Park and I technically met at a scholarship program in high school called Governor's Scholars (GSP). He remembers me, I apparently was a little more distracted. So this story is really more of a how we met...again. The summer before our sophomore year at Kentucky, a friend of mine texted me, saying, "do you remember Parker Ryle from GSP?" I said, "no, not really," to which my friend replied, "okay cool, he's hot, I have dibs." Little did we know, that text message would change everything. Don't worry, that friend is Becca, one of the bridesmaids. It's safe to say things worked out okay. A few months later at a football tailgate, I realized who Parker was, and with Becca's blessing, made the first move. We ended up at a Cane's that night with a bunch of friends, where Parker made fun of me for getting a kids meal. I showed him up by putting one of the free temporary tattoos it came with on my cheek, upside down. That thing wouldn't scrub off for three days. For some reason, he still thought it was cute. After that night, the rest was kind of history. We've been together ever since, through college formals, long distance dating, training a new puppy, and buying our first home. We are so excited to start this next chapter in our love story in Savannah GA, May 15, 2021. We can't wait to celebrate with you!

If you know Parker well, you know that he does things on his own timeline. If you know me well, you know I can be impatient. While this might sound like a recipe for disaster, it actually turned out to be the perfect surprise. For the past 7 years, we have traveled the world with every chance we could get. This past year alone we went to Ireland, Costa Rica, Denver, Napa, Florida, and then some. On every trip I kept thinking he would ask, and on every trip he kept not asking. I can't begin to tell you how many times I had a special outfit picked out, or got my nails done, etc. I've known I wanted to marry Parker since I was 18, but I did have one major rule I cared about for getting engaged - I wanted to be surprised. Knowing this, I think Parker had a little too much fun making sure he followed that rule. A few weeks before the 4th of July we booked a last minute trip to Lake Tahoe, my favorite place in the world. I never thought anything of it, since I booked the trip and made all the plans myself. He didn't even seem like he wanted to go at first. The day we got engaged, we both picked out different hikes we wanted to go on, so naturally we went on the one I wanted to. He was cranky in the car, apparently I had delayed his plans or something. When we finally got to the overlook of the hike, he saw a bench and asked if I wanted to sit down. I was starving, and thought he meant to eat our snacks. I delayed us again. Poor guy was just trying to propose and I'm sitting there reading the ingredients of a health bar. When I stood up to go back on the hike, he spun me around and got down on one knee. I was so surprised I just kept repeating "oh my gosh." I was so excited I forgot there was even a ring in the process. The moment I really lost it was when he pulled a bottle of champagne out of his backpack and a tripod for photos. We had the whole overlook to ourselves, and he gave me the speech I'd been waiting 7 years to hear. Trust me, the wait was worth it.