JLM Couture Love Story #4

How We Met:

 "My fiancé Corey and I first met when we were both in kindergarten. We have both admitted that the first time we saw each other we both had crushes on each other (as much as you can have in kindergarten!) and used to send each other “love” letters through our elementary school’s mail system. Corey even once got in a fight with another classmate because he claimed I was his “girlfriend” and not Corey’s!

 We stayed friends throughout school and when we were in 7th grade we began dating (as much as you can “date” in middle school) and ate lunch in the cafeteria together every day, talked on the phone a few times, and even went to a movie once. We were also each other’s first real kiss which is something that we cherish to this day. After a few months, we knew the timing wasn't right and parted ways, remaining friends as we entered into our high school years.

 We drifted apart as friends the first few years of high school, each of us growing individually and seeing other people. It wasn't until senior year when, through the help of a mutual friend, that we began to rekindle our friendship. Corey even asked me to prom, however because he asked too late (he asked the week of prom!!) I already had another date! We did, however, sit at the same dinner table at prom, attend many of the same graduation parties, and saw each other many times during the summer before heading off to college.

 Since we went to colleges in different states, we went through periods of time when we would be in frequent contact and others when we barely heard from each other. However, despite the fact that we weren't always in contact, whenever we did catch up we both knew that we still had feelings for one another. On my 22nd birthday, after months of having not heard from each other, Corey texted me to tell me happy birthday. We spent the next few months driving between each other's schools to visit and see if we could turn our friendship into something more, and on Corey's birthday my birthday present to him was accepting his Facebook request to be "In a Relationship." Since that day we’ve been inseparable."

 Our Proposal:

 "We planned on meeting our parents for dinner in NYC at one of our favorite restaurants, Po. The day had been hectic with running errands and cleaning the house, so I forgot to check the train schedule into the city until about 5 minutes before we were about to leave. I saw that we would only have about 50 minutes to drive the hour long ride to the station. Once he heard this, Corey quickly ran down the stairs and we were out the door in seconds. Driving up the turnpike at a speed we probably shouldn't admit, Corey was able to get us to the station, park, get tickets, and board the train with seconds to spare.

 We had a few issues with getting downtown, but we eventually got off the subway in the Village. We started walking to Po and I called my mom to make sure Corey's parents had made it to the restaurant. Despite everyone being at the restaurant already, we took the "long route" to get there and I even commented "you know it would have been much quicker if we had gone the other way."

 Just before getting to the restaurant, Corey handed me his phone and said "I forgot to show you this video I found on YouTube, you have to see it," and pressed play. While I was confused as to why it was necessary to watch the video right before dinner when we were running late, I went with it and let Corey press play. Immediately, a song began playing (a cover of "A Thousand Years") and some very sweet photos of words and phrases showed up on the screen. At first I was very confused, but then realized that what I was looking at were the words of our friends and family describing our relationship. At the end of the video, Corey and Parker (our puppy child) came on the screen. Corey then held up a sign that said "Look behind you." When I turned around, I found Corey on one knee holding open a box containing the most perfect ruby ring (which he designed himself) mouthing the words "will you?" I couldn't contain myself and started crying and OF COURSE said yes :)

 The best part is that all 6 of our parents as well as Corey's brother and his girlfriend were there to celebrate with us and take pictures of the entire proposal!"

We are thrilled to have Stefanie join the Tara Keely Real Brides family this Fall!