Promposal leads to engagement

Who would have thought that a 2013 "Promposal" advertisement in the Moultrie News would eventually lead to a marriage proposal. But it did and Mount Pleasant residents Caroline Rathman and Connor Treese are getting married next July.

The two met in high school when Caroline was a sophmore and Connor was a junior. It played out just like it does in the movies. The pair ran into each other at a basketball game and talked in the portico for a while. Prom was just a few months away.

And over dinner, just a few weeks later, Connor asked her to prom.

By then the bar had been raised on how you ask a date to accompany you to prom. The "Promposal" had been invented and these coveted inventions went far beyond "will you go with me?"

In this instance Connor had friends set up the words prom in glow sticks and Caroline was very surprised. "Of course I accepted and it was super cute and romantic and far beyond how other boys were asking," she said.

The two continued to see each other after prom, going on dates here and there. Before they knew it, a year had gone by and prom was upon them again.

That's when Connor got the idea to run an advertisement in the Moultrie News asking the prettiest girl he knew to accompany him to his senior prom.

"He handed me the paper and said 'have you read the news today.' Of course I hadn't, but I  saw the ad right away."

Connor graduated from Palmetto Christian Academy and headed off to Clemson University while Carolina finished out her last year of high school there.

But there was one more prom to be had and this time it was her turn to ask. She chose to hang a huge banner from the I-526 Overpass on Longpoint Road.

The idea was for Connor to see it on the way to pick her up for a date. He didn't. He didn't even notice it once he had her in the car. The two had to ride back by it again before he finally saw it.

Caroline eventually went off to Clemson as well and their relationship continued to blossom. They have been dating now for 5 1/2 years. They consider March 10 an anniversary of sorts. Every year they do something fun and crazy.

This year she had to go on a weeklong trip and Connor stayed behind to watch her puppy. When she returned he picked her up after church and off they went to his parents house for their traditional Sunday lunch.

"I was kind of expecting a ring soon. He had asked me out on a date for that following Thursday so I wasn't thinking it would be at lunch at his parents. I had just flown in from being gone for a week," Caroline said.

"His mom was super casual when we got there and asked us to go down to the dock and place some flowers on the table because she was having party. We went down to dock and I looked up and there was a table with champagne and a sign that said 'C & C- high tide, low tide, always by your side'."

Before Caroline knew it, Connor was on one knee and a good friend of theirs was hiding on the side taking taking pictures of the whole scene.

Their families were up at the house watching with binoculars and they eventually came down and had a celebration.

Connor had asked Caroline's father for her hand in marriage a month prior. He described her as "very nosy and likes to be in on everything," so keeping the proposal a secret was difficult.

Their faith is important to them and their goal is to always glorify God in their relationship, Connor said.

"We want to keep God center and base everything else around that." 

"Both sets of parents have been amazing role models for both of us... the way my dad looks at mom... we try and mirror what we see in our parents," said Caroline. "And how supportive they've all been through the whole process has helped guide us and prepared and helped our relationship."

Connor is going to Wake Forest Law School in the fall and Caroline finishes Clemson in August. She plans to make her way to Wake Forest with him and then back to Charleston once he graduates.

"We can't imagine ourselves anywhere else," she said.

And where else would they find a hometown newspaper that delivers hyper-local news and sparks budding relationships?