Justin and I met at Southeastern during our undergraduate studies. I was good friends with his roommate at the time, Dakota Jenkins. I spent a lot of time at their apartment studying and collaborating with Dakota on projects. At the time, Justin couldn't stand me, so he always found a reason to not be there if I was there. Slowly but surely, he started hanging out with us a little more. Fast forward to the spring semester of my junior year... Justin was student teaching so we never really saw each other. He was back in Hammond for a weekend for the Alumni Jazz Band Concert. We were snap chatting and I said something about being hungry. Justin asked if I wanted to go get pizza at Tommy's. We went to Tommy's, talked for hours, and bonded over our mutual love for pizza. At this point, I still didn't realize that we were on a date. I just thought we were friends that were catching up after a while of not seeing each other. He paid for dinner and drove me back to my apartment, and it wasn't until he asked if I wanted to come over to his apartment to watch a movie that I realized we were on a date! So we went back to his apartment and I suggested we watch Nightmare On Elm Street. It wasn't until we had been dating for a couple of months that he finally admitted that he hates horror movies and only watched it with me because he liked me and wanted me to come over.

When I was planning the proposal, I wanted to do something different and fun. With our schedules, we didn't always have time to do fun or adventurous things. My family was planning a trip to Disney World and that's when I decided to propose. I started planning a visit to Cinderella's Castle. When I was looking around for rings, they didn't have anything I thought she would like. I contacted a family friend who works in the jewelry industry. I told her my ideas for a ring design, and she was able to have the ring made. I had no idea what size ring to get, so I took one of Bethany's rings from her jewelry box and had it sized. One day, we were driving around running errands and Bethany saw the ring I had borrowed in my car. She asked me why it was there and I told her that she had left it there one day. She had no idea what I was planning. When the ring was ready, my dad took a trip to Baton Rouge to "get a door" and asked if I would come along. We had lunch with my dad's best friend and picked up the ring. My dad took the ring back to his house so Bethany wouldn't find it.

Last June, we took a vacation to Disney World with Justin's family. We did everything as a huge group of 13. It was a blast! One night, Justin arranged for us to have dinner in Cinderella's Castle. I was so excited to have some time with just the two of us. I was completely oblivious that he was going to propose! We headed back to our room after a day in the parks to get ready for our fancy dinner. Justin was so calm! While I was putting on my makeup, Justin hinted at the engagement. He told me how couples can get engaged in the castle and how they do special little things for you, like bring your dessert on a silver tray, bring you champagne and a glass slipper, and have a photographer there to take pictures. I remember saying something along the lines of "That's so cool!" all the while not realizing that I would be the lucky girl that night. We got to dinner, and everything was so lovely! As we were eating dinner, we were talking about how crazy it was that the fire works were perfectly coordinated with the music. They cleared the table after we were done eating and went to get our dessert. Justin started asking if I remembered our first date at Tommy's and how far we had come since then. I turned to look at the fireworks out the window, and when I turned around, dessert was being served. The server lifted the lid off of the silver tray and revealed a glass slipper. I looked up in shock and the next thing I knew, Justin was down on one knee! I was bawling like a baby and said yes with no hesitation!