It was night two of college for Katy. She was invited to a Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity party at the White House and was extremely excited. It was there that she met some of her closest friends and first laid eyes on Justin “Hollywood” Hamilton. For Katy, it was crush at first sight. For Justin, it was a freshman with eyes that “aren’t fair” but was too young and innocent for a New Orleans college boy to date. The two became friends and to this day, one of Katy’s best college memories is the night Justin snuck Katy into the lobby bar of the Renaissance Waterford Hotel, to take her dancing. Katy, never stopped crushing on Hollywood and had even told friends “One day I’ll marry that man.”

A lot of life passed before these two saw each other again. Justin created a life in New Orleans/Atlanta and Katy in New York. They stayed in touch through Instagram over the years and Katy even got a call from her now bridesmaid, Kaila letting her know “Hollywood is single again!” It wasn’t until Katy’s birthday in 2018 that these two would truly reconnect. Justin likes to tell people he accidentally messaged Katy a video on her birthday, but we all know better. Katy had just posted new headshots and was looking GOOD. Anyways, Katy had no chill upon receiving this message and the two quickly began catching up. This catch-up session led to 2–3-hour phone calls every night until Katy told Justin he “needed to come visit NYC”. In January 2019, Justin flew from ATL to NYC and the sparks flew. Over the next year and a half, the two traveled back and forth between Atlanta and New York to visit each other and their love grew.

Justin had been trying to get back to NOLA to be with his children for a couple of years, a goal Katy supported and began assisting with. Justin made the move back to NOLA in January 2020 and Katy began looking for jobs as a choreographer in New Orleans so she could spend time with Justin, Georgia, and Whit. Katy was hired to choreograph The Drowsy Chaperone at Rivertown in March 2020 and flew to New Orleans the first week of March. The next week the world shut down. Justin and Katy quickly went from a long-distance relationship, to living together with two children. 2020 was a huge test for the couple and they came out of that year stronger and confident that they were Better Together.

Justin took his sweet time to propose, according to Katy. Knowing the clock was ticking, Justin enlisted the help of the most handsome man alive, Josh Matheus, and his bombshell wife, Coral Matheus (Katy’s sister), and the three began plotting. Enter: MJ The Musical. For those who don’t know, Michael Jackson is one of the reasons Katy became a dancer. The show was all she had been talking about for months and provided the perfect cover story for Justin joining Katy on a trip to NYC. Tickets were acquired and the show added to Katy and Justin’s calendar. Justin, with the help of his man-crush, Josh arranged for both Katy and Justin’s family to surprise her in front of the Neil Simon theater for the proposal! Justin was also able to coordinate with dear friends, Rachel Montelone and Tyler Milliron, to capture the moment. Second (but kind of first), Justin needed to get Mr. and Mrs. Barbara Zelon’s blessing for Katy’s hand in marriage. Working on limited time, Justin (and the couple’s pups) took a day trip to Houston, where Justin and the Zelon’s enjoyed a sunset dinner on the Houston Bay, where he received their support and blessing. Fun fact: It’s a miracle this secret rendezvous was not blown! During the excitement of the evening, an Instagram post was made (not saying by who…. It was Barb) but quickly deleted, when bombshell-Coral notified the posting party that it would spoil the whole surprise! With all plans in place, Justin took unsuspecting Katy for dinner before and began sharing his GPS location with Josh. Like a choreographed dance, Justin and Katy arrived in front of the Neil Simon and Justin got on one knee! Katy, shocked, said yes!!! On-looking from an alley across the street, both families waited for their cue! At Rachel’s suggestion, Katy facetimed her mother, Barbara, to share the news! Barbara, playing it cool, exclaimed her excitement for the news….and then…. the entire family rushed across the street, surprising Katy AGAIN! Continuing the surprise, everyone joined Katy and Justin for MJ the musical! After picking their jaws off the ground, there was one more surprise left… Josh made after show reservations for drinks and snacks, where Katy and Justin’s dearest NYC friends were waiting to join in the celebration!