Meet Cody and Amanda! They are known by their friends as the “old married couple” and we can’t wait to see them step further into this title by tying the knot in July. As you talk with these two, it becomes evident that they not only love each other, but they are deeply committed to growing together as a couple for the rest of their lives. “Marriage is something we had always talked about. We both felt strongly about the importance of being married and we let that be one of the things that guided our relationship.” In the 4.5 years since Cody and Amanda met at Torrance High in their senior year of high school, they have gone through many exciting and challenging journeys and are ready to move into life as husband and wife. Cody made quite an elaborate proposal plan and Amanda loves to tell the story so we will let them take it from here…but get comfy because their story is long (we didn’t want to leave out any details!) and full of little nuggets of romance and hilarious family interactions!
“My family had a summer trip planned to Hawaii in celebration of my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. When it came time to book the flights, Cody let me know that he didn’t think he could commit to the trip because he was hoping to get an internship for the summer. I was bummed, but I also understood and never really pushed the issue. Around that same time, I was getting ready to graduate from college and my best friend (who just happens to be a jewelry designer) asked Cody for suggestions on what she could get me as a graduation gift. Cody responded with, “How about a diamond ring?” That is when the two of them started the process of designing the ring together and Cody started reaching out to photographers in Hawaii to plan a surprise proposal. He decided not to tell anyone in my family, aside from my parents of course. This was absolutely the key to keeping this a secret. My family is HORRIBLE at keeping secrets and someone definitely would have slipped. About a week before we left, my parents told me that our immediate family was having pictures taken once we got to the island. On July 22nd all 20 crazy family members headed out for the airport. My parents had planned the pictures to be taken the day we landed. Nobody looks good after a day of travel! When we got to the house we had 30 minutes to get ready. This was a disaster! It was hot as hell, ridiculously humid, and while all our cousins were hanging out in the pool my sister and I were putting on make-up that felt like it was melting off our faces. Gross. When we came downstairs my brother started to laugh at me. I was wearing a bamboo leaf romper! My mom’s eyes got big and she pulled my siblings aside and said, “Jake, shut up! Cody is here and proposing. Grace, go grab the most neutral thing your sister packed!” Me…I was still clueless! Right before we left my mom gave a letter to my aunt Jackie and asked her to read it to the rest of the family once we had gone. When we got to the cliff, my mom and I went to meet the photographer, Reese. He asked if he could take a few test shots and after a few photos we walked a little further down the cliff. That is when I saw Cody. When he got down on his knee, I could hardly keep my excitement in! I quickly jumped up and wrapped my arms around him not knowing that I had hit the right out of his hand! Oops! Thankfully, it didn’t go over the cliff we were standing on. Back at the house, my aunt had read the letter to everyone and they had banners and streamers hung, champagne poured, and family waiting to celebrate with us. Everything about our proposal was more that I could have ever expected and I love every piece of this story!”
