the full story | finally

I finally sat down and finished the story of the perfect proposal from the perfect man... (I'm having to keep myself occupied while my ring is STILL gone away to be sized...it's been over a week and I pretty much positive I'm dying without it... ;)

anyway-here it is...! (beware it's veeeery long...sorry, I just couldn't help myself)

I guess it officially started last Wednesday while I was still in San Diego. Aric called one night and said he had a favor to ask. He told me our friend Jason- of Table4 Photography in Dallas- had called him saying that he had accidentally double-booked Sunday afternoon with two engagement shoots and needed us to fill in for him. I was certainly not planning to go to Dallas the weekend that I got back from my week-long vacation, and I was stressed out about school and trying to get a ton of things done so Aric had to do a little persuading to get me to agree to go.

When I finally got back home, he forced me to work hard on my homework so that I could be worry-free for the weekend and honestly I wasn't too happy about it.

We drove down to Dallas Saturday morning and arrived at my parents new house ready to spend the day with my family and later watch the Tech game.

We got to spend a few hours with my favorite little cousins then we headed to my sister's house to watch the game and enjoy a home-cooked meal!! (we rarely ever get those)

Unfortunately the Tech game wasn't what we had hoped it would be, and Aric was pretty upset-but I recall my mom and sister saying to him that he better not let that ruin his weekend!!

We got back home and he told me he would get me up around 10 or 10:30 because we were going to be meeting the clients in downtown Ft. Worth at 12:30. I said that's fine with me then went to my room, shut the door and went to sleep without the slightest idea of what the next day held.

At about 8:50 Sunday morning, my mom walked into my room with a letter and told me to get up and read it. Still half asleep, and completely confused I was like "What is going on?" "Where's Aric?" She remained silent and turned on a light so that I could read my first letter. It informed me that I didn't have to worry about getting ready for a shoot, because there wasn't one. Today was my day and the only rules were that I enjoy it, laugh, smile, and have the best time. At the end it said to get my stuff together because a car would be picking me up at 9:25 and I couldn't be late.

I immediately jumped out of bed grabbing everything I saw to shove into my suitcase slightly annoyed that I only had 30 minutes to get ready! And freaking out about what was going on. As soon as everything was packed up, I rolled into the kitchen/dining/living room area and sighed. Everyone was acting so cool about everything so I tried to play along, I grabbed a muffin to eat just as the doorbell rang.

"oh gosh" I thought to myself as I headed to open the door- and much to my surprise (although I kind of expected it)- there stood Dillon. (Aric's best friend-who "had taken Aric's truck for the weekend to see his sister in Amarillo"-psh-another lie!! lol) He was sure lookin' spiffy with a blazer and nice button down shirt- I just laughed and gave him a hug when I saw him- then brought him in to introduce him to my parents before we left. He helped me with my luggage and into the truck for our very first pit stop of the day. He had me type in an address to a GPS system and wait until we got there to tell me what it was.

So he took me to Starbucks!-my favorite place ever because I'm addicted to coffee. I was secretly hoping that we would stop there first so I was excited when we did. We got out of the car, walked inside and Dillon whipered something to the guy at the front then he looked at me and said "So you're Casey!- we have a venti white chocolate mocha for you-is that correct?" Um, yes-that was perfect-Aric knows my favorite drink. So they whipped it up just as a lady came out of the back with a folded piece of paper that looked just like my first note. At the top of this letter it said "Clue #1" and he wrote this amazing rhyme that gave me the clue that we were going somewhere to get a manicure/pedicure. I thanked the kind starbuck's people and they wished me luck as Dillon & I went on to stop #2.

Once again he had me type in the address of the next place-but I had no idea where we were going. After a little drive we ended up at this fancy outdoor mall where Dillon kicked me out of the car to go sit on a park bench and wait. After a few minutes-I saw my sister drive up and meet me. We walked across the street and enjoyed a nice relaxing manicure/pedicure at this awesome little spa. It was perfect-to get pampered and hang out with my dear sister.

Once the polish was all set and we were ready to go the lady at the front desk handed me the next clue which led us on to the next stop, my Aunt's house.

(background for my Aunt's house- My three little cousins- Caleb, Ellary, and Abby are my favorite three little munchkins in the whole wide world and any time I see them my life is always just a little sweeter-so this was a perfect stop)

As Lyndsay & I drove up to the house those 3 little cuties were standing outside in the front yard waiting for me- Once we parked and got out some music started playing and they sang and danced for me- It was priceless! After the song, my Aunt brought out a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and Caleb read the next clue to me.

