ENGAGED!!!

I’m getting married!!! As I type this post and look down at the ring on my finger, I am filled with butterflies, love, excitement and the overwhelming feeling of gratitude for having such a wonderful man in my life… who will now be my husband!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! 

Five and a half years ago I knew I met someone amazing and special. Five and a half years later, I get to marry him! I feel so blessed and lucky to be able to share my life with Ryan forever and ever and ever.

After calling many of my best girlfriends last night, I realized that an engagement comes along with three main questions:

1. How did he propose?

2. What does the ring look like?

3. When’s the wedding?

So, BlogWorld, I figured I would format this post like my conversations with my girlfriends… only with less screaming, tears, shaking and “Oh my God’s.” 🙂

The Proposal

Each month Ryan and I take turns planning a special date for each other. October was Ryan’s month to plan a date so I didn’t think anything of it when he told me he was planning a surprise date for me for Saturday, October 3. Naturally I asked about a million questions about what we were doing and the only thing I got out of him was that the date had three parts (a day activity, a night activity and dinner).

I received a gorgeous bouquet of two dozen red roses at my work on Friday with a card that told me a bit more about the date. The card said we’d be spending the day at Green Meadows Petting Farm(we’re huge animal lovers) and then I would partake on the “greatest scavenger hunt of my life,” followed by “a romantic date I’d never forget.” As I type this, you would think I might have some sort of an idea… nope! (Let me just say Ryan is wonderful about planning creative dates, so this was not extremely unheard of, though it definitely seemed a bit more elaborate and special than usual.)

The morning of the engagementstarted out like any other Saturday morning. We left for Green Meadows around 11 a.m. and had a wonderful time petting baby ducks, pigs, sheep… we even milked a cow! We enjoyed lunch at Whole Foods before heading home to relax and begin my scavenger hunt.

I was ready by 6 p.m. as instructed and Ryan promptly handed me my first clue to kick off the hunt of a lifetime.

The clues took me all over Orlando, to various places we visit all the time including our gym and the lake we walk Sadie around daily. There were eight clues in all and each clue was accompanied by a card detailing a special event in our relationship such as our first date, first kiss, first “I love you.”

Each card recounted Ryan’s feelings at those times in our relationship. Reading how he was feeling during each special event made me laugh, cry and nod my head in agreement with each beautiful word.

Ryan told me we had 7:15 p.m. dinner reservations and since I had to stop to get gas during my hunt, I was taking a little longer than anticipated. He instructed me to meet him out by a lake near our apartment. When I parked my car I saw him sitting in a gazebo and excitedly ran toward him to collect my final clue and card. When I was done reading the last card I looked up at Ryan with tears in my eyes because he once again succeeded in making me cry.

He began to talk about our relationship and how much it meant to him. (He later told me he typed up a whole speech on his computer and wanted to be sure to hit four main points.) Ryan is extremely loving and affectionate but I couldn’t help but wonder why he was talking for so long. I didn’t believe a proposal was possible because we hadn’t discussed it recently and when we had in the past I always said I didn’t think I was ready. I glanced at his pockets to see if I saw anything ringish just in case, and when I didn’t, I figured he must just be acting extra-sweet. His eyes began to water and I started to cry because of his kind words, but I was also feeling a little confused. When he reached for his pocket and got down on one knee, I was shocked. When he asked me to marry him I was overwhelmed and excited and put my arms around him and said “Yes, of course!”

Oh my gosh, we’re getting married! He told me how he put everything together and had been planning the whole day for about a month. He explained that one Tuesday three weeks ago when he had to “work late” he actually drove two hours to meet with my parents for dinner and ask for their permission and blessing. This meant the world to me. He said we had to hurry because we had to make our dinner reservations and I instantly called my parents’ house since Ryan said they knew he was asking that evening. When I didn’t get an answer, Ryan told me to wait until we sat down at dinner to call their cell phones. Having so many more questions and excited thoughts to share with him, I agreed.

We pulled up to Houston’s, a wonderful restaurant on a lake right as the sun was setting and Ryan told me he reserved the dock for our engagement dinner together.

As we were walking toward the dock, I noticed a group of people sitting in chairs shadowed by the setting sun and jokingly said, “There’s people on our dock. Maybe I should let my ring catch the light and blind them so we can have it to ourselves.” Ryan laughed and as we walked closer I saw a profile I recognized… my dad! My entire family and Ryan’s family were on the dock waiting for us! Once again I began to cry and was overwhelmed with emotion. I was so impressed that the man I am going to marry knew me well enough to understand how important sharing a moment like this with my family is to me. Our families are coming together now, and sharing this amazing moment in our relationship with them made his proposal all the more perfect.

Dinner was fantastic and after dessert (ice cream sundaes all around!), my dad ordered a bottle of champagne for the table to share. We toasted to me and my wonderful fiance (ah!) and our future life together.

The Ring

My ring is 100 percent perfect. Not only is it exactly what I would have picked out, but it fits perfectly, too! It is a princess cut diamond in a platinum band.

When’s the wedding?

No idea! I am excited to start planning and told my sister I want to go buy bridal magazines already! 

—

After such a whirlwind day yesterday, I woke up this morning and made cinnamon banana  and chocolate chip pancakes for me, Ryan and my sister (she spent the night) and will be spending the day relaxing before heading over to my best friend Laurel’s for a mini-celebration with some of my girlfriends.

I can’t believe I’m engaged!