I had the pleasure of meeting with this beautiful, Godly and humble young lady today. We are so excited to have a part in their wedding. Here is their engagement story in her own words. . .grab a tissue!
In December of 2013, exactly a year ago, I was 17 years old…a 17 year old girl who had never had a boyfriend and never even kissed a boy. Writing this, exactly a year later, I am engaged, and not to just anyone, but John Luke Robertson…the most incredible and loving young man I have ever known. Yes, in case you were wondering it blows my mind too! How in the world could this happen? Who could have ever imagined this? Well definitely not me, but I can tell you who could. God. It was definitely by the grace and goodness of God that I am where I am today, and I am who I am today. He had such a greater plan in mind then I could have ever even dreamed of! It all started in the summer of 2011 at King’s Camp in Mer Rouge, Lousiana. This particular Christian camp had been a part of my life for many summers, but this was actually John Luke’s first year to attend. You see, his family has their own church camp in the same area that they help run, and so JL spent most of his time in the summer there helping life guard and lead the younger children. So it was kind of a big deal that he was leaving his usual camp! Totally a God thing. This was pre-Duck Dynasty John Luke, by the way! I was going into my sophomore year at Delhi Charter and JL was about to start his freshman year at Ouachita Christian. There were boy cabins and girl cabins, and one of each would pair up together, and it must have been fate that our cabins happened to be together. So throughout the week we got to know each other through fun and games, all the while having our focus on God as we both learned more about Him and grew in our personal walks with Christ. Our first real one-on-one conversation happened as we both represented our team by competing in (of all things) a wall-sit competition. To get our mind off the pain we just started talking. He told me about his sister, Sadie, and little did I know that one day she would not only be my sister-in-law, but my best friend. The week finally came to an end and we said our good-byes. To be honest, nothing more than a sweet friendship came out of that week. Of course I thought he was a cutie, but he was a grade under me and that was weird for a 15 year old to even consider (I had no idea he was actually older than me!). As the second semester of my sophomore year came around, my parents decided they wanted my sister and I to transfer schools. So my junior year we finally made the move that my dad had always hoped and prayed for to Ouachita Christian, also known as, OCS, also known as John Luke’s school. What a crazy thing that was! Not only were we moving to a school where I could count the people I knew on one hand, but also moving into a temporary house an hour away from our real home and everything we had ever known. Not long after I had sat down by myself in homeroom on my first day, in waltzed John Luke Robertson (with a broken arm) like he owned the place…I mean, he had gone to OCS since he was three! As we caught up, another “God thing” happened…we got placed right beside each other in the seating chart. Crazy, right?! Due to him having a broken arm, he was very limited in what he could do in school. That next week he asked if I could help him write a paper since he physically could not. Next thing I know he was at my house for so long one afternoon that I basically had to push him out so I could go to sleep! Due to other relationships though we could not even consider dating and I accepted that fact. It was simply not in God’s plans at that moment, so we made the best of our friendship by telling stories everyday in class and “helping” each other with schoolwork (basically him copying my homework when he forgot to do his). Not to mention, we had so many awesome conversations about Christ and gave each other spiritual advice. Throughout that school year and into the next, our friendship grew and, subconsciously (or maybe even consciously) our feelings did too. But I would not admit that I liked him, because honestly I had made myself believe that I didn’t for the sake of someone else. BUT along the way, John Luke ventured into a mission with me! We were determined to grow my youth group at my old, small-town church, so every Wednesday night we would make the hour drive to Delhi together to introduce new songs and discuss the Bible. Due to crazy schedules and massive amounts of homework, we just couldn’t afford to drive two hours every Wednesday, so that mission had to come to a halt. So it really only made sense that I start visiting his church! By the winter of 2013, he was openly pursuing, but funny enough I kept turning him down. We had a few awkward months, but in the meantime Sadie and me were becoming really close. (Disclaimer: mine and Sadie’s friendship had nothing to do with mine and John Luke’s relationship). So you may ask, “hmmm… how in the world did they end up engaged?” Well as soon as he gave up and moved on, I realized just how crazy I was! I saw that everything that I had prayed to God for in a guy was standing