Welcome to our wedding website, we are excited to share this journey with you! Please visit us here to view our wedding details. You will find our love story, travel information, important dates/times, gift registry, and more. The site will be updated as we prepare for our grand event! Thank you for all of your love and support thus far! We are so ready to celebrate with our awesome family and friends!

Long story short, we met via the internet. After many random conversations about our day, our plans for the future, and our experiences in this vast ocean of fish. We decided to take our journey to land...... Story Time: THE FIRST DATE Derrick's favorite place to eat was a local restaurant called Mexico Lindo, so he suggested it, only to find out that it was Natalie's favorite as well. When they arrived at the restaurant, the conversation flowed like the pitcher of Strawberry and Peach Margarita we ordered. When it was time to order, Natalie ordered the chicken quesadillas and Derrick asked her was she sure? (Years later only to find out she wasn't sure about his finances so she was being considerate.) He ordered the Chuleta (Pork Chop). At this point, it's safe to say both were questioning each other's decision making skills. She ordered a dish on the menu at Taco Bell, and he was ordering something that wasn't even remotely Mexican. While they waited for the food, the conversation and laughs continued. When the food arrived, the waiter placed the huge juicy pork chop in front of Derrick, and he looked at Natalie and said, "I asked you were you sure..." He gave her a piece, and he knew she loved it just as much as he did. Their relationship has been a series or great food, hearty laughs, endless memes, and many life lessons (mostly learned by Derrick). Swipe forward a year the friendship blossomed into something that had to be explored. On December 31, 2016, Derrick asked Natalie to accompany him to a New Years party, not as a friend, but as his girlfriend. And they have been learning, laughing, and loving each other ever since.

The original plan was to propose on our dating anniversary, but it wasn't in the cards. I wanted something both memorable and have a lot of meaning to the both of us. My first thought was my grandmother. I gave myself a goal and immediately went to work. Between the not so subtle hints and a little added pressure from her friends, I started looking for the right ring. I found "a friend in the diamond business" and went to Shane Co. Now it was time to plan, when dating a professional investigator it's hard. The solution, get them to help plan a surprise for someone else. I asked my sister to come to Atlanta to celebrate our late grandmother's birthday. I had Natalie help me scout locations for dinner and I told her that we would wear something nice, because that's how granny would have liked it. We were originally thinking of going to Grand Luxe, but after thinking about it, that place didn't have much meaning behind it. So I changed the location to Mexico Lindo (The location of our first date) and told her my sister said that's what she wanted. I asked her to pick up a birthday cake so that we could have dessert. I also picked up cupcakes and dropped them off earlier that day along with balloons to really sell the story. I had the ring, the restaurant was ready, photographer present, the guest had arrived and we were on the way. In my head, everything was going to plan, and then the phone rang. We were at the light before the restaurant and it was my cousin. Over the speaker phone, he went on a rant about his mom accusing him of keeping my proposal to Natalie secret. I played it off & hung up on him. Natalie's sister was texting me telling me to propose before we eat, her bestie is rocking back and forth, and as soon as Natalie got up to go to the restroom, everyone turned to me and said WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? I told them it was coming. When Natalie came back out, 2 of my friends arrived and I told the waitress we're ready for dessert. I asked, and she said Yes!

We didn't decide on Grand Luxe, but I still committed to wearing sequins. After the phone call, I thought surely he's not about to propose. After dropping the cake in the jeep, we walked into the restaurant and we didn't wait to be seated. Derrick walked past the hostess, right to the back of the restaurant that's normally closed off. I was greeted by my bestie, her sister, my brother in-law and sister. It seemed odd but I figured Derrick invited them for the birthday dinner. Everyone was very awkward during dinner and no one would make eye contact with me. I went to the restroom and when I returned to the table, Derrick told the waitress, "We're ready for dessert". Instead of the cake I bought, she presented a different box and sat it in front of me. I hesitated because it was not my birthday but Derrick insisted that I open it. Inside, the cupcakes read "Natalie Will you Marry Me?" with a ring that had a purple stone in the last cupcake. I had a million thoughts running through my head and it felt like time was standing still. It wasn't the ring from my vision board, home lock screen on my phone, or resembled any of the clues that I had sent him. But it was the thought that counted...I guess. He pulled the ring from the cupcake, cleaned it with a napkin, and held in my face to ensure that I got a good look at it. With a smile on his face, he threw the ring into the cake box, reached into his pocket, pulled out a ring box, and went to his knee. He asked me to stand and gave a very short speech, that I could barely hear over the loud music in the background. I cried ugly tears and I said Yes!