Carly & Jarrod - Piedmont Park Atlanta - Surprise Proposal

Congratulations and Cheers to the newly engaged Carly and Jarrod! Carly is from a small town in south Georgia. Jarrod is from a small town in South Africa. After college, Carly took a job teaching English in Yeosu, South Korea in 2010. Yeosu has a relatively small expat population so when Jarrod arrived the following year, they were quickly introduced. After a month or so of being friends, the two started dating and soon realized the relationship was pretty serious. At the end of their contracts, they made the bold decision to move to Jarrod’s home country of South Africa. After a few months, Jarrod’s job relocated him to Maputo, Mozambique leaving Carly behind in Durban as she completed the year working for an event company. They year apart was hard but luckily Jarrod was able to visit often. At the end of that year, Carly moved up to Maputo where she continued teaching English as a second language. After two years, Carly felt unsatisfied with her career and the couple decided perhaps moving to America would be their next adventure. January 2016, Carly went home to Georgia to begin the immigration process for Jarrod. Not knowing how long it would take, Jarrod remained working in Mozambique. After months of heartache, the couple got the good news that they were finally approved as of the end of April. However, the exiting interview required for visa holders could not be scheduled until October due to a high volume in Johannesburg. Another major obstacle Carly and Jarrod had to overcome so that they could be with the person they loved. Finally, Jarrod was to arrive October 27th in Atlanta. Flights were booked and plans were made. As Carly was gushing on Facebook that her love was starting the 25 hour journey from South Africa, he had actually flown into Atlanta 3 days prior! Jarrod wanted to ask her father for Carly’s hand in marriage in person and surprised him at his home in south Georgia. He then organized with her best friend, Dustin, to make sure Carly would be in Piedmont Park October 26th. Dustin devised a plan to have Carly walking through Piedmont Park to go meet others for a drink after work. A few friends were plotted near the lake to stop her on her way over. She spoke about her plans for picking up Jarrod at the airport and how excited she was. In mid-conversation, the small group grew a little quiet which caused Carly to turn around to see Jarrod walking towards her holding flowers. She, in total shock, screamed “What are you doing” over and over and fell into tears as he gave her a huge hug. As the sun was setting, Jarrod went down to the traditional one knee and asked for her to be his wife so that they never had to be apart again.