The countdown is on!

Hey friend. So this is the part of the website where I get to tell you how/where/when/why Seleste and Kelden met. And how a Rubik's cube-solving, cereal-eating, glasses-wearing nerd got a beautiful, smart, godly woman to say yes to marrying him. It all began when they decided to come to the University of Texas at Dallas to study engineering and partake in athletics. She was a volleyball player and he was a basketball player. Through their time at UTD, they became involved with a college ministry called Campus Outreach (CO). Through CO, both of them grew immensely in their knowledge of God, love for people, and desire to lead others to see Jesus for who He is. In doing so, this led to both of them being presented with the opportunity to lead at a fall retreat for student-athletes that CO put together. Now, not to burst anyone's bubble, but if this is where you were expecting a love-at-first-sight, awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping first interaction, this isn't quite that story (but stay tuned, Kelden just doesn't have a history of knocking it out of the park with beautiful women hehe). Anyway, this interaction, which mainly consisted of getting one another's name as we were leaving the retreat, turned out to be HUGE. This led to the only snapchat befriending I've heard of that would indefinitely alter the course of two individuals' lives. It began with a simple story post by Kelden (which was super commonplace if you know him). Seleste, with no strings attached as she'd claim, commented on his story. And well...neither one of them was capable of not messaging the other back. This led to Kelden asking Seleste on a first date a month later, and the rest is history. Every detail leading up to that date was crucial and without it I'm not sure they would be where they are at. God really works in intricate and awesome ways. Kelden finally grew the courage to ask her to marry him after dating for 2+ years and she said YES! They are super excited for whatever God has next.

Hello again friend. This is the part where I tell you about the engagement of Seleste and Kelden. Prepare yourselves. While Kelden intentionally pursued Seleste, with the hope and vision of their relationship leading to marriage, a serious conversation about a proposal didn't take place until the winter of 2020. That said, Kelden began planning on a weekend with his sister and mom when Seleste was out of town. He had a strong feeling that he wanted it to happen at the Dallas Arboretum, but not much past that. With the help of a cast of others (mom, sister, step-mom, and everyone else that kept the secret!), a plan was forged. As I mentioned, Kelden was finishing his undergraduate degree which provided the perfect guise for a proposal. The plan was set: all of his family would come out to the Arboretum to take graduation pictures, that would eventually conclude with his proposing to Seleste and a surprise after party at the restaurant across the street. He filled in Seleste's parents and had them come and hide in the garden to surprise Seleste as well! Oh yeah, and did I mention, she had no clue that Kelden had the ring yet, so she didn't think twice about all of this! They showed up to the garden, went around taking pictures for a solid hour or so before Kelden escaped from the group to "finish up" with some individual shots. Only his evening was just beginning! Their best-videographer friend was stationed in the garden with the ring and the stage was set. Seleste finally came out and was in tears before she even got to him. Kelden poured his heart out to her in the lost-art form of letter writing and got the result he so greatly desired! She continued in her surprise to be celebrated by friends and family in an evening they won't forget!