Ben and I both grew up in Carrollton, so we technically knew each other for years, but we didn’t really become friends until summer 2016 when we were both mandated to take driver’s ed, lol. That fall, we had CAD together and spent most of class talking (sorry Coach Sanders!). Around the same time, we co-captained our church flag football team. We made it to the championship and lost thanks to Ben….he “overheated.” Anyway, we both loved spending time together, and somewhere between CAD class and flag football we went from friends to dating! I went to Ole Miss and we tried the whole “break” thing, which clearly didn’t last. Ben finally transferred from West Georgia to Ole Miss, and we’ve been together ever since! Oxford quickly became our favorite place, so it made sense to get married there. I moved to Atlanta after graduating and Ben joined me in 2023 after two years of long distance!

Ben planned to propose on our usual after work walk with the dogs, but a thunderstorm rolled in right at 5! Of course, I was hesitant to go because of the storm, but the dogs were suddenly so riled up (turns out Ben was shaking their leashes when I wasn’t looking). He then pointed to a small break in the clouds and convinced me it was clearing up. Ben had written directions to a nearby park on a crumpled napkin so I wouldn’t see him checking Maps on his phone…except the directions were wrong! Our short stroll turned into a long, sweaty trek before we stumbled across the park. We looped around the pond, and near the end he proposed! I was completely caught off guard…I had my bags packed thinking we were heading to Carrollton that night for Carlie & Skyler Gibb’s party! He later told me he planned to propose on one of the three pretty bridges we crossed, but I was mid-sentence on each one and he didn’t want to interrupt. That night, the two of us celebrated with a nice dinner at La Grotta. We went to brunch with my family the next day, but I was surprised his family didn’t come too! After brunch, my dad suggested grabbing a beer, so we went to New Realm Brewery, where we walked into all of our family and friends. I then realized why the Carters “couldn’t make brunch” as they were busy setting up the surprise party. It was the most perfect weekend, and we can’t wait to celebrate even more with everyone in our favorite place on December 12!