WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!

Although both of us had mutual friends and attended and graduated from the University of Mississippi at the same time, we did not meet until after graduation. In January 2011, both of us were invited to a mutual friend's engagement party in Oxford, Mississippi. This is when we met. We quickly bonded over sports and everything Ole Miss. Because we shared a similar sense of humor, we got along really well. During this time, Collier attended the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, and Leah worked as a paralegel in Jackson, Mississippi. We kept in close contact over the years. Collier later pursued a second master's from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and Leah moved back to Oxford, Mississippi to pursue a degree in teaching English from Ole Miss. We remained friends during this time and attended several Ole Miss football games together. In November 2016, about a year after moving to Orlando, Collier invited Leah to Disney World. Less than a month after her first visit to Disney, Leah was on another flight to Orlando. During Collier's Christmas vacation, he drove to Oxford, Mississippi, to visit her. Our travel patterns continued and Disney World was no longer the reason Leah visited Collier. By March 2017, we said "I love you" on a regular basis. After 50 airplane rides, we got engaged on August 31, 2017. The story of us continues to grow each day. We are so happy together! We cannot wait to celebrate our wedding day with our family and friends on March 17, 2018, in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

On August 31, 2017, Collier proposed. At 3 pm, he picked Leah up from the airport and drove to Disney Springs. The day looked beautiful, and Collier planned to take Leah on a hot air balloon ride for the perfect proposal. However, the weather had other plans. Lightning struck within 5 miles of the area, and the hot air balloon, which Leah had never been on...and still has not, did not lift off the ground. We waited for the balloon for nearly 6 hours until it started pouring down rain, and we left Disney Springs. Collier's hot air balloon plans were washed away, and determined to propose that night, he quickly drove home. At midnight outside his apartment, while the rain whipped against our faces and the lighting lit the sky, he dropped to one knee with ring in hand and asked Leah, "Will you marry me?" It was not the moment Collier had imagined, but it was the perfect one for Leah. She said "Are you kidding me?! Yes! Of course!"