We met at a bar, unusually enough. Neither one of us go to bars or go out and drink, but a mutual friend had invited us both out (that mutual friend funny enough was interested in Taylor). Neither one of us truly wanted to go but we both had an "oh, what the heck" kind of mindset and decided to tag along. Strangely enough we could only sneak conversation in briefly here and there but enough to fall for one another and exchange social media accounts in hopes of going out again, this time without the crowd so we could talk and dive a little deeper into who we were and what makes us up. The next day is where our love story would truly begin when Taylor slid into the Instagram DM.

Taylor: "I bought the ring in August of 2018, not intending to propose right away but I knew how fast life had moved for us and all the struggles we had faced and overcome meant we could conquer anything God put in front of us. I told different people at different times I had the ring to see if anyone at all thought I was insane; to my surprise, no one had anything negative to say nor was I found to be crazy. The best thing I heard was from my cousin Lynn who told me "When you know, you know and there is no rule book to follow on how long it takes and you two are clearly in love." With the acceptance and excitement from everyone I decided I wanted my closest family there and I knew that meant a lot of people (we run deep). Which meant it could be difficult having everyone in one place without Katie knowing something was up so I played it off as a huge New Years Eve party. We always have one just never to the extent which this night was going to be. That's all I planned... My mom and I were Christmas shopping for the girls in our family on lunch one day (in December!) and she asked what I wanted to do. My immediate response was "Well I want to have fireworks after." My mom’s response was "Great plan, we will figure something out." So as we shopped we came across these neat charm bracelets that she wanted to get all the girls for Christmas. Almost immediately a charm stuck out that said 'Bride.' My mom looked at me and said she knew what we were going to do. She had a bottle of Forever wine that her fiance, Terry, had given her at one point and the small excerpt on the side was perfect to present to Katie with this charm (and note to let her know she was loved by many not just me) at midnight and I was going to be behind her, on one knee waiting for her to turn around with the family surrounding. And then.. fireworks!"

Katherine: I knew she had the ring. I found the box a couple months before and asked her what it was. Once she told me what it was I refused to look and told her “I don't care what you do with it or where you put it, I do not want to see it before that moment.” She smiled and over the next few months we had the opportunity to discuss marriage, discuss children and discuss our roles in the relationship. That night was odd. From the moment we arrived at Jodi’s I felt almost ignored. I had literally just spent Christmas with all of these people and no one would carry a conversation or talk to me too long. I felt a little down and couldn’t wrap my head around it. I took a minute to myself in the car and about 10 minutes later Taylor came and grabbed me, telling me how much she loved me. She pleaded to please come and just hang out with everyone. We were about in the center of everyone and Jodi walked out a few minutes later playing off “oh I forgot to give you this for Christmas. I knew it was wine but I pulled out the “Forever Wine” with a note from Jodi that said “I love you Katie. Turn around.” I turned around and Taylor was on one knee, looking pale and terrified. She smiled and said “Will you marry me?” I of course said yes, grabbed her from her knee and told her I loved her. Will lit off fireworks and I put my arm around her and she said “Don’t touch my neck, I might throw up.” I cannot wait for the ball of nerves she will be on our wedding day. Taylor explained on the way home she had more to say. She played “I Choose You” by Andy Grammer and had a cute few little sentences. The night turned out perfect. Regardless of the awkwardness, no one wanted to ruin the moment and I love their entire family and I am happy so many people were behind us on this big decision. Taylor’s actual speech: “I’ve made a lot of bad choices in life. You are by far my best. I want to choose you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”