right in front of me. I had 100% confidence that God would bless my faithfulness to Him, because I would settle for nothing less than God wanted for me. The Lord was telling me “Dear child, you are about to miss that blessing that I have so evidently placed in your life?” After admitting to Sadie that I liked him, I did what I had to do. JL and I had a heart-to-heart where I came clean and told him how I really felt about him. Well the shoe was on the other foot now, and I think he knew that! Instead of professing his love to me, like I would have hoped for, he put me on hold for a few weeks. Man, was that a humbling experience! But eventually he came around and within the month we were “official”. He never really asked me to be his girlfriend… the conversation went more like this: Me: “So, John Luke, are we like dating? JL: “Well, I like what we’re doing…” Me: “Yea, me too…” JL: “I mean, if we were at school and you walked in front of me and my friends, I would be like ‘yep, that’s my girl!” So that is how that went down. March 15. The “Ides of March”. Or as Sadie likes to call it “The Iddies of March.” When asked, we say we started dating on “The Iddies.” I graduated high school as a barely 18 year old. Summer began and before me knew it, we had become world travelers together. I mean we hit up everywhere: California, Washington, Canada, a million places in Italy, Dominican Republic, and Virginia…all in a few months. While at home we picnicked, we rode bikes, we took the boat out on the lake, we swam, we “hammocked”, we watched a million movies, and we even went sailing. I would count my first summer romance as a success. It didn’t take us very long at all to say “I love you” and honestly talk of marriage came faster than I ever could have expected. But as I say…when you know, you know! When summer came to an end, I moved an hour away to go to college, but actually was only 30 minutes from JL’s house. I didn’t even make it through one quarter of college before he decided to propose. But I could not be happier. October 11, 2014. The day John Luke turned 19! We had been planning for a huge celebration at his farmhouse with both of our families and close friends (seriously, how did I not see this coming?). As I drove to his house, for some reason or another, I began to pray. Oblivious to what was going to happen later that evening, I felt the urge to pray for both mine and John Luke’s families. I arrived early at his home so we could ride together to his party and also so he could open his presents from me. The house was empty as we sat together in his family room and he unwrapped his gifts. Now looking in hindsight, he did go through those presents rather quickly! Sitting on the table was a photo album he had made completely full of pictures of us… from when we first met at King’s Camp to the previous weekend when went to a festival in Austin. We laughed so hard as we flipped through the pages! I finally came to the last page as he leaned over to “put his shoes on”. There was a handwritten note stuck on the page and as I read it, it finally struck me what was going on. I noticed a page had been taped down, John Luke assisted me in flipping the page, and there was one more photograph. It was a image of the most beautiful ring I had ever seen (John Luke actually found a ring I had pinned on pinterest and took it to his cousin who is a jewelry-maker…together they went by that and designed a one-of-a-kind ring). I looked up to find him on one knee, holding the ring out, and he said “Mary Kate McEacharn, will you marry me?” Despite my shock, I managed to say yes…and then say it again about twenty more times to get my point across! As we walked outside, our youth group had made a line from the house to his jeep, while firing roman candles and cheering for us. We listened to his “She said yes!” playlist as we made the drive to the farm where we were welcomed by family and friends who were screaming and cheering while holding sparklers and hand-made posters! That night was a night I will always remember and actually the proposal was caught on a video camera that was secretly set up by sneaky JL. It was such a wonderful celebration filled with live music, fireworks, food, cake, dancing, singing, praying, lots of laughter, and even tears of joy. Our friend Ben Rector even came and performed! But best of all is we got to share it with all the people who mean the most to us. Being engaged has been awesome and we are counting down the days until the wedding in June. Although our families couldn’t be happier, we have received some flack for deciding to get married so young. So many people think we are not ready because we are not fully grown. But the thing is…we realize that. We don’t claim to be ready and we do not claim to be grown yet…we just decided that we want to grow up together. We want to experience this exciting part of both of our lives together! With God as our leader, we know that we can make it. A lasting marriage doesn’t depend on your age, it depends on your love for God and your love for each other, and your willingness to make it work. I honestly could not be more excited to spend the rest of my life with John Luke Robertson.
