Ashley and Garrett are making my blog so extra special today!!  They have dated for over 5 years and are so excited to be getting married in August at South Wind Ranch!!  If you haven’t seen this venue, go take a look!  I first photographed a wedding there last Fall, and I’m super excited to experience it in another favorite season!

Ashley and Garrett shared this part of their story with me.  I admire Garrett’s guts and that it all really worked out!  Ashley says, “Garrett and I met through mutual friends at Clemson. We were best friends for a year before we ever considered anything more. From the start Garrett says he knew he would marry me, and made jokes about it often. For example, before we were officially dating, I received my Clemson ring which was a HUGE deal to me. I was so proud and could not wait to show it off to him. Once, I showed him he stared for a while playing with it, so I said “what”, and he replied, “it’s going to be a while before I can afford a gold one for the other hand”. That was back in 2015!”

Now about that other ring…Ashley tells their proposal story.  “On a Friday night we had his work Christmas party to attend. We rode with good friends whose daughter we adore. Their daughter did not get to come to the party, so on the way home, they said Ashlyn, their daughter, was sad she didn’t get to come see us and wanted to know if we could meet them for lunch Saturday morning at Esso in Clemson. I jumped in saying yes! The next morning before lunch we ended up going shopping for last minute gifts, which made us late as always, so they texted us saying to meet them at the rowing docks, they were letting Ash play as they waited. We pulled up to the rowing docs, walked out to the dock, and he proposed. Garrett had his sister come early to decorate with flowers, candles, and champagne. He put together the most perfect plan and I had no clue it was coming!  The best part – the ring is gold. He was really on to something that night back in 2015.”