The clue told me to call Dillon to get the phone number of a guy that was described in the clue- and that guy was Neil- Aric's old roommate and another one of his best friends. So I got his phone number, called him, and he was waiting down the road to pick me up to take me to the next stop... :)

The next destination was where my mom works in downtown Ft. Worth- so Neil drove and I got to sit back and relax (as best as I could) until we got there. I wasn't quite sure what was so special about this place-but I was sure Aric had something up his sleeve, so when we drove up and I saw Dean (My best friend Brooke's, fiance) waiting at the front gate I just about freaked out. Of course, if Dean was there- it was obvious that Brooke would be there-but I couldn't see her yet, so Dean helped me out of the car and walked me up to the front porch of the building and there was Brooke-my very best friend in the whole world (besides Aric of course) standing with some "Tiff's Treats" (the best cookies EVER from a little bakery in Ft. Worth) and her Bible.

After the hugs and tears of joy from seeing her there-she proceeded to read some Bible verses that Aric had asked her to read- (and a few of her own) they were perfect- From there Brooke and Dean were in charge of getting me to the next destination...

they had to stall a little-so we ended up taking a lunch break at Taco Bell!! Lol-priceless!

div>**a little background for the last three stops. The weekend Aric & I first met-we took a trip to the Southwest Christian Photojournalism Conference that is held each year in Ft. Worth. Our friend Brittany had invited us both to go with her, along with 2 other girls to the conference and we all stayed at Brittany's uncle's house. Much to our surprise- her uncle's house turned out to be like more of a mansion than just a house! The actual conference was held at Southwestern Seminary- close to downtown Ft. Worth. And one of the days during our lunch break we hopped in the car and drove downtown to the courthouse, got out and went out on a little adventure shoot...**

So I was sitting in the back seat as Brooke and Dean drove downtown when all of the sudden I recognized the area and blurted out "Hey I know this place!! This is like the very first place we ever took pictures together!!..." and proceeded to tell them the story of events that happened the first weekend we met... Dean finally parked and we got out and here comes Jason walking across the street -

(Jason is the guy who took most of the other pictures and who put together the slideshow- Aric & I met Jason in Vegas last year at WPPI--and we've been friends ever since...Jason holds a very special place in our hearts...he was the first friend we made that wasn't previously a friend before Aric & I had met...and he was just awesome to hang out with at WPPI...(plus he takes awesom pictures and he's going to be our wedding photographer!!! yippee!!)

Anyway-so Jason walks up with a picture frame in his hand and hands it to me. Inside is a hand-drawn picture of a cala lilly... it's perfect. Then Jason proceeded to tell me how and why Aric had drawn the picture & why it was so meaningful- I barely held back the tears and was just in awe of what an amazing man my fiance is!!!

I gave Jason a quick hug and jumped back in the car with Brooke & Dean for the next stop.

Once again things started looking familiar, just as we turned into the main entrance for Southwestern Seminary...my hands started sweating and butterflies filled my stomach as I was just about CERTAIN that Aric would be at this stop- As we turned in, Dean asked if this looked familiar and I was like "Duh..." but Brooke proceeded to do say that for me-and reminded him of the text message she got from me the day I left for Dallas with Brittany for the concert that read a little something like this...

"Dude!...so there's this guy on this trip with us- His name is Aric-yes with an A?!...aaand he likes to take pictures! and he wants to take pictures of little kids in Africa someday...aaaand He loves Jesus?!?!"

"oh yeah, and he's cute!!!!! ;)"

(****side note-yes my best friend & I call each other "dude"...get over it)

so as we rounded the corner to the building that held the photo conference that fateful day almost 2 years ago, much to my surprise I didn't see Aric-I saw BRITTANY!! (with her guitar)

Once again-I couldn't believe it! So I got out of the car, gave Brittany a hug and she sat me down and played one of her songs that Aric and I sing to each other all the time called "vice versa".

It was perfect.

Once she was finished-she led me inside the building into a room (kinda like a hotel room) with all my bags and 2 dresses that Aric had picked out for me. I got to choose one and take a minute to change and get ready...There was one last clue laying on the bed and it told me Aric would be waiting at the "place it all began"- and that he couldn't wait to see me...

Once I was all done-they walked me back out to the front of the building and Dillon was there again to pick me up and FINALLY take me to the final destination...

I hugged Brooke & Dean goodbye and got in the car anxious to see Aric!!!

So the grand finale--

There is a huge gate that opens into the drive-way of Brittany's Uncle's house- so we drove up and I saw Aric standing at the end of the drive-way in front of the house. Dillon got out of the car and entered the password to open the gate then drove me right up to Aric.

He helped me out of the car and gave me a big hug-then walked me over to stand in front of the little pond in front of the house. We hugged a lot, and cried, and he gave his little speech, then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!!!!!!!!

I said yes!!!!!!!! and jumped around and cried and hugged him- then after a minute he pointed out all the cameras that had been following me all day and it was absolutely perfect...

So now that I wrote the longest story ever, I am going to close quickly...

So far we've done...a little...planning! We are planning on getting married August 1st, in Riviera Maya, Mexico!!!! woo hoo!!! I'm sure we will update more-but you probably just freaked out from how long this story was already so I'm done!

*In other news...

We're working hard on getting things ready for our very first ever bridal show in January-so the blogging is getting even slower-but I promise to have some new pictures soon!!

images from table4photography!!