If we could credit anyone for us meeting, it would most likely be my sister Erin. Carlton and I became friends on Facebook due to my sister being a mutual friend. I received the request around May of 2015. Carlton would message maybe once a month to say "hi" or something along those lines. When my birthday came around in September, Carlton did the classic "I would like to take you out for your birthday". We had our first date in late September at J. Alexander. We did not talk much during dinner and I remember his arm cramped up while we were getting ready to go. We talked most days but it seemed a little short. I used to ask if he was always so quiet and shy acting. He kept saying no but I did not believe him. Boy was I wrong! I was able to pick our second date in early October. I chose an apple orchard! I knew it was not something he would be overly excited to do but he did not complain at all. While we were out, Carlton received a call from someone wishing him a happy birthday. We were out on a date that I got to pick and it was his birthday! Something about that really stood out to me. He asked me to officially be his girlfriend in late October. I guess he wanted to make sure to lock me down. Fast forward four and a half years and here we are!

If you know Autumn then you know that she is impulsive and hard to surprise or get anything over on. We were randomly walking around the mall and stopped in a jewelry store. Long story short, we walked out with a wedding ring purchased. I waited a few months before I thought about proposing because I wanted to have a slight bit of control (lol). Autumn's parents live in Alabama so I wanted to do something that involved them. I found out that her mom was going to be in MI after the 2019 New Year. This ended up being perfect because I did not want to be basic and propose on a holiday. I first called Mr. Echols and asked if I could have his daughter's hand in marriage. He immediately said "You know that I know she picked out her ring already”. He appreciated me asking him and doing things on my terms. I called her mom next and started planning how I was going to propose. I decided having a family dinner would be nice. I called her sisters (that live in MI) and invited them to join us. They kept this a secret for months. I chose Eddie V's for the location. I had roses delivered to the restaurant ahead of time. On the proposal day, I put on real clothes so Autumn probably knew something was up. While waiting to be seated at the restaurant, Autumn was surprised by seeing one of her sisters there. Her second sister arrived shortly after (guess who that was). I wanted to wait until the very end of dinner because Autumn would not have been able to eat from the excitement of marrying me (lol). I asked Autumn to order dessert. She is the biggest sweet eater I know. She said she was full and did not want dessert. This never happens. I said "Oh, you are getting dessert". She ordered chocolate cake. When the cake came out, I got on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes and acted surprised. I brought a silicone ring to give her because she had already picked out her real ring. The next day, Autumn had emailed me venues and started planning. (Oh brother..)