On that first Fall evening, Phil stood waiting under the Lego Giraffe, in his dark blue button-up. A crowd of people passed around him, and the fading sunlight made the world glow. As the crowd thinned, he saw her walk up in her old beat-up converses and her cute little dark blue dress and he could not help but smile. Monique fell instantly as soon as she saw his smile and little did she realize that would only be the beginning. In those first few moments, we shared brief, nervous greetings and in seconds we clicked and knew that this would be something different. For the rest of the night, we laughed, we joked, and he dropped cheesy line after cheesy line, like we had known each other for so long. All before our movie even started.

After years of crazy and random trips to whatever places we had planned up, it was no surprise when Phil said to block out the calendar months ahead. The only difference is that this time, he wouldn’t tell Monique what the plan was and for months she was in the dark. What were we doing? Where were we going? He packed the both of the suitcases and off we went to the airport, only to find out, “Surprise!” we were picking up our moms for an amazing week ahead! Still in the dark, we drove for hours and laughed endlessly along the way. As the adventure began to unfold, we all found ourselves at Blue Hills Ranch where we met so many amazing little creatures like Blue and Google, two of the coolest giraffes ever! As Monique happily fed Blue a carrot, Phil gently turned her around and there he was, on a bent knee, ready to start the next chapter of our lives. We are both excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives! Even though this day is to celebrate our marriage, what is most important to us is to celebrate with the people that supported and loved us along the journey. See yall in San Antonio!