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Cody Turner + Chelsea Gregory
We are so happy to add Chelsea as one of our 2015 brides. She is so beautiful inside and out! Here is her engagement story in her own words - Our engagement has been a long time coming, for both of us J. Cody and I met 10 years ago via mutual friends. Over the past 10 years, we had dated off and on. But three years ago next month, we decided to give it one last try to see if we were truly meant for each other. After all, we had invested a lot in the past 10 years. Giving it that one last try has been the best decision we have made {next to getting engaged}! I think most girls know or have some inkling of when their guy may be thinking of proposing. For Cody and I, we had known each other long enough that we have talked about it for the past year. It is a decision we did not take lightly and wanted to both be sure this is what we wanted. Cody wanted to make sure he picked out the perfect ring that I wanted. We had been to several jewelry stores just to “look” at the time. We finally found “the one”! But even after finding it, I truly did not think he planned on popping the question any time in the upcoming months. Little did I know…. Cody’s 30th birthday was this past August. As a surprise, I planned a weekend trip to New Orleans with four of our closest friends. Cody thought it was only the two of us going. Our four friends were to be at the Jackson train station to surprise Cody before departing. Stepping back a month…. Cody revealed to these four friends that he planned on proposing during our trip to New Orleans since he thought it would only be the two of us. Realizing this could make for either a disaster or a great trip, our friends decided to tell Cody they were planning on going as a birthday surprise. We have always loved to go on group trips; so what better way to celebrate than incorporating our friends for a weekend celebration. Cody told them he still wanted them to go and be part of the engagement. So unbeknownst to be and my anxious self trying not to let it slip to Cody that our friends were going on his birthday trip….Cody was planning the best weekend and surprise of our lives, thus far! Cody and I walked in the train station to his friends holding a “Happy Birthday” sign. Cody hugged me and pretended to have no idea they were coming. But somehow I knew something else going on when he hugged me, it felt….different. Our friends started saying my name, but I was too caught up in the moment of knowing something was about to happen to look. Cody got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said YES! All along I missed the beautiful “Marry Me” sign our friends had made and were holding. For us, it was the best engagement in a unique place with our best friends. Then we were off to celebrate our ENGAGEMENT in New Orleans! As this Thanksgiving week has quickly come upon us, and as we plan for the craziness of "Black Friday" and Small Business Saturday at OAK, along with the Christmas decorating we get to do around town this week, I want to take just a second to express some much needed thanks -
2014 has been one of those life changing years (as most years can be if we let them) as I welcomed my 2nd perfect little man into the world in February. Going from a 1 child family to a 2 child family has overloaded my life with blessings and craziness. It has equally made me more aware of how precious my job is. I am so thankful for a job that allows me to spend some quality time each morning with my babies and that allows them to see me during the day when needed. That is something I wouldn't trade for anything. Aside from my personal thanks, we at OAK are all so thankful for our wonderful customers and clients this year. It's such an amazing gift to have a job that allows me to meet people and bond with them over special events and weddings, while they shop for holidays and as they go about their own daily routine when they visit us for lunch. We are also very thankful for our employees, and for the owners who allow this to be the business and vision I had in mind when we opened, who allow me to be creative and try new things (even when they don't work). Our employees are all team players and work so hard each day, and beside me long hours during weddings and events. We cannot thank them enough. Finally, I am thankful for the book of James (random, yes, but read it some time. . .you'll understand) and for the reminder that faith without works is, well, not worth too much. We pray over our business, our clients, our brides, our weddings and our design jobs daily. And we want every one we come into contact with to feel our love for them, for our paths in life and for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Wherever you shop, and whatever you do, have a happy Thanksgiving - With great Thanks - Bethany~ Had a great, very busy, time this past weekend with the Smith and Pursell family and friends. Overall, the group of people who were with us all day (friends and family of the bride and groom) were some of the nicest people we had ever had the joy of working alongside on a wedding day. They made this very, very busy day much easier! Thank you for letting us serve you! Much love - Bethany
florals - OAK photography - brian flint photography cake - gina smith décor - OAK and gina smith This weekend will be a beautiful wedding weekend for these two cuties. However, this wedding has left me a little more to ponder than most. While I'm crazy about her style and the look we are (aiming for) creating on Saturday, my heart is with hers as we share some common ground that makes me want to make her wedding a little more precious than usual.
