Our wedding registry can be found under the "registry" tab on this website. Thank you!

In February of 2020, I was in the Birmingham-Southern College library studying for Math Modeling Class with a friend. I really had no idea what I was doing for the assignment and neither did she. She walked over to another group of friends in the library to ask them if they would be any help. Joseph was one of people in this group. Somehow, Joseph got my snapchat. My first opinion of Joseph was that he was a lot, lol. He would constantly snapchat me, but I would rarely respond. The week of February 10th, I was in the BSC cafeteria at the drink machine. I turned around and definetly saw Joseph. He started to leave the cafeteria but I stopped him. I remember he was wearing his "dad" jeans and a white t-shirt and tennis shoes. He had a caf togo box in his hand. I looked at him and said "Are you Joseph?". Anyways, we talked there for a few minutes where he ended up asking me if I wanted to get ice cream that night. I said "Yeah, that sounds cute". There ended up being horrible weather that night, so the campus wifi was messed up. We ended up getting ice cream from the C-Store on campus and going back to his dorm. At the end of our date, he asked me if I wanted to hangout on Valentine's Day. We ended up going to Cracker Barrel for Valentine's breakfast as our first date. Our first few dates we went to Applebees, The Vulcan, Sushi, movie night at New Mens dorm, etc. The rest is history!

I was a sophomore in college at Birmingham-Southern. One day, I was minding my own business, studying in the library, when a classmate of mine asked me if I knew anything about a math modeling class and if I could help her friend. I asked her who her friend was and she said “Her name is Elise”. I had never even heard of math modeling and math was my worst subject. I started to tell her I couldn’t be of any help and then I saw Elise for the first time. I knew I couldn’t let this one get away. “Of course I can help with Math Modeling”. Her friend asked me the question they needed help on and I told her that it was not a chapter we had covered when I took the class (I never took the class, I was in Statistics lol). I got Elise’s Snapchat in case she had any more questions that I actually could answer. We started talking and texting her was like texting a brick wall to be honest. Later that week, I put my favorite pair of jeans on and went to the cafeteria. While I was standing there getting a sandwich, I hear a voice call out from behind me, “Are you Joseph?”, I turned around and it was Elise. We hugged and I said hello and told her that we needed to hang out soon. We parted ways because we had to go to class. Up until this point, Elise hadn’t been really responsive to me snap chatting her and I was about to call it quits. I sent her one more text. “You want to get milkshakes tonight?” And she responded instantly “Yeah that sounds cute”. A tornado warning was sent out that evening and everyone on campus was advised to not leave the school. So we settled for some ice cream from the convenience store and hung out. I asked her if she had any plans on Valentine’s Day. She said no, so I told her let’s go to Cracker Barrel since we both worked off campus late at night. That morning, I met her in the parking lot and we went on our first official date to Cracker Barrel. After that, we started hanging out frequently. We enjoyed our time together and the next week I asked her to be my girlfriend. And here we are!

