After having been apart all summer, and only seeing each other in person a handful of times that summer, our feelings had only grown stronger and we reconfirmed what we already knew, that this was the real deal.

There had been nothing on Zac's mind more important than showing to Courtney that this summer apart had not been for naught. That's why when he took a weekend trip home mid summer we went ring shopping. Zac purchased the engagement ring when Courtney went to look around the store, then we proceeded to enjoy the rest of the fleeting time we had before Zac would have to go back to Texas.

Zac anxiously awaited being able to come home and pop the question, and after careful consideration decided the best place to do it was the same place that we had met, Charlotte, North Carolina.

After having waited what felt like years, the summer finally came to an end. Zac drove home and picked up Courtney, and by the next weekend we were driving to Charlotte. Giddy with excitement, Zac was nervous and wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Luckily, Courtney made it easy because no matter what happened, he knew that her love for him was deeper than any silly mistakes he might make when popping the question. Thank goodness for that because when it finally came down to it, despite mentally rehearsing 100 times in his head, when he finally got to the spot he and the photographer had planned, his mind all but drew a blank as he stood almost in a trance at the radiant beauty of his soon to be fiancé. After what felt like a long few minutes but was really several seconds, he got down on one knee and popped the question he had been preparing to ask for what felt like forever. Her face said it all and he knew in the moment that it was a moment she had been dreaming of her entire life, and he had just made that dream into a reality. With an enthusiastic "Yes!" he placed the ring on her finger and thus began the beginning of our engagement. We had no idea at that moment what was in store for us over the next year, nor in that moment did we care because we had each other and that's what mattered most.

Photos