how we met
Sam and I both work for the Technical Arts department at Gateway Church. Since there are 5 different Gateway Church locations, there are many staff members, so even though we worked in the same department, we still had never met. I attended The King’s University in Southlake, TX, and he was scheduled as the video director for one of our chapel services on Wednesday mornings. After the service was over, I saw that a group of my friends were talking to someone that I had never met before (Sam). I am very much an “includer” and love to meet new people any time I get the chance, so I made my way over to say hello.
Sam and I were wearing the same pair of Converse that day, so the first thing I ever said to him was, “Duuuuude, we’re wearing the same shoes!” and then proceeded to introduce myself. Little did I know that he had been scheduled to direct chapel services for quite some time and he already knew who I was. Not only did he already know who I was, but he had started to form a big crush on this girl who he had never even spoken to (I found this out a little later in our relationship, of course). That following weekend, he was scheduled as the video director for our weekend services. In a matter of days he became my absolute best friend, and we have been inseparable ever since. And now I get to be my best friend’s wife.
how they asked
One of the first times Sam and I ever hung out, he told me about a short film that he had been wanting to produce for a long time. A short film about a man and his proposal night with two alternate endings to leave the audience with a cliffhanger. It was then that he asked me to play the woman’s role since we were friends and very comfortable with each other. Months passed by before we decided to start filming anything, and Sam and I had already started dating and talking about getting married.
So when the time came that he told me we were definitely going to start filming soon, I started getting curious. I just knew that this was how he was going to propose. However, Sam knew that I would overthink everything, so he threw in every possible reason as to why he WASN’T going to propose that night without making it obvious. Two days before filming, he told me that he wanted to save enough money for a ring he’ll know that I’ll love, and asked if I wanted to go ring shopping with him. Why would he be asking me this if he already had a ring and a plan to propose in just two days!? He even had me order the ugly, fake ring off of Amazon that he was going to use for the short.
He also got my best friends involved, and they even started asked me questions and told me things that would completely throw me off. I knew that if he was actually going to propose that he would act nervous and different than his normal, chill self. That definitely wasn’t the case. I have never seen him more relaxed than during the hours that we were actually filming. It was sunset, and we were about to start filming our last scene of the short film. The lights were strung and the lighting was perfect. The shots that our friend Chris were taking were absolutely stunning. Sam and I stood in place as Chris yelled “action!” Sam got on one knee and I was prepared to put on my “acting surprised” face as I saw my ugly, fake, dream ring…
When all of a sudden I hear him say “By the way this is all real,” and opened up the box for me to, instead, see the most gorgeous and most sparkly ring I had ever seen. It caught me off guard and I swore I wouldn’t cry, but I definitely did. Now I get to spend forever with my very best friend.