Wedding Location
The Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead

Engagement Session Location
Vickery Creek Falls at Roswell Mill & One of Atlanta Finest Hotel

How did you all meet?
It was the first semester of high school in 2009 when I was minding my own business walking the hallways of Mill Creek High School when I looked up and saw this tall, dark and handsome young man putting headphones in and not paying attention to no one or nothing. I was totally fixated on this fine specimen of a man.

Although we had mutual friends at the time I had never seen him before. Now let me tell you how exactly God works, he knew my best friend before I knew he existed and apparently this special man had his eyes on me too. Let’s face it! He looked like everything I had dreamed about, but never knew existed, and I just knew he didn’t want little ol’ me, especially with him being a senior and I was just a sophomore. I just knew he was out of my league. Well, one day we ended up sitting next to each other at the North Gwinnett basketball game where we did nothing but laugh and talk as if we were the only ones in the gym that night.

Shortly after that we went our separate ways until my friend told me he was asking about her chocolate friend. I just had to see if this was real so I took my shot. I sent a quick text message and literally we couldn’t stop texting after that.

I mean he was too good to be true and we just clicked. He was fine and so handsome, respectful, God-fearing spiritual and so much more. Texting led to hanging out, hanging out led to meeting our families, and meeting the family led to game days, college visits, and joined holidays. Before I knew it our friendship had grown into a relationship. A relationship that was unexpected and unexplainable but only our hearts could understand. As time went on our souls connected so fast, and the love we had for each other was so pure that I could never let go. Two years turned into four and four years turned into ten. In every relationship there are trials and tribulations of course, and we certainly have had ours, but when you love someone as much as we love each other you find balance and you work through it all. Now I’m sitting here writing another piece of our fairytale about the man of my dreams. Blessed and thankful is such an understatement. I can’t wait to be his WIFE!

Tell us about the perfect proposal: We got engaged at the West family reunion. It was July 28th and that entire weekend was a lot to deal with. We finally got our families all in one spot in Macon, GA. I had absolutely no idea only because I was so focused on the reunion and making sure everyone felt at home that I missed every sign that there was a proposal that was coming. On July 28th, 2018, I was so uncomfortable with what I was wearing due to my weight gain within the last couple of years so my sister in law had pulled me aside to talk to me about my outfit and cheer me up when really it was just to distract me from noticing that Ryan left to go pep talk with his brother. My mother had just put out dessert so people started coming out the woodwork with plates. All of a sudden I saw Ryan go to my Uncle and whisper something. That something was to gather everyone around for an announcement, but it still didn’t dawn on me that it was Ryan making that announcement. Shortly after, Ryan, who doesn’t like speaking in front of crowds, was speaking in front of over 80 people. As soon as he started thanking people for coming and being so appreciative of the love and family being there, I realized that something was going on.

He then asked for me to walk over to him in the middle of our families with phones and cameras, tears, and smiles everywhere. I immediately started to tear up giving him my hands and looking him in his eyes, with the nervous giggle attached. Ryan then went on to say how much he loved me, and how we had been together for 10 years but that one year being apart was the worst year of our lives. I was asked shortly after if I was ready to make this forever. Then the magical question was asked that will forever change our lives, “Brea, will you marry me?” Of course I said YES, YES, YES!!!

For the engagement session, why did you pick the location that you choose? Did anyone help you in selecting the location?
Our photographer, Charlton Inije, chose the location. We just told him our vision. Something pure, gentle, and intimate, and he gave us just that.

How did you pull off the perfect look? Was there a theme?
We wanted something that allowed us to be ourselves and comfortable, yet romantic so we chose a soft white intimate look. For the second look, we wanted something more romantic that would tie in the wedding colors back into the photos.

How is the planning going?
The planning is going great! We have Tori Williams who is the best wedding planner you can ask for. She gave us a homework planner that helped us with each part of the planning. It calms your nerves and makes this process so much easier. It breaks it down step by step for us so we know exactly what is coming up next.

Any vendors making the process a breeze?
All of our vendors are awesome and fun to work with:
Tori Williams our Wedding and Event Planner, she’s taking our vision from paper and bringing it to life. Iris Films who is our videographer of the day, and he is so open and honest. He allows us to be free with ideas and he shares some back that brings out our vision. DJ Perfect has allowed us to give him all artists and songs we love before putting the final touch on the music for our special night, and Charlton allows us to be ourselves at all times in front of the lens.

What is the biggest thing you are looking forward too on the day of? I am looking forward to the entire day of getting ready and wondering what my future husband is thinking about that day. Does he have any nerves? Is he just as excited as me? I am looking forward to seeing his face light up, possibly even with tears coming down his face. I am looking forward to saying I do to the man of my dreams, to my forever.

And for fun, where will you display your engagement pics in your home/office?
I will display them at home in almost every room. The office on my desks, my mother’s home, and my mother in law home as well. I have all of the photos on my phone. I change my screen saver to a different one often.