We met on St. Patrick’s Day 2024 at a party neither of us was supposed to be at—a little Irish luck, maybe? He says it was her joyful laugh and the way she walked into the bar that caught his eye. She? She didn’t catch on until about an hour in... when she realized they were the only two still talking in a big group. She started to test him (classic, Meghan), and he doubled down and bought her a drink (a confident king, Carter). The rest of the night felt like the start of something, and it turns out... it was.

In classic Carter fashion, he told Meghan to take off July 3rd and be ready to leave the house by 8am in a cute outfit—he claimed he’d gotten them into a fancy country club for brunch. But instead of brunch, there were... stalls. Lots of them, to avoid the rain. A detour by his men’s group spot, a suspiciously long gas station stop, and a mysterious “suggestion from the hotel” to check out Pace Bend Park. So when they pulled off at an overlook, Meghan—purse in hand—thought they were just doing a quick sightseeing pit stop. (The purse should tell you how not suspicious she was.) But then he hugged her, told her he loved her, and dropped to one knee on a rocky cliff overlooking the water. Meghan squealed, said yes(!), and then heard a clicking sound behind her. She turned to see her friend Caryn behind the camera, capturing the whole thing. With the moody rain clouds and humidity + our joy, Caryn kept saying it felt like a scene from The Notebook, with Meghan & Carter both immediately saying, "If you're a bird, I'm a bird." (iykyk) The day didn’t end there: Carter had planned a full celebration, complete with a poolside afternoon, massages, and dinner at Steiner Ranch. But—true to form—he wasn’t done yet. The next day, they headed to Christianne’s family ranch for what Meghan believed was their usual Fourth of July tradition. Carter had even enlisted Christianne to start a fake group text with the “usual suspects” to keep the surprise under wraps. Meghan was so convinced it was just a typical holiday weekend that she packed six sticks of butter and a dozen eggs to make Ina Garten’s flag cake. When they pulled into the ranch, she was met with a beautiful balloon arch—and 15 of their closest friends jumping out to surprise her, including her sister and Maid of Honor, Caren, and her best friend and bridesmaid, Sarah Neral. The weekend was filled with celebration, laughter, and joy—exactly how Carter had imagined it when he began planning it seven weeks earlier. It was the perfect weekend to celebrate their WE.