting myself out there and getting to know Melissa because she put me right in the friend zone. The next four years would be full of futile attempts made by me to escape the friend zone. Melissa swears that she had no clue that I had a crush on her but in my defense, she was never single long enough for me to show any interest in her. But, that doesn’t mean I didn’t do my best to be noticed!
Melissa was one of the cheerleaders of my rival high school. Her school was created immediately following our freshmen year of high school and many of the kids from my school went to the new school with her. Needless to say, her school immediately became my schools biggest rivals and any sporting event between the two schools would get pretty heated. I was on the Football, Basketball, and Baseball teams and I would get even more excited for those games because I knew Melissa would be right there on the sidelines. I was hoping that eventually she would notice me and realize that I didn’t deserve to just be wasting away in the friend zone. During football and basketball games I would make sure to do my warm ups as close to the cheerleaders, and Miss, as possible. Unfortunately, nothing ever seemed to work. She seemed to go from one boyfriend to the other and my humongous crush and I were just sitting in the friend zone waiting for a sign!
As high school ended, both of our schools went to California for our Senior Trip. Both of our senior classes ended up going to Six Flags the same day. As fate would have it, my group of friends and I ran into Melissa’s group of friends. We hugged and talked for a little bit, and then we said our goodbyes and wished each other luck in the future. When she walked away I remembered telling my friend about the crush that I had had for Melissa for the past four years. And then I told him that unfortunately that was probably the last time I would ever see her.
Our college choices pushed us even further apart because Melissa was going to Utah Valley University on a dance scholarship. I was headed the opposite direction to the University of Nevada Las Vegas on a baseball scholarship. In October of 2011 I got a notification on Facebook that it was Melissa’s birthday and so I messaged her and wished her a happy birthday. We talked for a couple of days via Facebook chat and “apparently” (Melissa remembers this and I don’t… And I remember EVERYTHING) we made plans to hang out when we both went home for Thanksgiving break. I know for a fact we made no such plans because I would have done whatever I needed to do to spend time with her, but that is beside the point. We didn’t hang out over Thanksgiving break and the week after Thanksgiving break Melissa messaged me on Facebook and wished me a happy birthday. After that we continued to talk and Skype each other. This time we did make plans to hang out over Christmas break and so we spent just about every day together during that break. On Christmas day 2011 I asked Melissa to be my girlfriend. The sad part about our relationship is that it was going to be put on hold just 6 months later. But we decided that we were going to have the best 6 months possible and worry about the rest when it came. When we went back to college, we didn’t get to see a lot of each other but Melissa did her very best to come to as many of my baseball games in Las Vegas as she could. When the baseball season ended I had a month and a half until I was to leave so that I could serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the end of June I would be leaving for the Philippines where I would serve as a missionary, during this time I would have limited amount of time that I could talk to my family and to Melissa.
On June 27, 2012 I said goodbye to Melissa for two years. During my mission Melissa and I talked once a week via email, and two times a year (Christmas and Mother’s Day) she would go to my house and with my family we would Skype. After two years of being away, Melissa and I decided that we needed to take some time and date other people. I had decided to transfer to Brigham Young University to play baseball which brought me the same city that Melissa was in. Throughout the next two years, Melissa and I would run into each other and we even hung out together from time to time. After two years of playing baseball at BYU I decided to switch and play football for BYU. Throughout spring football practice, Melissa and I started talking more and more. Then one week before the Spring Game 2016 I tore my knee in practice and for a week I couldn’t get out of bed. During this time, Melissa spent every day taking care of me. It was during that time that I began to realize that Melissa was the girl that I wanted to spend my forever with. After that we started dating again and it wasn’t very long until I decided that I was going to ask her to be my wife. After all, I had kinda been waiting for 9 long years!
how they asked – bride
So… I really wanted him to tell it because he’s WAY better at telling stories. But! He’s making me do it. Oh boy, where to start?! Like Cole said, it didn’t take long after we started dating to decide we want to get married. We had been talking about it, so of course I was talking about it with my closest girl friends. We probably dated again for two-ish months before he proposed. And a week or two before he proposed my best friend Hunter (Kofford) Fowler text me and said that she had an engagement shoot on a Thursday that was going to be where I wanted to take my pictures, so she suggested I should come. This was a totally normal things for her to ask, and I really didn’t think much of it. We decided to make a night of it and get dinner after the shoot too. A week later she text me and said that her client canceled but we should still go to dinner and she would take some pictures of me instead. Again, this was a very normal thing for Hunter and I to do. A few days later on Wednesday June, 8th I was getting my hair done and Hunter text me asking me what I was going to wear for dinner and pictures the next night. She mentioned that I should get a little dressed up for more fancier pictures. At that time I was a little curious if he was going to be there or something and kinda told myself that he was going to propose that night.
Thursday, June 9, 2016 was a normal day. I woke up, went to drill practice (I’m a coach) came home, took a nap, and probably laid on the couch and watched Netflix for a while, haha. Later, I started getting ready and Cole came over to say hi for a bit. I assumed he was going to be acting weird and jumpy because he usually gets so excited about surprises for me that he ends up ruining it… BUT HE WAS SO NORMAL!!!!!! Almost too chill. He came in, said hello, kissed me and started watching tv. HA! So immediately I started thinking, “Okay, you’re wrong! He’s totally not asking you to marry him tonight!” He came back into my room after about 45 minutes and said he was leaving to go to dinner with he friends (which I knew about, and had for about a week), and he left. About 30 minutes later I met Hunter at a field in Provo where we had decided to take some pictures before dinner. Hunter showed up with barely any make-up on (she doesn’t need it anyway) a comfy dress, burks, and her hair tied up on top of her head! Oh, and she was sick, poor thing! We started walking through the field and yet again I was waiting for Hunter to be acting different but she wasn’t. She was acting so nonchalant like nothing was happening, or going to happen. She started asking about how my day was and some other very basic, every day questions. She took pictures for probably 20 minutes and blurted out, “Okay, I’m hungry, let’s go!” haha so we left.
