It all started back in the fall of 2019, when Mattie had begun hanging out with this wonderful group of friends in Talent, Oregon. Mattie had heard about their one friend named "Colton" many times, but due to his conflicting work schedule, wasn't able to meet him until one random night when she got invited to a mini bonfire in his backyard. It should be known that Colton had no idea this bonfire was happening, so when he got home from work, he was a little surprised to see this new girl outside with everyone. Mattie still remembers the first time he walked through the door in his green jacket and immediately knew that he must've been Colton. And even though it was their first time officially meeting, there was already a familiarity between them as if they had met before. Shortly after that, Mattie and Colton slowly started to get to know each other more within various group settings and started becoming closer friends. They bonded over their love for Star Wars, horses, family, 80's music, faith, and so much more. They weirdly seemed to have a lot of things in common. Colton was immediately head over heels for Mattie but wasn't quite met with the same energy at first. So after time he got a little "A LOT" of help from his friends in his pursuit to woo Mattie. Together him and his friends orchestrated many group activities and events that were sure to keep Mattie around and Colton placed in the right place at the right time. After Colton and Mattie became very close friends he finally convinced her to go out to dinner with just the two of them. At the time some people (Mattie) didn't necessarily believe this was a date. But in Colton's mind this was his one chance to just maybe stand out as more than just a friend. After a gourmet meal at a Michelin star restaurant (Cracker Barrel) the duo spent the entire evening driving around the Rogue Valley, viewing Christmas lights, and listening to Colton's themed playlist. This even went into the early hours of the morning and she still wasn't certain this was a date (he couldn't believe it either). But Colton knew he had made one step for himself and one giant leap for his love life that night. Soon after, Mattie started to realize she had feelings for Colton as well but was scared to admit anything for fear of ruining their friendship. If you didn't know, Mattie can be very indecisive so she knew she had to be 100% certain before sharing anything with Colton, since she had caught on that he might've had feelings for her. After chatting and getting closer for what felt like forever (only a few weeks) Colton finally confessed his feelings and Mattie did too. They started their relationship built on a true friendship right that moment, and quickly realized they were each other's person. As time went on, their relationship and love grew stronger and the rest is history!

After almost two years of dating, Colton knew it was time to pop the question. Him and Mattie had discussed many times before about getting married one day, but the time had finally come to make it official. And Colton had the perfect plan on how to do it... Mattie had been asking for quite some time to have a professional couples photoshoot, so Colton told her it would be their two year anniversary gift. This worked at keeping her in the dark of his master plan, but also allowed her to get glammed up how he knew she would want to be whenever he proposed. When the day finally came, Mattie had convinced her suspicious mind that a proposal wasn't going to happen so she wouldn't freak out while getting ready. However, she did think to herself that if he did propose that day, it would be kind of perfect (good job, Colton). The photoshoot consisted of two locations: one more casual at a coffee shop, and one more formal at Emigrant Lake where both Colton and Mattie had spent significant time at. Their wonderful friends, Jill and Brett, took their photos and they all had a blast posing around different areas of the two locations. The whole time Colton was surprisingly cool as a cucumber, which helped convince Mattie that maybe it really was just a photoshoot. On their way to the second location, Colton and Mattie split up into separate cars so Jill and Mattie could have some "catch up girl time" but really it was so Brett could secretly mic up Colton for the proposal video that was about to be filmed. Once they all got to the lake, Colton led Mattie up this path (for what felt like a mile) to get to the perfect sunset spot. They took a few photos in which, again, Colton was as cool as a cucumber. But once they got into one specific pose where Mattie was in front of Colton, she could feel him start to get nervous behind her. Mattie was told to turn around for a new pose, but when she did, she instead saw Colton down on one knee with a ring in his hand. Immediately, a shocked Mattie burst into happy tears and grabbed onto Colton's outstretched hand. It was in that moment that Colton asked Mattie to marry him, to which she happily replied, "YES!". After that, the newly engaged couple met up with some of their best friends to celebrate together and process what had just happened. Their dreams were finally coming true! Mattie and Colton couldn't be more excited for this next chapter and to walk hand-in-hand through the rest of their lives together!

We are so excited to share our big day with all of our favorite people in one place 🤍 Thank you for being a part of our lives and helping make our day even more special. We love you all so much and can't wait to boogie down with everyone in Paso! Love, Colton & Mattie