(By Lexi)
In the summer of 2015, I was thinking about going to business school, so I signed up for Deloitte's MBA mentorship program. Providentially, Stephen had just returned to Dallas after completing his MBA, and he signed up to be an MBA mentor. Deloitte matched me to be coached by Stephen, so I sent him this meeting invite (yes, for 3:10pm...who knows why) on December 11, 2015!
(By Stephen)
Soon after, a friend invited me to his church Home Group...which happened to be the group that Lexi had been attending for a couple of years. The group met together every Sunday and we all got super close. Over the next two years, our friendship steadily grew until I finally worked up the courage to ask her out on the way to our Home Group's Christmas party in 2017 (pictured here)!
(By Lexi)
Our first date was at Eno's Pizza in the Bishop Arts District, a Dallas classic. For our second date, Stephen gave me a list of options (a true consultant), and I chose for us to run the Jingle Bell 5K! The event photographer snapped this of us during the race. Afterwards, we decided to grab some sushi (yes, weird post-run choice) in Dallas's Trinity Groves and then drinks at Jettison's. We walked into the restaurant smelly and wearing jingle bells. Thankfully, they didn't kick us out.
(By Stephen)
We traveled to Maui to join my parents for a week vacation. On the plane ride I realized that Lexi may be 'the one' as they talked for the full 8 hour flight! When we got engaged, I framed my boarding pass from the flight as a reminder of that moment. It was on this trip that we also said 'I love you' for the first time!
(By Lexi)
After I got into b-school (I had a good mentor), we started the long distance thing. Stephen has been SUPER supportive of dreaming big in school and I'm crazy thankful for it. We FaceTime a bunch so I now allot my alarming Apple screen time notifications to relationship development. Being in two different time zones was a great test, but very affirming.
(By Stephen)
I blocked Lexi's calendar about 6 months out, and told her we had a family wedding in the Oregon wine country for my second cousin. We even created a fake wedding invitation, and my mom texted us to remind us to bring their wedding present (little did Lexi know she was carrying her own engagement gift)! When we got to Flâneur Winery, a staff member offered to take us in a golf cart to where the ceremony was being held. When we pulled up, Lexi realized that there was no wedding -- it was just us! We danced to our favorite song by Mat Kearney, and I got down on one knee and proposed. We then took some time to write out why we wanted to marry each other so we could always have those words to reflect upon during the marriage journey. After about a half hour together, my co-best man David Luttrell showed up to capture some photos of us! Meanwhile, a helicopter landed in the background -- our transportation to the next surprise! Our generous pilot took us to the DreamGiver's Inn, a quaint bed and breakfast where both of our families were waiting for us. It was a joyful evening of celebration!