McKinney Falls Engagement Session

Rachel & Tyler

Ooh I am SO excited to share Rachel and Tyler’s engagement session at McKinney Falls with you! It was such a gorgeous day, and these two are seriously adorable!! 

Usually I like to tell our couples’ story here, and Rachel and Tyler have a rom-com worthy story!! I’m gonna do a little he said/she said, because I love the way that Tyler wrote how they met, and how Rachel wrote their proposal story! I’m not going to change a thing! Here’s how they met, in his words: 

P.S. before we start, Tyler says technically Rachel slid into his DMs..but here’s the extended cut: 

“Rachel and I were clearly meant to be together. I grew up in San Diego, while she grew up in New Orleans. Neither of us are native Texans, yet somehow both ended up at Baylor University, where we met. 

We knew each other in college and crossed paths numerous times, but only as friends. Admittedly, I always thought she was very cute and a lot of fun to be around. I even remember talking to a friend one night over drinks and somehow Rachel came up in conversation. I told him what I thought of her, and out of nowhere he snaps a picture of me and sends it to Rachel on Snapchat telling her… well Rachel didn’t even recognize me and thought I was some Beta! Little did she know what would become of us.

It wasn’t until after we had both graduated that we reconnected and got to know each other better. At the time, I was living in Austin working for a real estate brokerage, while Rachel had moved back home to Georgetown to accept a job with a local elementary school. I was scrolling through Instagram one night and saw she had made a post about accepting a position as a teacher there. I commented on her photo since I had happened to be in the same neighborhood as her new school earlier that week. It was then that we reconnected and started texting each other.  

We agreed to meet at the Oasis Brewing Company on Lake Travis for a first date with the stipulation that I bring my dog Skeeter with. (I attribute much of that first date’s success to him.) It only took one date to know how special she was. Rather than ending the date and calling it a night, we dropped Skeeter off at home and went to Ego’s, a karaoke bar downtown. Many date nights, lake days, and fishing trips together here we are, and I couldn’t be more thankful to have met her!”

Side note – can we all say a collective thank you to Skeeter for being an essential part of their story?

Now here’s Rachel, telling the story of how Tyler proposed!

“Much of our relationship has been spent on the water, from our first date at the Oasis Brewing Company to spending countless days fishing and lounging on his boat. So when Tyler asked me to spend some time on the water with him one Saturday, nothing seemed unusual.

He asked me to keep my Saturday evening free so we could have a date night. He said to wear a pretty dress because he wanted to take me to a new restaurant he could pull up to in his boat. I started to get a little suspicious about wearing a dress on the lake, but he said he wanted to hit a few fishing spots on the way so I quickly put my suspicions aside.

We stopped on Lake Travis in his boat right under the Oasis and began to fish. He fished for a good 20-30 minutes and even caught a nice sized bass. He started to talk about looking for another spot to fish some more when he pointed out something he saw floating in the lake. 

It was a water bottle tied to a buoy. We pulled it out and noticed a handwritten letter was in the bottle. Tyler began to open it and I tried to stop him thinking we were ruining someone’s special message (not realizing the message was for me.) 

I started to read the letter and my heart stopped. 

It had our location’s coordinates written out and said, “Look up! Above us is the Oasis Brewing Company. This is where we had our first date 1,050 days ago.” It went on to describe how our first date went, the outfit I was wearing, and how it was the start of a lifelong friendship and romance. At the end of the note, there were coordinates to a new location.

Tyler asked me to read him the coordinates as we went to the next spot. There were four more spots and hidden bottles on the lake that each held a special meaning to us. Our second spot was where he had taken my family and I fishing, the third spot was where we often anchored with our friends, the fourth spot was where I caught a giant fish with him once, and the fifth…. was our final destination of the night.

At this last spot, he asked me to wait to open the bottle. Then he went on to tell me how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and I could not contain my excitement. He then got down on his knee and asked. The last bottle’s note said, “Will you marry me Rachel Paulina Konovodoff?” Easiest and best yes of my life!

As I was crying and shaking and nodding and completely in awe, I looked up and saw all our friends and my family. Tyler had sneakily been coordinating and planning with my friends and family so they could all be there for the moment. He even had a photographer hiding out to capture the moment! It was a dream!!

I’m not crying, you’re crying! 

You can see with a perfect love story like that just how sweet Rachel and Tyler are! Now that I’ve tugged at your heartstrings, here are some of my favorites from their engagement session at McKinney Falls!

P.S. if you loved Rachel and Tyler’s story, click here to read more of our wonderful couples’ stories!

McKinney Falls Engagement Session