Rewinding the clock back to 2013 with 15-year-old Carter and Carlee, where they met at a birthday party (shoutout Montana) and took their first photo. Fast forward a couple of years to 2015 when they went on their first date at Trail Dust after rekindling through mutual friends. A few months later and they were officially dating. They spent many life events together from birthdays to school dances to seeing each other graduate from McKinney Boyd High School. Carter went on to Texas Tech and Carlee went on to the University of Arkansas for the next four years. Being 578 miles away from each other wasn't easy, but they made it work and enjoyed even more life events including graduating from their universities in 2020 (via Zoom thanks to COVID)!

After college, they moved to Dallas and lived there for 3 years where they made new friendships, nurtured old ones and started their professional careers. They got to travel with each other and truly live out the life they dreamed of when they were teenagers.

On September 2, 2023, Carter proposed to Carlee on the beach in Siesta Key, Florida. They were there for Carlee's Great Uncle's 80th birthday and Carlee had no idea it was happening (she of course hoped it would and packed a white dress ;)). Carter asked Carlee if she wanted to go down to the beach so they could get some pictures before the sunset. They walked for a little while and finally stopped in a patch of the beach that wasn't crowded. Carter bent down and was asking Carlee to look at the seashells he found, and Carlee turned around to see him down on one knee. From there, Carlee can't remember much of his amazing proposal speech with all of the crying and the "oh my gosh this is really happening" thoughts running through her head until she heard "Carlee Alexandra Ortiz, will you marry me?" That was the easiest yes of her life and the smiles were from ear to ear as they walked back toward their condo to continue the celebrations with Carlee's family. When they look back and reminisce on that day, they remember the proposal being a beautiful private moment that they both hold very closely to their hearts.

As they have been soaking up the fiancé stage and reflecting on the past 9 years together, they feel so grateful to have a solid foundation for their marriage by having each other through the highs and lows that life has inevitably thrown at them since 2015.

They are loving planning their special day and can't wait to share it with the people they love. October 11, 2024, here we come! #GoingGreen