We met years ago, at my best friend Morgan’s house. I knew who he was through her, but we had never met in person until that night. I was a senior in high school, and I had just started dating a guy from school. Harry and I got close quick. I told everyone I know that the girl that got to marry Harrison Harper one day would be so dang lucky. I just never imagined that girl would be me. He was one of my best guy friends for years. Until he decided to make things weird (I can tell that story another day. Or he can. Yeah, just ask him about that lol). After that, we pretty much only spoke on birthdays. I was in a weird place when Harrison first reached back out - I was hurt and there were a lot of unknowns happening in my world. One thing I knew for certain was that, if anything, Harrison Harper was a dang good friend to me and I would have fun with him. And I did. He spent the majority of that night listening to me talk. He was so, so patient. Then he told me how he felt about me. He told me he had feelings for me and had for quite some time. Then he told me he’d wait on me, however long it took. His exact words were “I’ve been the guy on the sidelines for over 5 years now, and if I can wait that long, I can wait some more.” He didn’t know it then, but I knew in that moment that it’d be me and him forever.

The first time that I saw Madison, I was at the beach with my family. I knew she and my sister knew each other and I remember seeing her across the venue and thinking in my head “oh wow....”! Fast forward a couple of months to the first time that I met Madison... I was at her best friends house (who was also my best friend at the time). She and Madison were getting ready to go to Disney with her family the following week. The same exact thing happened. She walked in the door and in my head I thought “oh wow...” and immediately I was crushing on her. Hard. Unfortunately for me, she had just started dating someone else, so for the time being, I was just trying to be her best friend! Over the next 3 years, we grew really close, until one day I decided to test the waters. I’ll save that story for another day. Safe to say it didn’t work out in my favor, so I was back to square one. Fast forward 2 years, I caught word from our secretary at work (her best friends mom) that Madison was single. I immediately texted my family to see if I should text her after it had been so long, or if I should just give it some time... My brothers response was “shoot your shot,” so I did! The following Saturday I found myself trying to find the perfect outfit to wear, to hopefully get to tell Madison how I have felt for so many years. The time came and I spilled my heart out to her! The response that I got back was not what I expected, it was way better. I knew from that moment on that I had finally found my girl!

Per usual, I woke up that morning in a rush. I ran to the bathroom, showered and got ready, threw my dinner clothes (or so I thought) in a bag, and headed out the door. I worked my booty off that day. The second I finished my last client, McCall (one of my best friends, and our assistant at work) grabbed my change of clothes out of my car and helped me get ready for what I thought was about to be a girls night. Before we went to dinner, McCall asked to pit stop see the land Harry and I had been looking at, so I directed her there, pointed out the lot, then showed her the church parking lot to turn around in. When we turned the corner of the church parking lot, I saw Harrison’s truck. I was so confused. I thought he was on his way to meet friends at the lake. I looked at McCall. She smirked at me and said “He has a surprise for you before dinner.” Truthfully, I don’t even know if she said “before dinner,” but she had sold the girls night so well that I was convinced that we were still going. Harrison got out of his truck, followed by my sister with a camera. I know what you’re thinking. So you knew then? No. I was oblivious. At this point, I didn’t think he had a ring, and I most definitely didn’t think he had talked to my dad. He grabbed my hand and said “Surprise! The land is officially ours. We close on Tuesday. I asked Carson here to take pictures for us to post on closing day.” And I believed them, like a dummy, because I was THAT oblivious. We took off through the land, stopping here and there to take pictures. Then I saw it. A white sheet in the dirt, polaroids of us hanging between two trees, one of which had a denim jacket hanging on it, engraved with my future last name. Harry turned to me and said “Welcome home.” I lost it. He walked me to the jacket, grabbed a ring box from it’s pocket, turned to me and said “it’s always been you,” then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. The easiest and fastest yes of my life. I can’t wait to be a Harper!

Madison and I knew early on that we wanted to be together forever, so the marriage conversations began quickly. She wanted a timeline, but I wanted to surprise her. I was able to get her dream ring without her knowing. I got in touch with her dad, and met him right after work to ask for his blessing. I left straight from there to pick up the ring. It was PERFECT! Then planning began. Shortly after I got her ring, Madison and I starting looking at land that we wanted to purchase to eventually build our first home on. I knew that if I could hold off proposing to her until we owned it, I could pull it off. She kept asking about the land, but I didn't want her to know it was ours until I proposed. I told her we were waiting on the bank, hoping to hold her off a little longer. Finally, proposal day came. The day of, she thought she was going from work to Atlanta for a girls night with McCall. Mccall and I had other plans. When McCall texted "leaving," butterflies filled my stomach. For 15 minutes, I was nervous, but the second I saw Madison, I was good. I was exactly where I wanted to be! When they arrived, I was there with Madison’s sister, Carson. I told her that the land was ours, and that Carson was there to take some pictures for us. She had no clue I had been there all morning with my sister Hillary, my sister-in-law Morganne, and my future sister-in-law Carson, setting up the proposal site. As we walked through the woods, Madison was still clueless. Carson was snapping photos, McCall was videoing, and my sister was hiding in the woods, doing the same. When Madison saw it, she lost it. So did I. I was so excited to finally get to ask her to spend forever with me. I pulled the ring out of the jacket pocket. As I turned to look at her, I was almost speechless. I had been thinking all day about what I would say, and how, but that moment, I lost everything I had prepared. I finally got a few words out, then dropped to my knee and asked her to marry me. SHE SAID YES!