We Are Eloping!

As of February 25, 2021 (4 months before our wedding), the island of O'ahu has finally moved into tier 3. What does this mean? This means they are allowing social gatherings (the category that weddings fall under) in groups of 10 people!! Between us, our parents and siblings, that already puts us at 9 guests and this doesn't even include an officiant, photographer, videographer, coordinator, and all of our other important wedding vendors. Due to the circumstances, we have decided to cancel our dream O'ahu wedding; however, we will be eloping at our original venue on June 25, 2021 (as we are locked into some of our contracts). Kolby and I can't imagine not celebrating our wedding with our friends and family, and we are hoping that after our honeymoon, upon our return to Florida, we can host and plan a small reception for close friends and family to celebrate us coming together as one (we still want to keep it small in our best effort to reduce the chance of the spread of COVID-19). Thank you all for your support along our journey!

We went to preschool together at Tim's Memorial in Lutz, Florida. We separated for elementary school, but saw each other at a pool party in 5th grade. I wrote about him in my notebook, which we have now ripped out to keep in our keepsakes. I had no clue that he was the "Kolby" from pre-school and enjoyed sharing googly eyes at the party, until my mom picked me up and said, "did you see Kolby here?" and I said that I did not. So she introduced me to my crush! I was mortified. Time passed and we ended up at the same middle school. My boyfriend at the time was on his baseball team and his girlfriend at the time played on my softball team. This meant we had a lot of double dates and spent a lot of time together. Kolby's first kiss was actually at my house, but not with me! Eventually, we were both single and I was scared about ruining my great friendship with Kolby, so I didn't want to date him. But he was just too cute and too nice, so I chose to give it a shot. But Kolby had to wait for my parent's approval to date me which only lasted three months. On December 14 they gave him the "go-ahead" and we have been together, growing in life, laughter and love, ever since.

Kolby and I were on a cruise to Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas and Amber Cove on Carnival Glory. At our first port we were getting ready to get off the ship. Kolby, my mom and his mom all tried to convince me to put on nicer clothes and some makeup. However, if you have been to Grand Turk, you know that the island is less than 7 square miles. All there is to do is go to the bar and swim in the water. My grand plan was to swim in the water, so I wore a brand new white one piece that I had just bought from Billabong with a pair of shorts over it. Nice and easy. No makeup because I was swimming. We got off the ship and stopped in the jewelry store. I started to crack jokes about buying any ring and I would say "yes!" They quickly got me out of the store. We eventually made it over to the water where Kolby and I went snorkeling. Then Kolby got out to go fly his drone, which brings up a whole other story. Kolby had a fake "wedding ring fund" and I knew it would be a long time before the proposal would come (the earliest being summer of 2019 in my opinion). Then he bought a drone and I was like "what is he doing, he is supposed to be saving for a ring?" Anyways, he went to fly the drone; I decided to stay in the water. That's when I saw a barracuda and knew I had to show Kolby. I went running up and tried to get him to come into the water ASAP. That's when he walked toward the beach without his snorkel and mask (silly guy again) while I waited back near our stuff. He got a Carnival photographer's attention without me noticing (nice and sneaky) and then walked back over, grabbed my hands, and started saying all this sweet stuff. Sure enough, he gets on one knee. At first, I was laughing and saying "stop, this is not funny, did you just buy this ring from the jewelry store we went in?" I did not believe he was proposing for a second. But then just like that, he was and I was in total shock. Turns out he had the ring 3 months earlier in PR with us. Who knew?