Our Story | Sam + LeeAnn | CravenAWedding.com

When He Fell for Her

I first noticed LeeAnn when I saw her lead worship at one of our chapels in high school. She sang like an angel (and looked like one too). Naturally, I came up with a plan to get to know her. I noticed she was on the yearbook team and the worship team, so I joined both and ended up on the same worship team as LeeAnn — (“I picked him for my team because I wanted to get to know him and because he was really talented.” – LeeAnn) — and my design for the yearbook cover got selected. I was feeling pretty good about myself so I asked LeeAnn to Homecoming… and she said, “Yes… as friends.” That was bittersweet, but Homecoming ending up being a blast. I thought things were going great, so I asked LeeAnn if we could move past being “just friends.” She wasn’t on the same page, so she turned me down and I was crushed. That was a big break for us, but as time went on we started hanging out over the summer. We went to the beach, watched “How I Met Your Mother”, ate a lot of food, and spent as much time together as possible. At the end of summer, LeeAnn had a going away party before she went off to college. At the party, we went around the circle and said one nice thing about LeeAnn. This was my chance… In front of all of her friends and family, I told LeeAnn that she was the most beautiful girl inside and out. That was awkward… I made sure to stay until the end of the party so that I could be the last one to say goodbye. She walked me out to my car and as we said goodbye, we shared our first kiss. Hope was alive and we would hang out during winter and summer breaks, but to my dismay the timing wasn’t right.

— Sam

Homecoming 2012

We upgraded our style lol

When She Fell for Him

At the beginning of summer in 2016, I got a text from Sam asking if I wanted to meet up. It had been a year and a half since we had last spoken and I was looking forward to catching up with him. We met for brunch the next morning for what I thought would be the first of several occasional meet–ups. I had no idea what this would be the start of. It was apparent we had both grown tremendously since the last time we spoke. Sam seemed happier and more in love with the Lord than ever before.

We spent a lot of time together with each other that summer and at the end of it, Sam let me know he had caught feelings. He told me the day before I left the country to study abroad and asked me to think about the potential of pursuing a relationship when I got back. God surrounded me with the right people that semester… including Ethan Underwood, one of Sam’s good friends who asked me challenging but important questions that got me thinking more about my relationship with Sam. During those 4 months, Sam was always down for a call and would so patiently listen to my stories (he is really good at that). As the semester came to a close, I was so excited to get back to San Diego to see my family, look at Christmas lights, eat burritos and go to the beach, but most importantly, I wanted to do all of those things with Sam. I just wanted to spend time with him.

So after years of having the kindest, most amazing, generous man in my life as a friend… I finally said yes to pursuing something deeper and I am so glad I did.

— LeeAnn

When He Knew

If LeeAnn had wanted to get married when we were 18, I would have been totally down! Thankfully that didn’t happen because we both had a lot of growing to do. About two years into dating LeeAnn, I was sure that she was the one. I could tell LeeAnn was slowly (very slowly) getting there when we would talk about life together in the future, but wanted to make sure she was ready before popping the question. I told myself and my friends that I was just waiting on LeeAnn to be ready. It wasn’t until I went to lunch with one of my closest friends, Steve Devlin, that I realized LeeAnn was never going to tell me that she was ready. I had to take a leap of faith and hope for the best. Steve asked me, “Do you really think LeeAnn would say no if you asked her to marry you?” I said, “Maybe…” Steve said, “Really?!?! I can’t imagine her saying no, just based on how she looks at you. Even though she’s not saying she’s ready, I think she’s just waiting on you to ask her.” (I’m paraphrasing here. I’m pretty sure that’s what he said, but I have a terrible memory). At that moment I realized that the only thing holding up the proposal was me. So that night I bought the ring; the next morning I scheduled a meeting with LeeAnn’s dad and the following Tuesday I asked her dad for his blessing to marry LeeAnn. I spent the next few weeks coming up with a plan on how to ask LeeAnn and got her friends and family involved… but LeeAnn will tell you that story!

— Sam

Day Before the Proposal

She said YES! – January 26, 2020

When She Said YES!

It was 4:50pm on Sunday, January 26 when we walked up to Sam’s car and he said “Okay, now put on this blindfold…”

We had just dropped our friends off at the airport after an epic weekend Sam had planned for my birthday. He surprised me on Friday when Bethany and Christian (2 of our best friends who live in Colorado) showed up on my doorstep for breakfast. From that moment on, the weekend was loaded with fun and very intentional, sweet surprises planned by Sam. He planned a day at the zoo, brunch, a hike and even put together a dinner on Saturday where he surprised me by inviting my friends from college who came down from Orange County and Seattle to have dinner with us.

After a weekend of sweet surprises and so many positive emotions, I was ready to take it easy. So when Sam said, “Okay, now put on this blindfold…”, I was very caught off guard.

I reluctantly put on the blindfold and got in the car. My mind was racing.

“What are we doing?”

“Are we going skydiving?”

“Is he going to propose?”

We arrived at our destination and Sam, who was oddly calm and relaxed, led me up several sets of stairs and elevators for what felt like an eternity. We got to the top and Sam finally said “You can take your blindfold off now.”

At the top of a spiral staircase sat a basket with a pink blanket and a huge bouquet of beautiful, coral roses. Sam led us to the top of the staircase and told me we were on the roof of the tallest building in San Diego. We had a panoramic view of San Diego and it was SO gorgeous. He asked me to dance and turned on a playlist he had made that included several of my favorite songs. After dancing, he handed me a book he made that was filled with photos of us from when we met in high school, when we celebrated our 3 year anniversary and everything in between. On the last page Sam had written, “Queue Sam getting on one knee…”

He did just that and I said YES!

Some of our friends popped up on the roof to congratulate us, including the friends Sam had dropped off at the airport as a ploy! Just when I thought Sam was out of surprises, we walked into a lobby filled with family and friends who were smiling from ear to ear ready to celebrate with us.

It truly was the best day of my life.

— LeeAnn