Engagement Pictures

One of the first contracts Matt and I signed was with our photographer.  We met with Amy once and knew that we would get along with her.  She also takes beautiful pictures and loves taking outdoor pictures, so we knew that she would be perfect for our engagement session.  We wanted to take them out at the ranch. 

It worked out perfectly that Matt had a day off the same day I did.  We drove out to the ranch the night before and were able to hang out and scout out some spots where we wanted pictures.  Amy came out in the evening so we would have good light and spent two hours with us.  We were ecstatic with out the pictures turned out.

So here are some of our favorites. 

All the pictures were taken by Amy Stevens of LolaJo Photo Design.

Our Engagement

Matt and I talked about getting married after only a few months of dating.  We were at his cousins wedding and he leaned over and said, "I like these readings for our wedding."  I knew that our discussions about marriage had been serious and this made me realize he wasn't just talking - it was the real deal. 

 This is a picture from that wedding.

We knew last June that we wanted to get married, but wanted to keep having fun dating as well.  So we waited a whole two months before going ring shopping.  Finding a ring was like finding Matt for me.  It was a very quick process.  I had it picked out within an hour and a half.  I think Matt enjoys my quick decisions.

Since I knew about the ring and I knew that Matt had it, he wanted to make sure I was very surprised about the proposal.  I was getting frustrated that he wasn't doing it.  I knew that he had talked to my dad and so when we went out to my parents land (the ranch) for a  weekend with my mom and dad I really thought he was going to ask then.  I was so excited.  We both love being out there - it is relaxing and beautiful.  We headed out on Saturday morning and met my parents for a quick lunch in a small town.  We were sitting at Lila's waiting for my parents when Matt grabbed my hand.  He leaned in close and looking into my eyes said, "I don't want you to get your hopes up about this weekend.  I have a plan about proposing to you, but it won't be this weekend.  I didn't want you to be on edge the whole time."

I think I just stared for about a minute. 

I didn't tell my parents he told me this, so Matt and I both had fun over the weekend watching them glance at my left hand everytime Matt and I came back from a ride or a walk.  I think my mom was about to ask him when he would do it by the time we left. (I know I was!)

About a week later I had a night off of volleyball and Matt offered to be in charge of dinner.  I'm glad he was because I was exhausted when I got home from school and just laid down on the couch and started to fall asleep.  When Matt walked into the house I was being pretty lazy and just laid around while he got everything going in the kitchen for dinner.

I could smell the pizza cooking and got up to help.  I offered to make the dip we usually had with pizza while he went to the bathroom.  As I was getting the hotsauce out of the fridge, we walked around the corner with red pepper flakes in his hand.  He ran over to me, got down on his knee, and said his romantic words - all while opening the bottle of pepper flakes.  There was the beautiful ring we had picked out together.

It was perfect.

We ate dinner together and had some time to celebrate alone before heading out to tell all of our family.  My parents were first and couldn't have been happier.  We then made our way to my brother and sister-in-laws house so we could get there before my neices went to bed.  Next was Matt's mom and sister and finally my younger brother.  It was the most perfect night I could imagine.

The night we got engaged.

We were so excited to start the planning and get all of the places reserved!!!

How We Met

Katie:  Matt and I met one night when a mutual friend brought me to his house.  We talked for about three hours and when it was time to leave (because Matt shot off some fireworks and I was nervous he was about to get in trouble) I thought "wow, what a nice/fun guy".  I guess you can say the evening ended with a bang.

Matt:  I thought it was just going to be another night.  Expecting only one person to come over, I was called back and asked if it were allright that Kate Stockemer come over.  After casually answering sure, I rushed to get ready.  After visiting with her for a short time at a New Year Eve party a couple months before I was very excited.

Katie: After Matt got my number from me about a week later, we talked met up at a bar when I had headed with some friends and he happened to be going to that night for a birthday party.  We again spent the whole evening talking and I was even more excited about spending time with him.  This was good b/c he was heading over to my house the next night with some friends for and Oscar's Party!

Matt: After spending time with Katie, I began to feel the connection was mutual, but I wasn't sure. After the night at the bar I text her and said what a good time I had.  Her response was "Me too, it was great talking to you."  I  felt better after the Oscar's Party because we kept making eye contact and sending secret messages to each other all night.  The next day I couldn't stop thinking of her and was excited when she text me that afternoon.  I decided to take a risk and see if she wanted to meet up again.

Katie: The first time we were somewhere just the two of us it was at my house.  It was the Monday after Matt and I had met at the bar and the Oscar's Party.  He figured I was tired and wouldn't want to see him three nights in a row - little did he know!  There was a KU basketball game on the night and Matt brought a pizza over and we watched the game and spent hours talking and getting to know each other.  This was also the night Matt and I figured out we both like spicy food - including pepper flakes on our pizza.  The joke after this night was "you had me at pepper flakes".  Which leads into Matt's proposal story.