As Meagan walks down the aisle, eats cake, dances with her new husband and life long best friend, a special part of her life will be absent. Like Meagan, I carry the sorrow of having buried a brother years ago, and often wonder what his role in my life would be today. I know he would have had a blast at my wedding, and I know he would love my husband (who shares his name and, oddly, his birth month and year). I know my kids would think he was one of the coolest uncles in the world. While I didn't know Meagan's brother, I know a few things to be true: I know he would be a little jealous of some man taking his sister as his forever love, and I know he would see his sister as the most beautiful bride on the planet (with the exception of his own one day. . .or maybe they would tie). I know he would gladly help her get her shoes on or hold the bouquet while she waits anxiously for one more picture. He would love every moment, even if he didn't admit it. Tears will be shed at this beautiful ceremony for the joy that these two hold and the life they will begin to make together. And it will be ok if a tear or two is also shed for the missing piece. His memories and tokens he left behind will be all over that wedding, so while his physical body will not be present, he will be. And he will be thinking that his sister, as she becomes a Pursell on November 15, 2014, is the most beautiful bride on the planet. Truly a genuine couple. We wish them many long and happy years as a married couple :)
Flowers, Catering and Directing: OAK: A Southern Experience Cakes: Cups N Cakes Photography: Brice Media We are so happy to welcome one of our new couples for 2015. We are definitely looking forward to working with them to make their wedding day perfect :). Here's their love story in Ashley's words:
Cody and I met in Pigeon Forge, TN at Dollywood. He was with his family, and I was with a friend who was visiting me, since I moved away to Pigeon Forge my ninth grade year of high school. It was not until 8 months later, after my family and I moved back from TN, that I decided to go to church with my Grandma Lucy, and Cody was there. We went on a few dates and fell in love. We have definitely had our "up's and down's", but we both know that God put us here for one another. He is not only my fiance, he is my best friend. I am so thankful for his friendship and his love. We both know that if it were not for the love of Jesus, we would not have one another, and for that we are forever grateful. "We love because He first loved us.": Cody has always told me that proposals on holidays/birthdays are so tacky. So never did I expect to be proposed to on my birthday! He was planning to take me to get a massage for my birthday gift. When we called to make the appointments, one spa was closed, and the other two were completely booked since it was labor day. Instead of the massage, Cody took me out to eat for my birthday. We ate at Longhorn Steakhouse in Flowood. He kept telling me my gift was in his trunk, and I couldn't have it until we got home. He said, "it's not a big deal. It's nothing special, it was supposed to go along with the massage." So I was thinking, "he got me a candle." After we ate, we went to The Reniassance to walk around and go to The Fresh Market and Barnes and Noble. (We enjoy the little things.) On our way to The Renniassance, the clouds looked so strange. So when we got there, we parked and walked over to a little bench by the water spouts and watched the clouds and sunset. It was gorgeous. We sat there for a little while, and I randomly said, "I hope when you do propose to me, I don't cry because I will look gross in all of the pictures!" He said as he was getting down on one knee, "Well I hope not because it is happening!" If you know us very well, we have dated for 7 years, so of course engagement was a common topic. We were just waiting on the right timing. Since Cody always said that proposals were tacky on holidays/birthdays, naturally, I just punched him in the arm and said, "what are you doing?! Get up, that is not funny!" He said, "Ashley, I'm proposing! Will you marry me?" Talk about shocked! My head was in a blur. I was extremely happy, but just so shocked that I didn't know how to react. And no, I didn't even cry. :) It was definitely a sweet and beautiful night. God has truly blessed both of us! CONGRATULATIONS to Tiffany and Drew on being selected as the winner of the "win a wedding" contest held by OAK: A Southern Experience! We are so thrilled to be able to provide them with a spectacular OAK event! We are also pleased to announce that we will be able to help all THREE couples in the running with their weddings! We had such an outpouring of support from voters that we just couldn't let the other 2 go away empty handed! A HUGE thank you to the couples who submitted their stories, to all of our voters and to all of the vendors willing to work beside us to make these wonderful days possible. -Bethany OAK: A Southern Experience is thrilled to announce a new option with complete OAK Wedding and Event packages! SAND RIDGE FARMS BARN will be available to rent beginning March 2015 for Weddings, Receptions, Parties, and Corporate and Non-Profit Events!
This venue is the perfect complement to OAK Wedding and Event Planning packages and will allow us to provide even more one of a kind, gorgeous weddings, receptions and events in the fabulous OAK style. Contact a Wedding Professional at OAK: A Southern Experience for details and rental guidelines! There are plenty of really great interior decorators out there, so maybe you're wondering WHY and WHEN you should hire a designer! Here's a story of a current job.
I was approached by a client who is in the earliest stages of building a new home. She had a GENERAL idea of the layout and size of her ideal home and an awesome PINTEREST page, but that was it. Here's where a designer is needed. . . I have years and years of CAD experience that is currently allowing me to have a really great time drawing out the floor plans (and electrical plans) for this client based on HER desires and NOT a plan from the internet. She handed me the dimensions of the furniture that must accompany her to her new home, shared her private Pinterest page with me, and I'm literally creating a one of a kind plan, room by room, that will bring her ideas to life. While architects have mad CAD skills, most don't have the time or energy to look at the minute details (like adding the SAFE room but making sure the steel door is very pleasing to the eyes. . .) or to add the furniture layout. Decorators have great taste and style, but aren't trained to draw architectural plans and understand the interworking of 2D and 3D CAD, adding pictorial elements to drawings and creating finish schedules based on specifications. If you are in the midst of creating your dream house via Pinterest but don't know where to go from there. . .Or if you have a plan that you aren't really happy with (don't settle!!), please call and let me put my years of Interior Design, Drafting and Project Management skills to work for you. |
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