The Happily Ever After Party

At the beginning of our relationship, Michael and I had always envisioned a wedding of some sort. Whether that be on a beach, in the mountains, or the Texas Hill country. It wasn't until we had planned our whole wedding out that we realized we didn't need something big and fancy to express our love for one another. We've been together for 12 years now and a wedding just seemed kind of over the top for us as a couple. We want to share this intimate and important time in our lives with close family and friends who mean the absolute most to us. We wouldn't be where we are today without the love and support of you all throughout the years. So, thank you! We love and look forward to seeing you all at our Happily Ever After Party as Mr. and Mrs. Rascoe. Love, C + M

Michael and Chelsea met through mutual friends in high school back in 2009. You could say it was love at first sight for Chelsea, however, for Michael it took a little more convincing. Days and weeks passed and eventually they found themselves at the same party at the same time. As people were leaving and the party was dwindling down, Michael and Chelsea found themselves at the right place at the right time. They stayed up until early morning talking about life, their dreams and ambitions, and most importantly, where they saw themselves in the future. Since that night, everything else is history and they became inseparable. Michael and Chelsea went on to graduate high school and move to College Station to complete their degrees at Texas A&M University (whoop whoop!). Now a decade later, Michael popped the question and they are ready to take on this new journey, together.

It was a normal day (so I thought) as we were heading to Austin to celebrate Olivia's birthday. As we are standing in Target picking out a card, Michael gets a phone call from my "dad". When he hangs up, he tells me that my dad wanted us to pick up some paint he needed for his trains. Michael pulls up a picture on his phone that he said my dad sent him to show me what he wanted (I find out later on that Michael just googled a random image). We are driving around downtown and by this time, Michael has stopped to use the restroom FIVE TIMES IN ONE HOUR. I know Michael has a bladder of a small child, but this was a whole other level. As we are getting closer to the airport, he starts talking about the paint that my dad needs again. I told him that that makes absolutely no sense, but he blows off my answer to try and convince me. We walk into the airport and Michael decides to tell me that we are not actually here for paint and that we are actually taking a helicopter ride to Austin. As soon as he told me that, my stomach dropped. I think we went back and forth from me saying "No we're not" and him replying "Yes we are" at least five times. The thought of a proposal crossed my mind, however, I've been wrong so many times before. We take a tour over downtown San Antonio just as the sun was setting. As we are flying over Canyon Lake, I hear him say my full name and look over to find him holding a ring box. My head immediately fell into my hands and tears started running down my face. I had been waiting for this moment for so long and it was finally happening. In that moment, I knew that I was about to make one of the most important and best decision of my life. Towards the end of our tour, we start to fly over Salt Lick BBQ and Michael points out the people who were standing there waving at us. In that moment, I didn't realize who they were until we got closer to the ground. As it turns out, it was our family who was there to congratulate us on our proposal.

During the 12 years of being with Chelsea I always knew that it was going to be her, but I could never think of a way that I felt would be special enough to ask the big question. We've been fortunate enough to share some amazing trips and adrenaline filled experiences together, so I knew I had to somehow beat that. We also both have amazing families that are always there to support us and play a major role in both of our lives, so they absolutely had to be included. After weeks of speaking with our families and planning, the day came to see if I could pull it off without Chelsea knowing what was happening. We arrived at the airport and I could see Chelsea's heart just stop when she saw what I got her into. Not because she was going to be proposed to, but because she was about to board a tiny helicopter and knew that there was no way I would let her back out of it. We take off and for a good part of the flight I had honestly forgot why we were on this helicopter because we were having such a great time. There were no nerves at anytime during the planning or the first half of the flight, until I saw Canyon Lake. My plan was to ask Chelsea when we were flying over the lake with the sunset, because that's romantic, right? When we were approaching the lake I had to start fishing that ring out of my pocket without catching her attention and when I grabbed that thing that's when the nerves hit. My palms were sweaty, knees weak, and arms heavy... I was ready. Chelsea turned my direction and when I saw the look on her face all of those nerves just disappeared again, everything just felt right. We began to circle around to the restaurant and we could see the group of people at the landing pad but Chelsea still couldn't see who it was. Once we were a little closer, she could see that it was our family and friends that were there to celebrate with us and make our night even better. I can't thank them enough for how great they made our night.