Brady and I have known for quite some time that we wanted to get married. We’ve known in our own hearts and have also talked to each other about it. One night it hit us...why wait? We know we want to be together and we have the means to do this thing... so why waste away a whole year only dreaming about it. Fast forward a little bit and the weekend finally came where Brady told me, “Do NOT plan anything, I'm coming home from Knoxville and I want to spend the day with you.” Now there has got to be good reason for this man to drive all the way home for only one day back... The day came and we planned out a glorious day together - a picnic at Arrington Vineyards. We picked out two wine flights and made our way to the hill where we set up the perfect picnic spread I’ve ever seen. After some time Brady insisted we put the leftovers back in the car and take a walk down the aisles of the vineyards. After a few picked grapes, we stopped and he said he had a letter for me. Since July he had been writing me letters every week because he is away at school. This final letter he read to me tied the 13 previous ones all together. That was the longest 5 minutes of my life. I knew there could only be one ending to this letter and I couldn’t wait... he proceeded to get down on one knee and that’s when the water works happened. I couldn’t be more excited to start this journey of life with anyone else.

A few weeks after Regan and I started dating she handed me a letter. I could tell what she wrote was well thought out and every word was carefully selected. Throughout our relationship I continued to receive these letters that were full of reminders of how much Regan loved me and why she loved me. I quickly learned that this was one of Regan's preferred methods of communication and also one of her "love languages". As soon as I knew I was going to marry Regan I began to think about how I could propose, because lets be real, the expectations are high now a days fellas. I immediately thought about things that would make the proposal special to us. I ruled out all of the typical proposals, knowing that was not my future wife's style, and eventually ended up planning everything around letters. Anyone who knows me, knows I am a planner and that I like to look ahead. Well the letters worked out perfectly. I was going to be away attending a graduate program at the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!) and it would be our first time being long distance. I used the letters as a way of reminding Regan of all of our favorite memories together and how much we had to look forward to even though being three hours apart for a year wasn't ideal. The first letter of the title in each "chapter" I wrote to Regan ended up spelling "Will you marry me?". Leading up to the weekend I proposed, Regan had read about 13 of my favorite memories that we share, and the 14th letter "E is for Engagement" was about a memory that was going to be made. I did my due diligence and studied ahead so I could go home October 12th and propose. We had the best picnic and the most beautiful weather. While we were taking a walk around the Vineyards where we had decided to spend the day, I read Regan the last of the 14 letters. After summarizing all of our best memories I got down on one knee, pulled the ring out of my boot (where I was attempting to hide it), and proposed to the love of my life.