It’s been a pretty crazy ride since we first spotted the country song lyrics scrawled in chalk across the pavement at Two Rivers Park in Little Rock. Along with the words of a Hunter Hayes ballad were the clear signs of a recent proposal. We were hooked.
We knew right away that we had to find this newly-engaged couple. After loads of shares across various social medias, we finally found our mystery couple!
Meet Claudia Crespo and William Lee.
William (Bill) is an Arkansas boy from Jacksonville, and Claudia is from La Ceiba, Honduras. She came to the U.S. in 2004 to attend college, eventually becoming a second grade teacher at Amboy Elementary in North Little Rock.
Bill and Claudia had known each other for a couple of years, but not spoken in a long time when their paths crossed again. He asked her to dinner, and they never looked back.
“We did not have a lot of things in common,” Claudia says. “He is a country boy with a great Southern charm. He loves to fish and hunt. Me, on the other hand, I am a city girl from another country that had never been exposed to hunting or fishing. He taught me how to hunt, how to fish, how to come out of my shell and enjoy life. What I love most about him, other than his beautiful blue eyes and charming smile, is his motivation and hunger for life.”
“We leave each other mirror messages constantly, and make time to talk and share our feelings. He is my cheerleader when it comes to my love for education, and my motivator when I feel like i’m ready to quit. He calms my mind when my thoughts are racing, and hold me tight every single night. He is my soulmate as corny as that sounds. But in him, I found true happiness.”
Any corniness aside, this couple knew it was the real deal, so Bill took a page from the book of Southern tradition and made it a priority to ask Claudia’s parents for her hand in marriage before he popped the big question.
That’s when things got complicated. Claudia’s parents still live in Honduras, her dad knows little English and Bill knows little Spanish, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. When her parents flew in to visit at the end of June, he knew this was his chance. Even though they had just met, Bill wrote out his speech, translated the whole thing and read it to her parents.
Naturally, they were just as smitten as Claudia.
On Saturday, July 11, the couples split up to run errands and planned to meet at the Two Rivers Bridge so Claudia could show it to her architect father. They walked across in the sweltering heat, holding hands and talking about the day.
Then Claudia saw bubbles coming from around the corner. As they got closer, she saw the lyrics to their song on the trail and stopped. Bill told her he knew how important having family there was for her, right as his parents and and their close friends came out of the bushes.
Bill knelt and said, ““I told your dad and mom that I promise to protect you, love you and cherish you forever. I am here to tell you the same thing. I promise to protect you, love you and cherish you forever. Will you marry me?”
Claudia happily said “yes” as he slipped a stunning ring on her shaking finger. They hugged and kissed as he picked her up and their loved ones gathered around to celebrate (and take selfies).
On the tree beside them, a big yellow ribbon was tied around the trunk, but not for the reasons you think.
“One day, we were talking about how much we loved each other (corny, I know) but we couldn’t find the right word. Love? Amo? [Those] did not feel strong enough. So Bill told me to find a word and that would describe all the emotions that are so powerful, so deep, so true, so honest, so everything…. And the first word that came to my mind was ‘yellow.’ Now, when we say ‘yellow’ or see something yellow, we know that that word embodies our love, since there is no word in the world that comes close to what we feel.”
As for wedding day details, the couple is still in the early stages of the planning process and have yet to make any big decisions. All they know is that they’ll be on a beach, and Claudia’s flowers will be yellow.
Now that our hearts are completely melted, you can bet we’ll be following along as this beautiful couple begins their journey. Congratulations, Claudia and Bill. We wish you all the best!
