By Katherine Cole

In my South By Southwest wrap up, and on Roots and Branches this week, I teased that I had one more  South by Southwest story to share. One with a very happy ending.

It involves Carrie Elkin and Danny Schmidt –both touring folk musicians who call Austin home.  The brilliant news is that they  recently got engaged and will be married soon.

Danny Schmidt & Carrie Elkin (photo by Robby Hecht)

While the simple fact of two people getting married is wonderful news in and of itself, it’s the story of their engagement that makes this so much fun.

Danny could have done the safe thing and asked Carrie to marry him when they were sitting in their cozy house — or in the car, driving home after a show. Instead, he risked it all and proposed to her while he was on stage, performing his SXSW showcase!.  Can you imagine how Danny felt with the seconds ticking by as Carrie tried to make sense of what was going on?  The answer is yes — because someone had the good sense to capture it all on tape.  And because Danny and Carrie are able to laugh at themselves, they worked the proposal story into a show the next night, too!

You might be wondering if I was there for the big moment…the answer is almost.  It’s my own fault — earlier in the day, Danny warned me be on time for the show, saying it was going to be “special.” But I got caught in SXSW traffic and was still a couple of blocks away when he popped the question!  Next time he tells me a show is going to be “special,” I’ll make sure to get there early.