We're Getting Married!!!

Jamie was in her first semester at Belmont University, and one of her class requirements was to attend a classical guitar recital on a cold Wednesday night. Entering the crowded auditorium, she made her way to sit with the first person she recognized- Hunter Mulkey, the bass player in her band at the time. Sitting to Hunter's left was Jesse. As Jamie walked in and took her seat, Jesse was immediately smitten, and was instantly sure that Jamie was the prettiest girl in the room. From Jamie's perspective, Jesse was very handsome and she was impressed by his eye contact, strong handshake, and dazzling smile. Jesse walked Jamie back to her dorm that night and they made friendly, light, conversation. (However, from Jesse's perspective, by the end of the night, he wasn't quite sure that Jamie even liked him!) Nevertheless, unbeknownst to them, that first evening planted the seed in both of their hearts and minds to get to know each other even better when they met again on January 25th in "The Caf".

It was fate from the license plate. With nervous excitement, the couple walked together towards Jesse’s Honda Pilot. Upon seeing his car, Jamie stopped in her tracks. The front plate read “piano man”. As an Elton John fan from the age of 12, Jamie felt as if she was the “blue jean baby L.A. lady” who would someday find her piano man. Coincidence? We think not! It was this moment that she thought to herself, “this is him”. After arriving the restaurant, they spent a wonderful evening together experiencing great food (cashew chicken, Thai curry, and coconut custard for dessert!), sharing many laughs, and getting to know one another. To this day, Jesse and Jamie return to the Smiling Elephant every year to celebrate the special anniversary of their first date.

At this point in time, Jesse had been performing piano at a restaurant called Ellendale's for around six months, and was excited to bring his new-found love to see him perform. However, the day of his show turned out to be Super Bowl Sunday, and forgetting this popular American holiday, Jamie and Jesse found Ellendale's Restaurant to be mostly empty for the dinner hour. So, even though Jesse had been scheduled to play piano that evening, his show was cancelled, completely throwing off what Jesse had initially hoped for the evening. In the end, the evening turned out much better than either of them could have imagined. Since Jesse was all dressed up and ready to perform, Jesse played a few tunes anyways - serenading Jamie with her favorite songs (lots of Elton John). Clearly, since you're reading this right now, it was a success! The whole experience felt like "Lady and the Tramp", and after a romantic dinner (which the restaurant kindly provided free of charge), Jesse asked Jamie to be his girlfriend. This likely goes without saying, but Jamie said yes!

Towards the end of Jesse and Jamie's enchanting Iceland vacation, they stumbled across a particularly magical landscape - a valley encased by mountains that were dressed head to toe in waterfalls! Since it was nearing dark, they decided to come back to the exact spot the following morning for pictures and drone footage. Behind the scenes, Jesse had been trying to pick the a proposal location throughout the trip, and decided that this was the perfect place. The plan was to record the proposal with his drone as he suavely swept Jamie off her feet with popping the question. The next morning, they arrived at the location, and after taking some pictures, Jesse called Jamie over to his side to take in the view one last time. As Jesse clumsily maneuvered the drone camera to face them both, Jesse turned to Jamie and began to quote the chorus from a song he had written for her: "I hope you stick around with me, we got the whole world to see. I got you and you got me, I think that's all we'll ever need. We'll go wherever our dreams take us, won't let the road break us. I love this love we're growing into; this everlasting bloom." Tears from the cold and happiness began to slide down both their cheeks as Jesse went down on one knee in the Icelandic wilderness. There were many yes's and embraces, and better yet, Jesse caught the whole thing on tape! Oh wait... actually....no they didn't. You see, just before that magical moment, Jamie noticed that Jesse was recording them, thought to herself "Oops! Let's save memory card space!", and she stopped the recording. Oh well! I guess this memory was just meant to be kept between the two love birds!