The Proposal

When we came back from Memphis we fell back into our normal routine. Ethan and I were still talking about marriage, but we knew it wouldn't happen for a while. He made it clear that he didn't even want to ask me to marry him when I was 16. He thought that was a little crazy. I mean who gets engaged that young? Ethan had also decided to join the Marine Corps that year and knew that he would be going to boot camp some time in September.

Ethan told me to start looking for a place to have the wedding at, just because he heard that that is what needs to be booked in advance. I had always wanted to be married in November, but we knew that if Ethan went to boot camp in September that that was impossible so we were shooting for December or January time-frame.

When I told my mom and my Aunt Robyn about what we were talking about, Robyn immediately started researching different places around Austin. A few days later she found a bed and breakfast that was really cheap that she thought we could turn into an awesome wedding venue. I talked to Ethan about it, and he decided that we should at least go look at it so I called and scheduled a time after work to go meet with the lady who ran the place.

I fell in love the moment I saw the bed and breakfast. It was such a pretty place with a nice yard around the house to be able to fit a decent sized wedding. I started planning right there where everything could go before I had even seen the entire grounds. The owner mentioned a garden, but I was more interested figuring out where everything went at the moment.

Ethan decided to check out the garden and when he came back he wanted to show me something he had found in there. My Mama wanted to come too, but my stepdad told her to let us have a minute to ourselves.

When we got to the rustic wooden gate Ethan told me to close my eyes. He opened the gate and led me inside. It took him a minute to get me where he wanted and then he told me I could look. I opened my eyes to a natural formed rock formation in the shape of a giant heart. It took me a second to realize that Ethan was kneeling on the ground in front of the rock. He had a small black box in his hand and a huge smile on his face. He went into this little speech, that he had to repeat later because I was in such shock, and asked me to marry him. I was in tears and said yes of course, and he slipped the ring on my finger. We were engaged, a month before my 17th birthday.

We came out of the garden and my Mama asked why I was crying. I showed her the ring, which of course made her start crying. We decided that this was the place to get married and we reserved the site right then. The owner was nice enough to be able to work with us because we explained about Ethan going to boot camp.

On the way home, Ethan told me the story of how he had planned everything out. When we went to Memphis, we stopped to see my Daddy in Dallas for a day. Apparently while we were there Ethan had asked Daddy permission to marry me. Once he agreed, Ethan started thinking about the ring. He had decided he wanted to buy the ring the day we went to the B&B. He went to four different ATMs so that he could have enough cash to buy the ring. He was planning on driving around {one of our favorite things to do} and pretending to have a flat tire and asking me there, but when he told the woman at the jewelry she made it sound much less romantic. "So you're going to ask her to spend the rest of her life with you...on the side of the road?" So he decided against that one. He was just carrying the ring around in his pocket, and when he saw the heart-shaped rock he knew what he wanted to do.

Most people were really happy for us, but there were some who thought we were insane. Ethan's family was less than thrilled. In fact when we went to go tell them that we were engaged his dad said that he didn't want any part in it. A lot of family drama happened, and I wasn't allowed inside of his parent's house and none of his brothers and sisters were allowed to participate in the wedding. In fact, when Ethan left for boot camp they had decided they wouldn't be at our wedding at all. A lot of people {Ethan's sisters included} thought that the only reason we were getting married was because I was pregnant. It was all pretty hurtful, but I knew that they would see that I was obviously not pregnant in a few months.

Ethan went to boot camp September 5th, and I was left to plan the wedding by myself, no small feat when the bride is still a minor and the groom can't be contacted. I am proud to say that I made it work and I stayed in budget. We made a lot of the stuff at the wedding, and I would definitely suggest anyone doing that. It saves money and it is so fun.


the centerpieces




I decorated the arch. the bells are handmade also




my Daddy made the unity candle and engraved the glass


Ethan graduated boot camp on December 1, 2006. We flew home and had exactly one week to get the finishing touches done before the wedding. The most memorable moment was most definitely getting the marriage license and having my Mama sign for me.



officially a United States Marine