At this point I was dead set that Cole was not proposing! I was crazy for thinking it, and he probably wasn’t going to be asking for another few weeks! Hunter and I pulled up to The Riverwoods in Provo and started walking to Happy Sumo. **Okay, side note! Now that I think about it, I should have known something was off when Hunter wanted to go to get sushi because I have never known her to want sushi.** We started walking through the shops, just chatting away and I look up and see a girl with a camera in front of Happy Sumo that looked as though she was filming us. I knew that Cole wanted to have our friend Autumn Shipp video our proposal, but from where I was standing I couldn’t tell if it was her or not, so I just kept talking to Hunter and when I looked up again, she was gone. As we got closer to the restaurant Hunter started veering off away from the door, which is when I asked where on earth she was going. She than said, “I don’t know, maybe you should look over heeerrrreeee!!!” As she motioned with her head to a planter. When I looked down I saw a picture of Cole and I, an envelope that read Melissa Anne Turner on the front, and a single long stemmed red rose.
At this point I was so confused and out of my mind nervous! I knew what was happening, but I didn’t know at the same time and I quickly picked up the note. As I started reading I couldn’t concentrate on what the words were saying! Autumn eventually popped out of no where and started filming me. She had me read the note out loud which made me pay a little more attention to what it was saying. There was a sweet note to me, and a clue that I was supposed to follow. Happy Sumo was the first date Cole and I went on in Provo. Christmas break our freshmen year of college, I had to come back to UVU a little early because I was on the dance team and had to dance at a basketball game. Cole told me he had to go back to UNLV too so that was that, but the next morning I opened my apartment door to someone knocking and it was him! He surprised me and came to watch me dance for the first time! That night he took me to that same Happy Sumo. The picture that was left with the note was a picture of us on that date four years ago! The next clue lead me to Get Some Guns shooting range.
Hunter, Autumn and I jumped in the car and started driving! I found the clue outside the shooting range on top of a power box. There again was an envelope, a picture, and a red rose! This shooting range was our first unofficial date when we started talking again after all these years! The date included me, Cole, and his two roommates Brady and Brian. We both tried to play it super cool that night! Trying not to flirt too much, but at that same time he was hugging me every chance he got! He was also really surprised about my aim. (Insert wink face emoji! But really, I’m a pretty good shot!) This clue had a few more sweet words, and hinted me to the Geneva Megaplex Theatres.
This location was our first official date together! We saw an early screening of the Batman vs. Superman movie with the BYU football team. Let’s reminisce shall we! Gosh! This night! This was a very important night to me! When we started talking again just a few months ago I had been waiting FOR WEEKS for him to show some sort of interest in liking me again. When he asked me on this date I FREAKED OUT!!!! I called my friend Bre in like the middle of the night, haha poor girl! I think I woke her up, but it was SO worth it! We screamed for a bit and than discussed what this meant! Obviously it all weighted on that night. How he would act around just me while we drove there, how he acted around his friends and his team… Was he going to hold me hand? Would he kiss me? How would he introduce me to people? YOU GUYS! It was an intense wait for this night. Did I mention he asked me a week in advance? Like, come on! Dreams were coming true! I’ll tell you what! So forward to the actual date, he was so lovely in every way! He didn’t hold my hand much while we walked because he was on crutches, (torn MCL) but when we were sitting at dinner or at the movie he was close and holding my hand! (Heart eyes people! H.E.A.R.T. E.Y.E.S.)
Okay, moving on! The clue at the theatre sent me to a sidewalk spot where we sat and waited for him to enter the MTC. Brutal day! As we drove there I kept repeating “I can’t believe this is happening” over and over again! When I got there an envelope, picture and rose sat waiting for me to read! It read that this was the last clue and that I better get up to Sundance fast before the “fireworks” go off!
Alright, first, I LOVE FIREWORKS! They’re one of the greatest inventions EVER made! Cole, knows that, but second, I started panicking that he really was going to set off fireworks when I got up there and we were going to go to jail. Or worse… set Sundance on fire. (My favorite place in Utah) As we drove up the canyon things were quiet in the car. I started thinking about all the things my love and I have been through. The good and the bad, the many years and time, and I remember feeling very peaceful. Peaceful and thankful to my Heavenly Father for putting this man into my life.
Hunter passed the resort and took me higher up the canyon, we reached a parking lot, pulled in and she told me to start walking. As we walked down a dirt path we came to a candle lit bridge next to a brick building with a man standing there, (it wasn’t Cole, it was someone else waiting to propose to another girl HAHA) as a started walking past Hunter was like… “UHHH, MISS! he’s right here!” The man laughed and said, “Wrong guy! Good luck!” Hunter and I busted up laughing and kept walking. A few steps later I looked to my left and in a green field through some trees was a pathway lined in pictures, and at the end of the pictures was a boy standing other two trees with lanterns hanging from them. My heart dropped! As I walked between the rows of pictures I felt more in love and loved than I ever had before!
After he proposed Autumn and Hunter filmed and took pictures for about an hour and we cleaned up and went to eat at the Foundry Grill at the Sundance Resort! You can hear all of his sweetness and words in our amazing video made by the so so talented Autumn Shipp!
I am the luckiest girl in the world to have the most incredibly proposal and day that I’ll remember forever! Thank you to Autumn Shipp, Hunter Kofford Fowler, Jana Kofford, and Brady Corless for helping Cole set up this amazing evening! I am so grateful!