How We Met: I first met Ivy in March of 2013 at Chi Cha Lounge in Washington, D.C. at a mutual friend’s birthday party. As soon as I walked in Ivy and I made eye contact, she looked familiar but I didn’t want to approach her because she was talking to some dude. Ironically, she stopped talking to the guy to speak to my cousin (Cuzzo) and told me I looked familiar but she couldn’t remember my name. After a few minutes of small talk we quickly remembered we’d met through another mutual friend a few months prior. We re-introduced ourselves and promised we’d never forget each other’s name again, but little did we know. Coincidentally, Ivy and I learned we attended neighboring colleges in Atlanta, GA while in undergrad.
The guy started talking to Ivy again and I walked away to speak to some of her girlfriends that I knew from college. I soon realized that the dude was trying to “holla” at Ivy and she seemed receptive. A few minutes later the guy got up and I took advantage of the vacant seat, besides I wanted to get to know Ivy a little more. We ended up talking all night, coaching each other on our “complicated situations” and scouting out “potential candidates” for one another (how ironic). The guy never got his seat back…
The party was wrapping up and a few of us still wanted to hang out. We decided to head to a club a few blocks over and Ivy’s friends decided to ride with me, but she drove separately because she had an early morning appointment. Lucky for me, her friends’ phones were dead, so Ivy asked for my number because she wanted to call us when she got there, of course I gave it to her. We arrived before Ivy and quickly realized it wasn’t our regular crowd. When she called for an update, I told her we were calling it a night and we went our separate ways.
A few days later, I received a text from Miss Ivy. I shared a very personal story with her while we were talking at the party and she followed up for an update. From there we became “Homies,” and talked about EVERYTHING, especially our “situationships.” We’d gchat all day at work, talk all night on the phone, and hangout on a regular basis, but there was never anything more, we were just “Homies.” We decided to celebrate the termination of our ex’s by attending a happy hour with mutual friends. When I got there Ivy looked different, in a good way, in a way that I’d never noticed. I guess she felt the same way because I asked her to hook me up with one of her friends and she said, “What if I want to talk to you?” I laughed but quickly noticed that Ivy wasn’t joking. I told her that I would prefer to have her over any of her friends or anyone in general, and we’ve been inseparable since!
how they asked: I first realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Ivy during the week of Valentine’s Day, 2014. I didn’t know how or when I would propose but I knew I wanted it to be special because Ivy always made me feel special. Earlier in the year, Ivy and I looked at engagement rings while walking through the mall so I had a general idea of the type of ring she liked. I started shopping for a ring after Valentine’s day and it was much more difficult than I anticipated. I eventually found a ring at the beginning of April but I couldn’t propose immediately because I was raised to ask a girl’s parents for their blessing prior to proposing. Ivy’s parents live in Dallas so I debated calling them and asking for their blessing but I thought it would be more respectful if I asked them in person. I met her parents during the first year of our relationship and her mother also had the opportunity to meet my parents when she visited DC. Our parents had an instant connection and my father expressed an interest in meeting Ivy’s father since he was unable to visit Washington, DC. Our mothers began discussing a timeframe to visit Dallas so our father’s could hang out and they agreed upon Mother’s Day weekend. Ivy’s family are HUGE Cowboys fans and we all agreed to take a tour of AT&T Stadium while visiting Dallas. I thought it would be a GREAT idea to propose during our tour at the Stadium and I knew I wanted the moment to be captured. I didn’t want to burden our parents with taking pictures during our tour so I decided to hire Picturesque and have them capture the moment. I purchased a few additional tickets and sent them to Picturesque so they could participate in our tour. We were scheduled to land in Dallas Thursday evening and our tour was scheduled for Friday.
I intended to ask Ivy’s parents for their blessing Thursday night when we landed in Dallas but our flight was delayed and we arrived near midnight. It seemed to be too late to ask her parents for their blessing but I found the perfect opportunity to ask her father. Her father and I were unloading the truck while Ivy and her mother were inside the house. I explained many reasons for wanting to marry Ivy and I told him that we (Ivy and I) had never discussed details of marriage because I needed to speak to him first. He appreciated my efforts and told me that I he liked me but he did have one question before he would give me his blessing. He reached in his wallet and gave me a piece of paper, I looked at the wrinkled sticky note and he told me to unfold it. When I opened the paper it read, “When is the wedding?” We both began laughing and he told me that I had his blessing.
The next morning was the big day and I was very nervous!I knew Picturesque photographers were ready because they contacted my parents early that morning to discuss final details but I still needed to ask Ivy’s mom for her blessing. Ivy’s father asked her to ride with my parents on the way to the stadium, just in case we got separated in traffic, and she agreed. As soon as she got out of the car with us, her father asked me if I had something I wanted to discuss with her mother. I looked at her mom and began to explain many reasons I wanted to marry Ivy and her mom told me that she would love to have me as a son-in-law. We had never met the Picturesque photographers but they had a picture of me and Ivy so they were able to recognize us when we arrived. We toured the stadium with our family and Ivy was having a very good time.
I identified the Picturesque photographers halfway through the tour and we visually acknowledged each other. As we were nearing the end of the tour, the tour guide notified us that we had 20 mins to do whatever we wanted on the field. As we walked through the Cowboys tunnel, toward the 50 yard line, I started getting the butterflies. Once we reached the Big Star, I asked Ivy if she would marry me and she said, yes! She was so surprised that she was speechless! Here’s the video:
Photography by Picturesque Photo & Video