Victoria and Allen met while working at a doggy day care. It was Victoria’s third day on the job and Allen’s second. Victoria was working mornings and Allen was working nights, so their schedules rarely overlapped. One day he organized a group of people to meet up at a bar after work. (Hint: It was so he could get to know Victoria better.)
One of their coworkers let it spill that Allen had a crush on her. She was definitely interested, but had no idea since he was too shy to talk to her! That night they finally got to talking. Allen’s master plan worked—and they’ve been smitten ever since.
Give us the proposal details! When? Where? How?
Allen proposed to me at the end of October on the Steamboat Natchez. He had been bugging me for months trying to get me to go on vacation to either California (my home) or Savannah, GA (our favorite vacation spot), but I just couldn’t get away from work. He couldn’t wait any longer, so one night he planned a special night for us to go out on the Steamboat, something neither of us had done before. He knows how much I love touristy things.
After the joy and the rush of the wedding is over we’ll have each other and these memories to enjoy for the rest of our lives.
We had a great night wandering the boat and cruising the Mississippi. Before the boat docked he asked me to go for one last walk around the boat and we ended up by ourselves overlooking the city when he got down on one knee and proposed. I immediately said “YES,” quickly followed by, “Is this real?” He completely surprised me.
I came to find out he had been designing the ring over the past few months and pretty much everyone knew but me. He had an engagement photo shoot set up for the next day with two of our best friends who happen to be great photographers. We walked over to our favorite place, City Park, and had a great time laughing and taking photos with our friends.
They certainly helped ease the awkwardness of an engagement shoot. That night we had a Halloween party that turned out to be our engagement party and we got to celebrate with all of our friends dressed as Gomez and Morticia.
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Finding our venue. It was the first big step after our engagement and has made everything else feel possible. I had been feeling so overwhelmed with everything, since I’m not one of those people who has had their perfect wedding image in their head their whole life. I felt like I was still letting the surprise of the engagement settle in. I didn’t know what I really wanted the wedding to look like, or my dress, or anything.
Moviesets was the second venue we looked at and we both immediately fell in love. It’s a working movie prop warehouse that hosts events on the weekends. After seeing it I knew I would be bored with anything else. It’s definitely one-of-a-kind and I can’t wait to get married there!
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
Doing everything together is so important. Whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed Allen helps by taking the reins on whatever we’re working on. We also enjoy taking breaks with some wine and our special his and hers wine glasses.
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
I love that everything is all in one place. You can go seamlessly from website to app to see how they’ll both look as you’re editing. The pages are all so intuitive as well. They have everything set so all you have to do is fill in the blanks. It’s so easy!
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Make sure to click “Add More Pages.” You can include bios about your wedding party, a shuttle schedule, and information about your registry so your guests have everything in one spot.
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
That idea is really the driving force behind all of this wedding insanity. After the joy and the rush of the wedding is over we’ll have each other and these memories to enjoy for the rest of our lives. I can’t wait!
