Chelsey and Ladd | Summer Engagement Session

I love a good Summer Engagement Session and I just love asking my couples to “write” their engagement blog post! After all this is about their love story. So I ask a series of questions and here are their answers!

How did you two meet?

High school sweethearts! We met through a mutual friend in high school in 2008 (I was 15, he had just turned 17).

When did you each know the other was “the one”?

Chelsey’s answer:

We were together for 2.5 years in high school and I knew then that we were going to be a very special and significant part of each other’s lives. We ended up being apart for about 7 years through college and a little after, then reunited and got back together in 2017! It was a true example of “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone”. We were always each other’s “the one that got away”.

Once we reconnected and realized that we were always meant to be together from the start. We are grateful for our time apart because we both met some wonderful people that would end up influencing our lives greatly. Had we not experienced life on our own for those years, we would not be the people we are today. That time apart made us even more thankful that we found our way back to each other!

Ladd’s answer:

When we were dating in high school, I always just knew she was the one. We laughed about it at the time. That’s what “old people” always told us and we had no idea how you were supposed to “just know”. But the more time we spent together, the more I realized they were right and I just knew it would be her. I couldn’t imagine my life without her. While we were apart for all those years through college, she was the one that I couldn’t stop thinking about. When we got back together in 2017, it just solidified what I had felt the whole time. Everything felt right again, and I knew I would marry her.

How did he propose?

Ladd proposed in Breckenridge, Colorado at the Red Rocks Amphitheater! I had never been to Colorado before and he knew that going to Red Rocks to see a concert was on my bucket list! We had only landed in CO a few hours earlier, and we went straight to see the amphitheater. Since it was the middle of January, they didn’t have any concerts or shows going on. He still made a point to stop by and look around because he knew how much I would love it.

We were walking around the stadium seats and posed for our friends to take a photo. I reached out to my friend to get my phone back after the photo, and he had gotten down on one knee behind me! We caught it all on video! 🙂 He had the biggest smile on his face and asked if I would marry him. OF COURSE I said yes!!!

What are you most looking forward to on your wedding day?

EVERYTHING! I am being very intentional about savoring every single day of our engagement and plan to do the same for our big day. I cannot stop thinking about the moment we will see each other for the first time and how much I will probably cry! Seeing him on our wedding day knowing that I am walking towards not only my very best friend, but my future husband, will be the best feeling!

Any other fun stories about y’all?

We have been through a LOT of life together. We have both experienced very sudden and difficult deaths in our families and we truly leaned on each other 100% to get through those times. I lost my aunt whom I was very, very close to in April of 2017. He lost his stepfather in February of this year. When you get to celebrate the happy times and endure the hard times with a person, you truly see them from the inside out.

Love is a choice, each and every day, and I am so excited to make that vow to each other on our wedding day. When one of us is down, we can always count on each other for a hearty laugh, a big bear hug, and words of support and affirmation. We have grown up together in a lot of ways, and that comes with many mistakes and learning by trial and error. He is truly my “person” and I think we always knew, even in high school, that we were meant to be together.

Chelsey and Ladd are set to marry at the Golf Club of Amelia Island in Amelia Island, Florida on September 4th! Loved this Summer Engagement Session? Here is another you will love!