Hope and Connor grew up just over one mile away from one another and knew each other for seven years before they started their relationship. They cheered together at Blackman High School during their junior and senior year but never were very close to each other while on the team. Most practices were filled with Connor telling everyone to "do better" and "get it together" while Hope followed up with some super positive motivational pep-talk! If you asked their teammates if these were two people that would end up together, everyone would place their bets against it! It wasn't until Hope & Connor stopped cheering together that they realized how well their different personalities and perspectives truly balanced one another.

Late spring of their senior year of high school, their friendship started to grow closer. After a magical first date to the DeKalb County Dump (he really set some high expectations), they started dating on July 6th, 2019. Hope went off to college at Western Kentucky University and that became the start of their 3.5 year long journey of a long distance relationship. While Hope balanced classes & greek life, Connor learned the ropes of a new full time job. They spent many weekends traveling from Tennessee or Kentucky to see each other! On top of long distance, an entire pandemic came along and made seeing each other even more difficult! Hope and Connor were constantly on FaceTime enjoying movie nights, dinners, and long late night talks. Despite the years of distance, their hearts grew closer.

When Hope graduated and moved back to Nashville, Tennessee, the couple started seriously considering what they wanted the rest of their life to look like. Quickly, they realized that they never wanted to know a future without the other by their side. There were many conversations about dreams, goals, and marriage prior to October 14th, 2023, when Connor got down on one knee and asked Hope to marry him!

October 14th, 2023

Hope begged Connor to take some professional pictures with her so that they could have them to look back on in the future. With little convincing (should have been her first sign something was up his sleeve), Connor jumped on the opportunity and booked a photographer. She bought a new dress in her favorite color and got her nails done with one of her close friends, Elizabeth. While getting ready, Hope was facetiming friends from nursing school, Bri and Kaylee. They both said to her "Oh, so you're getting ready to get engaged. He's definitely going to propose" (should have been her second sign). Hope was oblivious to the chance of Connor proposing. So oblivious that on the way to the pictures, she even said to Connor, "I'm so glad we're not getting engaged today because the self tanner on this hand (You guessed it- the left one) looks horrible." Unknowingly, Hope made Connor 1000x more nervous to pop the question. She reminded him to take everything out of his pockets and even threatened to check so that there weren't keys or a wallet in their pictures. Talk about a way to stress a man out!

Somehow, Connor managed to conceal the ring and they started to take their pictures. About five minutes into the shoot, Connor got his "cue" from the photographer to stand back to back with Hope for some pictures (should have been her THIRD sign). As Hope stood smiling, posing, and laughing, Connor reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautiful ring box that he created. When Connor stepped away, Hope turned to face him and forever flashed before her eyes. The moment they'd both dreamt about with each other had finally come, and Hope said the easiest yes ever!