Destiny + Tate

From Texas to Colorado, Destiny and Tate's story is one for the books. I met these two this past winter season here in Keystone, CO. When Destiny came to me about taking their engagement photos, I didn't even have to think twice! So here is a little bit about their story...

Tate moved to Colorado a year before Destiny did while she stayed in Texas to finish school. Last October, he wrote her about 20 handwritten notes that all started with "I miss..." and each one said something different. He then went to Texas to help Destiny make the trek to Colorado. He planned dinner, booked a hotel, and had somewhere for them to go that evening after dinner. After they ate, they went to Trinity Groves in Dallas - a strip of restaurants and shops, with a sidewalk that walks right next to the huge, white, iconic Dallas bridge. You could see the skyline and ALL of the city lights - which Destiny absolutely loved. They were walking, talking, and she was taking pictures. Destiny then walked up on a little hill so that she could get a better view. When she got another message from Tate. Instead of opening it, she turned and looked at him and said "Did you just text me?!", closed it, and kept taking pictures without even seeing what it was. He eventually convinced her to stop taking pictures long enough to look at what he sent. When she opened it, it was another "I miss..." letter. This one read, "I miss... You, every single little piece and part. Saying bye to you is not something I ever want to do again. I want you and all of the little things I've missed so much about you to be mine until the end." That's when Destiny finally caught on to what was going on. She turned around, and he was on one knee with the ring. He asked her to be his forever and the rest is history.

That's not all folks... So in Summit County, the mailing system is extremely unreliable. No seriously, like we don't even get USPS unless we have a P.O. box. Well.. Destiny goes on to tell me a little more about Tate's plan. 

Tate lived in Keystone Employee Housing and knowing how bad the mailing system is here, he ordered the ring and had it shipped to his parent's house in Texas. Destiny would go there almost every Friday night to hangout with his sisters, so he knew that she would be there in between the time that the ring arrived and when she would pick him up from the airport. One day while she was there, his dad snuck the ring into the back of Destiny's jeep and put it under the spare tire. (She carried the ring around for about two weeks without evening knowing) When she picked Tate up from the airport, he put his bag in the back of the car. This was weird for Destiny because he usually just puts it in the back seat. He was back there for so long, and he kept saying "Wow, there's so much room back here." (don't worry, I laughed too.) After a few minutes, she almost got out of the car to go back there to see what was so impressive. But, the reason he was back there for so long was because he was trying to get the ring out that was lodged underneath the spare tire. He couldn't get it out, so he just closed the door and got in the car before she became too curious. When they got to the hotel, he intentionally took his wallet out of his bag and left it in the back of the car. So when they got to the front desk at the hotel, they asked for his ID and credit card, and he looked at Destiny with panic. Destiny told me that she just knew that he left his wallet in the Denver airport and they would have a long night/weekend ahead of them. Little did she know, he ran back to the car, just like he planned, to get the ring. They went on with their evening plans, and once they got to Trinity Grove, he proposed.

It's stories like this that make my job so amazing and fun.