For Kristen and Josiah, love was a God Thing with a little help from e-Harmony. Enjoy the love story and the surprise proposal that was captured by Wedding 101’s very own wedding photographers, Nyk + Cali. This past Saturday was their wedding, so it just seemed the perfect time to share.
Love Story:
We used to make up a story of how we met, but the truth is we met on e-Harmony. We were both wanting someone who had similar values and weren’t finding it in the traditional way. I (Kristen) had only been on eharmony for about a week while Josiah had been on a little longer. We began answering questions and talking in a day or so. Right away we both knew this could be something great. The following week Josiah informed me he actually had a business trip to Nashville and would I want to meet up for a date? He was terrified to tell me as it might have been too soon, but I couldn’t have been more excited! Since Josiah lived in Texas and I lived in Tennessee , it was truly a God thing that he had a business trip the following week so we could meet. On February 6th, 2013 we met at J Alexander’s in Nashville. I still remember walking in and seeing him all dressed up in a suit.
The conversation just flowed naturally from one subject to the next. We then extended the date by walking around the Parthenon and into Starbucks. It was the best first date ever! He was supposed to fly back to Texas on Friday night but extended it until the next morning so we could go on another date night. After Josiah’s trip to Nashville, we talked every single day. In March he had a family ski trip planned that I jumped on and then began flying back and forth to Texas twice a month. After quite a few months of doing that, we decided it was time for me to move to Texas to see if this was for certain. I moved to Texas in November of 2013. One year later he proposed in an absolutely amazing way!
Proposal Story:
December 23, 2014: The YES Day
I knew Josiah had some sort of event planned for us while we were in Tennessee for Christmas. I had no idea what to expect except that I would be spending the day with Ashley and the girls I used to babysit.* I was pampered all day. I had my hair and makeup done at the Blow Out Co. in Brentwood, lunch at Panera where Josiah dropped off my outfit for the evening, and then nails done. At this point I figured something was up, but because Josiah is super sweet and loves to pamper me, it wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary.
After our nails were polished, we went to Wedding 101 to get dressed. Ashley handed me a necklace and said, “Josiah wanted you to have this.” She handed me my cross necklace on a new chain. When we first started officially dating (March 30th, 2013) Josiah gave me a beautiful cross necklace with a diamond in it. I never took it off. Recently the chain had broken, and I had already had it fixed once, so I had not been wearing it. Something was definitely up!
Josiah picked me up at 3:30. When I got in the car he asked me what I wanted to do! We headed to Belmont University which is where I went to school. We got out of the car despite the heavy rain and walked toward the main lawn. He turned to me and started telling me how much he loved me. I think I said, I know. How he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me; again, I said I know. LOL! And then he said, “no, for real.” and I said, “for real, for real?” and then he got down on one knee and pulled the ring out of his pocket. It was at that moment that I realized maybe this was really happening! I was in shock and then noticed the photographers and videographer, Nyk + Cali, whom he had hired to capture it all. But the surprise was not over. Josiah told them that he wanted to take pictures at the Belmont Mansion on campus, and quote “Y’all go ahead of us I want to make out in a dark alley with her”.
We walked to the back of the Belmont Mansion, and Josiah wanted to go inside. I told him we couldn’t, but since I was on cloud 9 I opened the door anyway. I thought a private event was going on and we were going to get in trouble. Tables were beautifully decorated. There was a staffed buffet, and a man playing the guitar. But no people until he had me look up the stairwell. At the top of the staircase, I saw my family and his (he flew them in for the proposal)! I cried. Then more friends and family popped out! Dinner was catered by Maggianos. The tables were absolutely beautiful with floral arrangements by Greenfinch Floral.
To top off the evening, Josiah played and sang a song he wrote just for me. Everything he did/said was perfect. We topped the evening off with cheesecake for dessert followed by a fun trip to Gaylord Opryland to see the Christmas lights.
~Ashley
It was a God thing when Kristen moved into our neighborhood and decided to babysit my niece, nephew, and my two daughters. We could not be happier for her and Josiah or to have been a part of the engagement and the wedding this past weekend. 🙂