WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

It was a dark and stormy night in college station, TX… Well really not that dark, or stormy… but College Station Texas. I was out having a good time at Harry’s (two-stepping bar) on what seemed like an ordinary Saturday night. I had been working temporary duty for the Marine Corps while waiting for more training to start in Quantico, Virginia in just two short months. Who knew I was going to meet the love of my life in a bar of all places. God definitely has His own timing and a sense of humor. I started the night with a couple dances and playing wing-man for my buddy, Wyatt Kamin. He comes up to me and says he wants to dance with this girl but needed me to dance with her friend; at this point I’m lucky he made a poor choice. I got to dance with this short and full of joy girl named Emily. Honestly, we had a couple of dances and I didn’t think much of it. As we leave Harry’s, Wyatt tells me he wants to invite the two girls we had danced with to Whataburger. We both come up with a solid text and we must have done something right because shortly after they were on their way to meet us. Of course we show up to Whataburger first, because when are girls ever on time anywhere? As we wait in line we see they show up and lo and behold Emily comes walking up with her friend Katie McCleary. She looks like she had just got out of the shower about five minutes ago… Turns out she did! Thank you Katie for convincing her to get out of the shower or I wouldn’t be writing this and you wouldn’t be reading this. The whole time I am thinking that I have the best job of the night. Unfortunately, I never got Emily’s number that evening. I did what any kid would do nowadays… I find Emily on Facebook the next day and slide into the DMs (Direct Messages)! I got her number and asked her on a date. The Lord had his hand on both of us every step of the way which is easy to see. Thank you Texas A&M and country two-stepping for bringing us together! I love you Em! -Austin

My plan all along was to propose around Christmas time. At this point Emily has figured out, and some of you reading this know, I am a huge planner. Naturally the Lord gets to laugh at me as I figure out all the details because nothing ever goes according to plan. I am very lucky to have the beautiful and loving Riley Cook in my life and she allowed me to use her ranchl. I had been planning for a while and knew that’s where I wanted to do it. I had my party planning committee (for you office fans out there) in place and would have been lost without them. I knew I wanted to propose on Saturday. After working out minor details, I went to the exact spot I knew I wanted propose so I could do a basic walk through with the camera crew (Hannah Miller/Andrew Smith). I placed a nice little rock to mark the perfect spot. It's Saturday night. Emily halfway believes we are going out for dinner. I asked her if she wanted to take the four-wheeler for a drive before we left. At this point she is suspicious, but she doesn’t want to jump to any conclusions yet. Emily wanted to drive and of course I can't say no. As we pull up she runs right over my rock. I knew that we couldn’t have a four-wheeler in our engagement photos. I awkwardly come up with a lame reason for her to move and she believed. But of course she can’t get the thing into reverse. It had to be pretty funny to watch. Once we got the four-wheeler issue settled, I pulled out my Bible and had Emily read some verses that I had picked out. At this point my heart is bumping at about a thousand beats a minute and Emily can’t stand still she is so excited. My speech I had prepared went right out the window, so I went back to the basics and told her I loved her and that I wanted to spend the rest of my days on this earth with her. I don’t want to spoil the ending so I will leave you with the cliffhanger. I am one lucky guy to be marrying such a loving, God-fearing, honorable, caring, and joyful woman. I love you Em! -Austin