I never saw you coming
I never saw you coming
We met in grad school at UNT...
John was a graphic designer who had spent over a decade getting his "soul crushed" by the advertising world. Rebeca had just taken a year off, after graduating from architecture school. John wanted a change. Rebeca had a sneaky mother who needed a way to keep her daughter in Denton. Alas, for two completely different reasons, the masters program in Design-Innovation Studies (aka Design Research) called both of their names and in the Fall of 2011 Rebeca Carranza and John Hicks began an "educational journey" that would change their lives forever.
All engagement photography provided by Shaina Sheaff.
Just friends
Just friends
We had the same sense of humor...
As luck would have it, John and Rebeca had the same "minor" (anthropology), so they had every single class together. It didn't take long before they realized that they had a lot in common: they were both DFW transplants with more of an attachment to Houston (John is actually from H-town and Rebeca is from College Station- just down the road); their birthdays are only a week apart (October 17th & October 24th); both of them only have one younger brother; both of them love knowing the inner-workings of people; both of them love thoughtful, meaningful design; and last but not least, John and Rebeca share the same sarcastic, sometimes-inappropriate (ha!), sense of humor!
With all of that said, this was no "love at first sight" story. John was in a long-term relationship and Rebeca was seeing someone, off-and-on, as well. John thought Rebeca was a crazy 25 year old (at the time) and Rebeca just thought of John as a "funny, older dude" (ouch!). The only sparks that were flying, were coming from the bi-weekly "brain explosions" that were produced by Design Theory classes.
You think you know...
You think you know...
We had each other all wrong...
Thankfully, John, Rebeca and their fellow-design researchers survived the first year of grad school. As the second year was about to start, John suffered a major loss and suddenly found himself single, for the first time in a very long time. Rebeca, being the walking-ball-of-emotions that she is, had no idea how to face her friend- given that life had thrown him such an unexpected curve ball- so she chose the obvious and mature route: avoid John, at all costs, for 2 months!
As John and Rebeca's birthday month of October came around, Rebeca also came around. She realized she had been a pretty crappy friend for the last few months, so in order to make things right again, she decided to organize a surprise get-together for John's birthday at their favorite Denton bar, Paschall Bar (seen in the pictures). By the end of his birthday celebration, John and Rebeca were the only ones left (mostly because John had already volunteered Rebeca to drive him home, instead of the friend that he came with) and they went on to talk for hours about life, loss and everything under the sun. At some point, during a heavy part of the conversation, Rebeca shed some tears. Well, if you've ever experienced the real Rebeca Marie Carranza- the absolute biggest sap in the whole world- you know that a few tears is actually pretty normal, but unbeknownst to Rebeca, it was those few tears that first made John realize that (his exact words), "She was a total softy." Similarly, it was in that conversation, that Rebeca first realized that there was a lot to John that she had never managed to see.
"I like hanging out with you..."
"I like hanging out with you..."
We never knew what hit us...
With Rebeca's birthday, then Halloween, following shorty behind John's birthday- oh yeah, and that thing called grad school- there were plenty of excuses for Rebeca and John to hang out for a few weeks straight. By the time November rolled around, John was having a full-blown mental breakdown at the thought of actually having feelings for a 25 year old and Rebeca was starting to have daunting (but less perceptible) realizations of her own. On November 13, 2012, John finally broke-down and confessed his feelings with six simple words that would forever change everything...."I like hanging out with you."
To be clear, John had to say those words THREE different times because it was, after all, the year 2012 and for Rebeca those words didn't mean much more than, "Thanks for the ride, buddy!" However, once John clarified that for him, those six words translated to, "I have feelings for you," Rebeca finally understood what was being presented to her. For the next few weeks, it was then Rebeca's turn to have a small mental breakdown at the thought of actually being in a relationship with an "old dude" (14 years is not a small age gap, folks). In the end, John's patience and persistance paid off because eventually, Rebeca knew what her heart really wanted. The rest is fairy-tale history...
Best Friends
Best Friends
Our crazy, beautiful life...
Easiest Question Ever
Easiest Question Ever
November 23, 2014
It was John and Rebeca's two year anniversary, so it was the perfect excuse to take a day trip to Denton. Rebeca suspected something was happening because John's palms were really sweaty the entire drive to Denton and he looked completely spaced out, but she got thrown off when they went to lunch at a new restaurant that they had no emotional attachment to. However, John's skittish behavior continued throughout lunch, which continued to make Rebeca a little suspicious. After lunch, John took Rebeca to Beth Marie's- her favorite ice cream spot in Denton. This place DID have an emotional significance to them. It was a place they frequented from the very beginning of their relationship and it had played a role in helping Rebeca realize how much John really liked her (see photo below).
The real sign actually says "Beth Marie's," but because Marie is also Rebeca's middle name, John stayed up all night re-creating typography to make this beautiful image for her. Random side note: Out of aaallllll those flavors, John's favorite is Chocolate Chip and Rebeca's favorite is Emily's Campfire Marshmallow. Well, the love birds just realized a couple of months ago that their favorite flavors are listed next to each other on the menu....Just sayin' :)
With ice cream in hand, John and Rebeca then walked to the steps of the Denton courthouse, where they had sat to eat ice cream and talk, many time before. John was still acting weird, but Rebeca figured it was a long-shot that somebody she knew was actually hiding in the bushes to take pictures or something (her friend Erin was actually hiding behind cars), so she dismissed the idea that a proposal was about to go down. Minutes after entertaining and then quickly dismissing the idea that this was actually going to be "the proposal" day, John handed Rebeca a card and said, "Happy anniversary, love." Rebeca still had the remnants of her ice cream cone in her hand, so she asked John if he would mind going to throw it away for her (simple request right?!). John snatched the trash out of her hand, gave her a look like she had interrupted his State of The Union Address and said, in perfect John-fashion, "Woman, I'm trying to do something here!" Rebeca giggled because she had purposely used the trash to throw him off and of course it worked. She took a moment to snap a couple of pictures because he looked super cute from where she was sitting (even if he looked kinda stressed out) and then proceeded to open her card. The front of the card read, "You are my bucket list," and on the inside were the sweetest words any ginger has ever written- but no proposal.
By the time Rebeca lifted up her teary eyes from the card to look at John, he was getting on one knee. Neither one of them could really tell you what the heck he said because it was all a blur, but the important thing is, he asked her the easiest question she had ever been asked...and she said YES!
