Ashley Steinhauer

As god would have it, throughout high school, I was very good friends with a fun and outgoing young man named Trinidy. As the years went by, to my surprise, I began to often notice his mysterious and very handsome twin brother, Cassidy. I found myself hoping to “run into” him when his brother and I were hanging out, but it never seemed to work out quite right. Looking back now, it’s funny to see that every opportunity that presented itself for the two of us to hangout or actually have a “real” conversation didn’t appear to be in that part of our “plan”. If I was single, he wasn’t and visa-versa. Years later, after going off to college and contact with my friend Trinidy diminishing, I received a surprise phone call from him inquiring about the status of my love life. I remember being on vacation, lying out by the pool. I laughed and explained that I happened to be newly single. He told me that was great because, as far as he was concerned, I didn’t have a choice with this particular situation that was presenting itself anyway. After playing a guessing game, with me trying to figure out who the mystifying guy was, I finally realized we were talking about Cassidy. This time though, it was different.

When I came home from vacation in late September, I received a text message from Cassidy asking me if it was acceptable to call me. I had to laugh; I mean, he contacted me to see if he could contact me. I, of course, said yes and we set up a date two weeks later. He traveled numerous times back and forth to Baton Rouge from Folsom for the next few months or so, and we have pretty much been inseparable from then on. Not long after we began dating I moved back to Covington for a nursing job at St. Tammany Parish Hospital in the recovery room, which happened to come in handy in the coming months.

Exactly one month to the day after I started my job, Cassidy was involved in a terrible motorcycle accident. In the beginning of our relationship, we were both very stubborn due to past relationships and our personalities. At this point, I’m not sure if we truly appreciated one another. After spending a month and a half in the hospital together, almost losing him, healing broken bones, and him losing his left leg, things were definitely put into perspective. Over that time frame I was able to see what a strong and stable Christian man God placed in my path. I can only speak for myself, but he says, “The same goes for him”. Months of therapy, surgeries, wheelchairs, and recovery had gone by, along with some life changing realizations, and we were able to see that we had grown tremendously as a couple.

After about a year or so, unbeknown to me, he decided to propose. Cassidy, who was the mysterious quiet one, if you remember, totally surprised me by conjuring up a plan with my co-workers to surprise me with a proposal. On a regular busy day at work for me, my day was shifted when Erica, my coworker summoned me to come over and meet a patient of hers that said, “I was so hot, and was I married, etc…”? I was entirely too busy for that nonsense, not to mention I had a boyfriend, so I declined, twice. After Meg, Paul and LeAnn got involved, I went to see what all the fuss was about. A few minutes earlier, Cassidy was rolled into the recovery room as if he was a real surgical patient. I hadn’t even noticed him come in. I found a man hooked up to all of the monitors, dressed in a hospital gown, blankets up to his nose, a blue cap down to his eyebrows, lying on a stretcher with a heart rate out of this world. After a few seconds I recognized his beautiful blue eyes. He said to me, “So I hear you’re not married, huh?” I was unable to speak and he continued with, “I love you very much and was hoping you would marry me?” I pretty much melted, and then said yes! It was priceless and to top it off, they got it all on film! The proposal, taking place in the recovery room was even more meaningful because of the times Cassidy spent there as a “real” patient, having had five surgeries after his accident.

We have continued to grow together as time has gone by, even more so following our wedding. We were married on February 19, 2010 at the Fleur de Lis Event Center in Mandeville, Louisiana. It was a great event that proved to be worth waiting for. The staff at Fleur de Lis was amazing! We were catered to like royalty. They knew what I needed even before I knew that I needed it. The menu was exquisite and our immediate families were catered to like royalty. Every comment I received about Fleur de Lis was positive, aside from the cold weather outside during the ceremony, which was out of anyone’s control. We were never hungry, confused or upset about things being out of order. Rick King of Rick King Photography knew precisely how to capture our spectacular evening so we would have precious & lasting memories. I was so excited to find exactly the wedding gown I dreamed of at JB Wolfe Bridal and Bridal Manor was extremely helpful in fulfilling my wishes for my bridesmaid’s gowns. The beauty of the entire wedding was enhanced by the artistic floral designs of Kety Calmes of Bow K Designs. With our wedding rings being the symbol of our love and commitment, DeLuca’s Expressions in Gold made choosing them a memorable experience.

Our honeymoon was a week long cruise, which finally allowed us to relax after all of the chaos, stressful chaos from the accident and recovery and fun chaos of the wedding planning. Cassidy and I thank you for allowing us to share our lives with you and hope you will be as blessed as we are today.

Sincerely,

Ashley