If you know me well, then you know I was very vocal about wanting to get married. So, the story goes like this... Joseph and I were traveling to Acton, California, Joseph's hometown, for Easter of 2024. I was already suspicious about going for a few reasons. One of the reasons being that he just booked the flights and did not really talk to me about going. He just TOLD me we were going, which was not like him. I told my closest friends and coworkers that I felt something was going on. The second thing that stood out to me was that Joseph's mom called and told me to make sure I packed us some nicer clothes for the photoshoot. (I THOUGHT we were taking pictures with his family on their Lilac Farm!) I would joke with Joseph before we left that I had packed my clothes for our engagement (lol, little did I know I really did!). Fast forward, we land in California. We spend a few days hanging out with his family, going to Agua Dulce Winery, etc. On March 29, 2024, we spent the day helping around his parents house, taking it easy, playing frisbee with the dogs outside, etc. I went to take a nap around 1:30 that afternoon. Joseph came in to wake me up around 2:30. He said I needed to "hurry up and get ready for the pictures". At this point, I did not think we were getting engaged. So, I got up and got ready. I called my mom to ask what dress I should wear. Joseph was not around at the time, which I thougth was weird too. So, I called my dad, which did not help (lol, sorry Dad). There is a 2 hour time difference. Jospeh had told my Dad that he was proposing around 5pm. Well, I called my Dad at 3pm California time, but it was 5pm Alabama time. My dad was very suspicious on the phone, which made me more suspicious. So, fast forward, the photographer arrives. We start taking pictures, mainly on Joseph and his family. I still really have no idea what is about to happen. The photographer calls me up to take a few pictures with the family. The photographer then asks Joseph and I to go walk around the Lilac Farm to find bushes that were in full bloom. This is where I start to wonder... I look around and I do not see his family or the photographer anywhere. Joseph is STALLING BIG TIME. It was very chilly and I was asking to go back to the house, but he said "not yet". Finally, he tells me we can start walking back. I come to a complete stop in the driveway and see what is about to happen. A bench, a white decorative blanket in between two pine trees with a beautiful bouquet of Lilacs. Joseph grabs my hand and says, "Come on...Keep walking." That moment does not feel real to this day. We get down to the bench and he gets the ring box from under the blanket. He gets on one knee and pops the question!!! It was such a beautiful moment!!! His family and the photographer were hiding in the house watching and taking pictures! After taking more pictures engaged, popping champagne, Joseph had a special reservation for us at a restaurant that overlooked Los Angeles.

Well, the woman finally wore me down! She set her trap and I stepped right into it! I decided it was time to propose and developed the ultimate plan. In January of 2024 I waited for Elise to leave for a weekend trip and went to the jewelry store. I was sweating profusely and nervously asked to look at rings. I picked “the one” all by myself (Elise had really shown me 1,000+ pictures on Instagram and had taken me to that specific story and pointed and said “Hey dummy! That’s the one!”). After it was ordered I got out of there as quick as I could so nobody could see me in the store! I start driving out of the parking lot and hear a honk. I turn my head and see Elise’s Dad, Patrick, in the parking lot of the shopping center. He flagged me down, and started asking questions. I told him I was looking for a Valentines gift (almost a month early) for Elise and wanted to surprise her. He believed me and we went on about his day. I got back to the house before anyone could figure out where I was. I called my parents and told them about the ring and told them I wanted to do it at our lilac farm. A few weeks went by and I invited her Dad to lunch to ask his blessing. On my lunch break we went to a Mexican joint on the beach and I asked his blessing. I took her mom, Tiffany, to Mexican a few weeks later and FaceTimed her stepdad (he was away for work) and asked for their blessing. I called up her Nonni and Pop right after lunch with Tiffany and told her my truck was making a funny noise and that I needed them to check it out. Well, I pulled up the driveway and asked them to step inside (there was an awkward silence of no truck noise) and I sat them down and told them. Her whole family was very excited and welcoming. The only person left to get onboard with this crazy idea of mine was Elise. It was incredibly hard to keep this secret from her. I tell her everything and she can read me like a book when something is wrong. I made up stories about stress from work and told her friends it wasn’t happening until next year. I even left my phone at home so she couldn’t track my location when I was at the jewelry store. When I picked up the ring I took it home and hid it in my gaming PC (Elise wants nothing to do with that). I maintained my composure and kept the secret all the way up until March. Why March you ask? Well, Lilac season (the flowers my family grow on their farm) in Southern California is about 4-6 weeks long. Late March is the prime season for flowers. I told Elise to pack her bags and we were headed to California because she needed to see the lilacs in bloom. I stuffed the ring in my bag where nobody could find it! (in a sock), and headed to the airport. We flew to California and spent the week enjoying the scenery. Finally, on Friday, I had gotten a photographer to show up (my mom told Elise it was a Father’s Day gift for my dad) and we started taking pictures. I was so nervous I could not be around Elise (she could tell I was being weird about something). After a few family pictures, The photographer told Elise and I to go look for some good lilacs to take pictures with. I walked Elise up through one of the fields and stalled and stalled some more. Finally, I walked her back down to the house, where a bouquet of lilacs was sitting there with the ring hidden in it. I got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me. She said yes and started crying. We took some more pictures and celebrated with a nice dinner in the hills of Los Angeles. Like I said, she finally hooked me! I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with her and make her my wife.