20 Jun Lindsey + Rich | Engagement Photos
This week belongs to Lindsey and Rich because it’s their wedding day this Saturday! It’s going to be an action packed day for our whole team and one I’m so looking forward to.
Rich is from the West coast and has family and friends flying in from so many states it’s hard to keep up with them all. We have a gorgeous worship filled ceremony planned at Third Presbyterian Church with some beautiful music that I’m so excited about. I absolutely get giddy when couples like to open up the music box for their nuptials. Let’s face it… music makes such a big difference in all aspects of life! Afterwards, we’ll head over to Regions Field for a grand celebration and dance the night away. I can’t wait to report back later and share all of the gorgeous images that will surely result from this beautiful day we have planned.
Until then though, I hope you love looking through their stunning engagement photos taken by the husband and wife dynamic duo known as Kelli + Daniel Taylor Photography. The lighting they were blessed with on that fine afternoon in Tennessee was just divine. I’ve also have a little fun Q&A from Lindsey and Rich that you have to scroll down and take a look see. Happy reading!
xo,
Rach
How did you meet and what did you do on your first date? Give us all the details.
Lindsey: We met while judging an Iron Tribe competition in Birmingham in which my dad was a competitor. He invited Rich over to the house along with a few other coaches. We got a few minutes alone together walking in their backyard and asked each other basic questions. Rich said he was really nervous and excited when he finally got to engage me by himself… says he was hooked immediately. He walked out of my parents house and said he knew I was someone he wanted to marry. I thought he was funny, “short, dark, and handsome” haha. I was really happy my dad did the dirty work of inviting him without him knowing. I secretly wanted him to come over too. The rest is history after that.
Our first date was dinner at a restaurant in Nashville called “ML Rose.” Burgers, beer, and the typical awkward “first date” questions. Rich was impressed with my taste in beer and my boldness to down a giant burger on our first date. He thought that was extremely sexy haha.
Describe your dream date…
Dinner on the beach in view of the sunset followed by ice cream.
Do you have a favorite movie or song?
Still working on that. We have very different tastes when it comes to movies and music.
What guilty pleasure do you both share?
Definitely Ice Cream… without a doubt!
Tell us about the proposal… anything not go as planned or was it completely perfect?
Lindsey: Rich proposed to me on my birthday, partially to use it as a cover for his proposal. I had long taunted him that he would never be able to surprise me for an engagement proposal. So, he asked if he could “take me out on a romantic dinner cruise” in Florence, AL, where he went to college, and “had some favors he’d called in” to make my birthday dinner special. I said yes, of course.
Secretly, I hated the thought of going to a small town for my birthday without my friends. I thought it was a nice gesture, but I just didn’t see it as my preferred way to spend my birthday.
Rich, knowing that I love sunsets, set it up to where he would get on one knee at the precise minute of sunset in Florence that day, which was at 4:41pm. We’d walk out to the end of an old railroad bridge that ran partially into and ended halfway in the Tennessee river, watch the sunset, and then have 8-10 our closest friends light fireworks and set off huge bonfires for me to watch across the river (I love fireworks and fire in general). Rich also had my closest friends and family waiting underneath the bridge to surprise me and a party ready to go afterwards.
We started in Nashville earlier that afternoon, and since I was unaware of the planned events and not exactly “happy” to go, I dragged my feet a bit, causing us to be a bit late. Rich, knowing that events were taking place according to the minute, unwisely tried to rush me. This did not go well for him. I got upset and we got into the car bickering at each another, and then we fell silent. On the way out of Nashville, we ran into a huge accident pushing our arrival time back 45 minutes. He then had to readjust all of his friends and was visibly frustrated. I wondered why he was so bent out of shape about something seemingly small. “I’ve just pulled a lot of strings to make tonight happen” he said.
We finally made it to the bridge in Florence. As we parked and began to walk down the bridge on that chilly night of December 15th, I asked how our night was gonna go after the sunset to which Rich quickly fibbed, “At the end of this bridge, a boat is gonna pick us up and take us to a romantic dinner setting.” He wondered how the heck he was gonna continue that lie as we got close to the end of the bridge, since it was at least 30 feet above the water. As we walked, a photographer was snapping pictures discreetly, I had no idea, all the while trying to make it look like he was shooting the beautiful sunset that evening. I caught him taking pics of us from behind and asked Rich “I think that guy is taking pictures of us” to which he responded “hmm that’s really odd. What a weirdo. But then again, photographers do that sometimes I guess” (the photographer was his good friend).
As we got to the end of the bridge I asked “how is a boat gonna get us from here? There is no way.” Rich completely ignored this. During my questioning, he interrupted me with, “That sunset is gorgeous.”
We watched the sun for a bit, and then the fires went off. Then the fireworks. I then asked, “Rich, you gonna explain what is going on here?.”
With a smile on his face, he said “Yes, I will boo.”
He got down on a knee, said how he felt about me, wanting to spend his life with me, and asked me to marry him. As soon as I said yes, he was so excited that he jumped up and down yelling, forgetting to actually put the ring on my finger. I finally got him to calm down a minute later and he held my hand to his face as my family and friends walked up. We took photos, drank and ate afterwards at a close friend’s house. It was perfect and I was definitely surprised.
What do the two of you like to do together when you aren’t working?
We both enjoy drinking coffee/reading and working out together. “We” (Rich) enjoy cooking together (Linds likes to watch and eat). We like to be around our friends. We like to take spontaneous road trips (e.g. once drove through Tennessee/North Carolina to an Iron Tribe event in South Carolina on a Friday, wedding in Georgia Saturday, slept in Birmingham Saturday night, took photos in Nashville on Sunday, and then Rich went back to Missouri Monday).
What are you looking forward to the most about your wedding day?
Having all of our favorite people (from all over the country) in one place to celebrate our union with us.
Anything else fun you want to share about your story?
We have dated almost entirely long distance which has been difficult but worth it. Lindsey’s dad thought Rich had a legit Spanish accent when he met him only to be let down that Rich, in fact did not, and was doing an impersonation of Nacho Libre.
How did you know he/she was the one?
She said: I knew Rich was the one from early on, but I didn’t understand how it was supposed to work because of the distance (which I was not a fan of), so naturally I fought it. I even tried to end things between us for a while. All that did was create a Rich-sized hole in my heart that I couldn’t seem to fill with all the things that once seemed to make me feel whole. I had already experienced what it was like to have Rich in my life, and that was enough for me to know that he was someone I didn’t want to do life without. Distance didn’t seem to matter to me anymore. When we slowly started talking again and he asked me to be his girlfriend, I knew when I said yes that I was also saying yes to being his wife. I was sold. The way Rich loves people and follows the Lord is someone I want to follow. We are so different in so many ways, yet I feel like his differences complete me in a way I didn’t know I was lacking. He is strong when I am weak, he is quick to remind me of the truth, and he always gives me his pickles since he doesn’t like them 🙂 Every day I am reminded in some way that Rich is for me, and I am so thankful for his life because it is my favorite!
He said: I knew from when I met her at her house back at the Iron Tribe event that I wanted to marry her. Actually told my friend Grant as we left her house that first night “I’m gonna marry that girl.” She had a relationship with her dad and brother that were really foreign to me but so attractive. And the way she made others around her come alive was beautiful and intoxicating. She was the kind of girl I wanted to be around for the rest of my life. Someone who truly loved people as they were. I soon realized she was like this because of her relationship with God and how that in turn dictated her interactions with everyone around her. People wanted to be around her, including me. I just wanted to be the only one who could be around her and lay a giant kiss on her at the same time.
