Our Love Story Pt. 2

Ok, the wait is over….time for Our Love Story Pt. 2.

If you need to catch up you can read Our Love Story Pt. 1

“Open” Will said. And when I opened my eyes, I saw shiny brand new camera. Yes, camera. I was a little taken a back. Here I was expecting a ring, but instead I was gifted with a nice expensive camera. I tried not to hide my disappointment and went on with the rest of our flight.

We arrived at my Aunt’s house with all my family and and enjoyed sight seeing and hanging out together.

I gave up all hope that a proposal was coming my way. Text my best friends back home that it wasn’t happening and enjoyed my time with my family. The pressure was off.

On July 5, we spent the day at the Grand Canyon. After an afternoon of fun and hiking we all went back to my Aunt’s house. Will decided we should take a drive through the mountains in her convertible and get some shots with my new camera. I was hot, tired and in no mood, but I agreed to a quick spin.

And a quick spin it was not. We decided to take a drive down by the lake and when we arrived there were a bunch of beer bellied fisherman camped out. No exactly the scenic pictures we were wanting. We decided to drive to another spot and upon getting out of the car wild BOARS went scattering. We were 0 for 2, and while I was ready to get back to the house, Will insisted we try one more spot. We drove to a clearing in between mountains and got out of the car. No beer bellied fisherman, no wild boars…..just us two. We went up a hill to “get a better view” and while I was snapping a few pictures I noticed Will’s heavy breathing. I quickly made a snarky comment about him being out of shape and that’s when he turned to me, grabbed my hand and got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. I couldn’t believe it.

After only 7 months of dating, we got engaged. Truth be told 4 of those months were just a formality, I had been ready to marry him since that night at the movies.

Once we got back home, wedding plans got under way. A wedding in Galveston on July 5, one year after the day he proposed. We booked the venue and were well on our way to planning our dream wedding.

Then Hurricane Ike happened. Will, Madisyn and I had evacuated to Arkansas to stay with my sweet friend Christy and her family. It was while we were there that we learned that our wedding plans were going to come to a halt. While our location had not suffered major damage several of the vendors we planned to use had, and all of a sudden prices were doubled and tripled.

Will and I were sitting on the couch of my apartment one evening and we joked that we should just run off and get married. We said if we could we would be married in the snow on the mountains. And then it occurred to us….we could. I called my parents and they were 100% on board with the idea. We called Will’s parents and told them the news and they were good with our plan. Because we had no family in Texas, they were all traveling anyways, so why not travel to Lake Tahoe.

That’s right….Lake Tahoe. That is where Will I chose to have our destination wedding. Everything about it was US. It was a no frills, no fuss wedding. No chairs for the guests, no fancy reception, no elaborate cake. Just us pledging our love and commitment to one another on the side of a mountain with our friends and family watching.

And here we are, almost 6 years later and I love Will more than I did that day on the side of the mountain in Lake Tahoe. Our marriage isn’t perfect, far from it in fact. But that is ok. It’s us and we wouldn’t have it any other way.