fab.clients | Stephanie + Colin’s love story
Stephanie and Colin called me in the late fall of 2009 and said “We’re engaged, now what?!” and from there we went to work planning their Sept 2010 wedding. When I asked how they got engaged, I laughed pretty hard as they went back and forth rehashing the details and here is what they told me:
Stephanie and Colin met while attending Florida State University during the spring of 1998 through Colin’s roommate Charlie. Colin and Stephanie did not date while they were in school, but six years after graduating college, they reconnected in California where Stephanie was living, and it was love at second sight.
Colin and Stephanie moved to Minnesota in October 2007, where the majority of Colin’s family lives. They wanted to purchase a house, and knew that would be difficult to do in California with the exorbitant housing prices in the San Francisco Bay area. After living in Colin’s parent’s basement for about 8 months, they finally purchased a home in the West metro area of Minneapolis in Waconia. Stephanie had wanted to be engaged before venturing into home purchasing, but the housing market had different plans for the couple.
In the fall of 2009, Colin and Stephanie decided to head to Tallahassee for Labor Day weekend to watch Florida State play the University of Miami in the season opener of the 2009 college football season. Colin grew up in Miami, and despite graduating from Florida State University, Colin is a die hard Miami Hurricane’s fan. Colin’s parents decided to come along for the football festivities as well. Little did Stephanie know that Colin had a special surprise in store for her while in Tallahassee. During half time, Colin had arranged to have a photo and the proposal put on the jumbo-tron in front of 80,000 people. Stephanie was in the marching band at Florida State University, so Colin thought half time would be very fitting time for his proposal.
At first, Stephanie didn’t understand what was going on and why their picture was on the screen. Colin’s mom was busy taking photos of the entire proposal while Stephanie was busy updating Facebook on her iPhone about the half time show her beloved Marching Chiefs had just put on. She saw the photo on the jumbo-tron, but looked at Colin with a confused look on her face, and asked Colin why their picture was on the big-screen. Colin opened the ring box and told her to check again, and she finally saw the proposal. Her exact response was “Shut up, Shut up! Are you serious?” to which Colin replied, “Well, will you marry me?” Of course she said yes!
What I love about their proposal story is how they told me that even in a stadium of thoooousands of people, their proposal was totally intimate and felt like just the two of them. I definitely feel like I made a couple of new lifelong friends. I had a blast working with them and can’t wait to see what’s in store for them!
