KELSEY + COREY

photo | Sarah Abdulaziz Photography

KELSEY + COREY

Proposed over her birthday weekend

We both lived in the same apartments in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Throughout the summer of 2017, I saw Corey at the pool, particularly with his groomsman Alex and his wife and son. I lowkey always wondered what the group dynamic was and who he was, but was always too shy to strike up a conversation. Later that summer, Corey was at the pool with his groomsman Deji, and Deji and I struck up a conversation. Corey later joined, but the conversation was short lived, and that was the last of our interactions until October 2017, when we matched on the dating app Bumble. I first asked if he lived at that apartment complex, and I’m pretty sure he thought I was a stage 10 creeper because he had zero remembrance of us meeting at that pool. After he realized I wasn’t a stalker we talked about how we both love tacos and brunch and couldn’t decide between the two for a first date so we settled on two dates before ever meeting. Our first date was Taco Tuesday at El Guapo, a local restaurant in downtown Tulsa. We both wanted to bail on the second date, but thankfully didn’t. We had brunch at Mi Cocina and both had plans after with Deji and my bridesmaid Geovana who was coming in to town. Brunch went so well, we decided to keep it going with our friends and enjoyed an all day date doing various things around Downtown Tulsa. After that, you could say we were inseparable until June 2018 when Phillips 66 moved Corey to Houston, Texas. For the next year our relationship was long distance and I became friends with the bartender at the Tulsa Airport Chili’s. During that time we had some great experiences like Austin City Limits, a trip to St. Thomas to watch our friends, bridesmaid and officiant Morgan and Austin get married, Nashville and San Antonio. In June 2019 I took a job at the Landry’s corporate office in Houston and thankfully closed the long distance chapter of our relationship. Fourth of July weekend and also my birthday weekend Corey got Morgan and Austin to fly down for my birthday, so I thought. I decided I wanted to have my birthday dinner at Brenner’s on the Bayou, but what I didn’t know was Corey rented out the gazebo to pop the question. When we got to the restaurant I insisted we check in for our reservation, even though we were early and the hostess proceeded to tell us how we could walk the grounds except the gazebo because it was rented for wedding (poor Corey). We decided to get drinks before walking the grounds and then Corey had to drag me to the gazebo because I didn’t want to ruin someone’s wedding. He finally got me to the gazebo to pop the question and had a photographer (Sara Abdulaziz) hiding to capture the moment. I’m so thankful to be living in the great city of Houston with the love of my life (and our new adopted fur baby Lucie) and embarking on our biggest and best chapter yet. 

Our big day is approaching fast, May 2nd at The Bell Tower on 34th, so a nice Valentines dinner out in the middle of the madness would be a great treat.