We had the opportunity to chat with a few of our customers about their experience receiving or gifting one of our personalized designs. Next up in the series: Thomas.
Thomas gifted his wife, Kendall, a Star Map featuring 3 Night Skies. In his interview, he talks about three of the most important days in his life.
The First Day
Thomas met his now wife, Kendall, at a football game in Baton Rouge where they both grew up.
“We actually got pretty lucky. I was in the band while I was at LSU, so most game days, I really wouldn’t get to interact with a lot of my friends or anything like that, or tailgate or anything,” Thomas said. “But my last year there, I had to not do band so that I could take some classes that I needed to graduate.”
The random twist of fate brought Thomas to meet a longtime friend of his then roommate in the student section of Tiger Stadium at Louisiana State University.
“I actually went down onto the field in between quarters because I had gotten a scholarship, and they were recognizing us for it,” Thomas said. “And when I got back up into the seats, Kendall sat in my seat. Apparently on purpose to try to talk to me.
“So, she made the first move,” Thomas laughed, “and it all kind of went from there.”
The Yes Day
After Thomas graduated, he moved to Houston, while Kendall stayed in Baton Rouge to finish her degree. During their long distance period, Kendall, an outdoorsy-type, got Thomas more interested in hiking when they would meet and take overnight trips.
Camping, hiking, and nature have always been constants in their relationship.
When Thomas decided to propose, he chose to do it in Banff, Canada, on one of their hiking trips. So nervous about Kendall finding out the surprise, Thomas decided to move the “proposal hike” up a few days.
“She’s very particular about how we pack our things,” Thomas said. “I ended up having to sleep with the ring right next to me because she would go through our packs and repack it every single night.”
The hike led to a view overlooking the famous Lake Louise - admired by many for its turquoise water.
Halfway up the mountain, the two sat and had coffee at a teahouse off the trail. When they finally got to the top, Thomas set up their tripod, telling Kendall it was just to get a good shot of the view.
“She didn’t realize I actually set it up to record,” Thomas said. “So I actually got a video of it, which was pretty cool.”
“She was overlooking the lake, and I got down on one knee, and I told her to turn around.”
And of course, she said yes.
“It’s definitely probably always going to be one of our favorite camping and hiking trips,” Thomas said.
The “I Do” Day
After a long engagement, the two had an outdoor wedding in Magnolia, Texas on Saturday, February 22, 2020.
“Every single day around Saturday, it was storming and nasty, and then on Saturday, it was perfect skies and 66 degrees,” Thomas said.
Funnily enough, the wedding fell on the weekend before Mardi Gras. With the couple being from Baton Rouge, the decor had little touches of the holiday, including masks, king cake, and the traditional purple, green, and gold colors.
“It was a good mix,” Thomas said. “We had a lot of family and friends from Louisiana who know how to party, and we had a lot of our people that we’ve met since moving to Texas.”
As a wedding present to his now wife, Thomas picked a Star Map featuring three Night Skies.
“The whole idea came from — every time we go hiking, or even just starting when we met at Tiger Stadium, you could always look up into the sky and see the stars.”
Keeping up with traditions, the two agreed not to see each other before the wedding, so Thomas gave it to her the night before, after the rehearsal dinner.
She just thought it was absolutely beautiful.
Remarking that the print was a great representation of the couple’s story, he was eager to display it right when they returned to Houston.
“We got back to our apartment, and the first thing I had to do was hang it up.”