Our Proposal Story.

At last, here is our proposal story with minute details!

The story truly began a few weeks before Valentine's Day. My boyfriend, Bart, kept this constant anticipation growing in me about our upcoming Valentine's date. He assured me that it would be a surprise. The only hints he would give me were: 1) I should dress fancy because we were going to a nice place, and 2) His gift would be small, but it had a lot of sentimental meaning. The weeks leading up to Valentine's Day were the toughest! I love surprises. It's pretty hilarious because most people would think that I'd despise them. I love planning and get nervous when I don't know where I'm going. My typical mindset was aside for this date though- I left it all up to him!

Finally, Valentine's Day arrived and I was headed to get primped up before I knew it. Bart knew I wasn't feeling very well ( not unusual for me) and told me that we didn't have to go if I felt too bad. I decided to push through ( I mean look at all the surprises he planned, I couldn't miss it!) and go on the special date, even though I was a little sluggish.

When we got to the restaurant is was totally packed. Bart informed me that we were twenty minutes late! We made our way up to the door, told them our name, and miraculously in about 6 minutes we were seated. Yes! We ate at The Peddler: a super tasty steakhouse, where I ate grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and Bart enjoyed a nice filet. Bart insisted that we order cheesecake for dessert- it was incredible! Funny side note about the restaurant: our table was huge! It looked tiny, but huge distance between bart and me + loud, noisy customers = difficult to hear conversations!

During dinner, Bart asked if I would like to go downtown and walk around. We drove downtown after dinner and this time Bart let me bring me gift with me! It was a pretty large bag, and heavy enough, so I was very anxious to see what was inside. I had given Bart his gift the week before ( Cause I hate waiting to give gifts!). Mine was pretty crafty ( not as crafty as his) , but slightly less expensive! We started walking by the shops, and shivering because the temperature was starting to drop. We walked across the bridge at Falls Park, over Reedy River.

When we got to the end of the bridge, Bart jumped down off of it and climbed underneath! He told me to follow- but I was a tad skeptical. The rocky, unpaved terrain and my skirt and dress shoes weren't going to mix! Unfortunately, a couple had already taken our spot. darn. So we carried on walking and ended up at the Wyche Pavilion:

It was beautiful! We sat in one of the open-window spaces and looked at the river for a while. After we talked for a few minutes, Bart instructed me that I could open my gift! I slowly opened the gift and found this:

I looove chocolate, so opening a box of chocolates was no surprise to me. I opened up the box of chocolates to find a hole cut out of the center, and a tiny box placed inside!

A picture of my man's crafty skills:

How adorable!

I glanced up at him in awe ( unsure that it was a ring... it could have been a necklace!) and pause before opening it. Before I get the ring box open, He gets to his feet, takes the box from my hands and asks me to stand up. I stand up and watch him giddily. He can see the anticipation roaring in my eyes and he chuckles and kisses my forehead. He holds my hands for a moment and then takes a step back. He bends down onto one knee and says, " Will you marry me?". At that particular moment, I was filled with so many unexplainable emotions. Of course, I was thrilled, I was also shocked, proud and overwhelmed. I started crying. Not little tears. Big ones. Borderline bawling! I'm not sure what came over me, but I couldn't say anything. I just cried in happiness. I was pondering how on earth I could have been blessed enough to have such a sweet, perfect man ask me of all people to be HIS wife! He hugged me and rocked me while I cried. After he placed the ring on my finger, I realized that I hadn't said yes! So then, I said, " yes, yes, yes!!" . We walked around downtown and asked a sweet couple to take our picture after the proposal:

here is a picture taken before we went to eat. We were both exhausted! Our eyes definitely show it. When arrived back at his house to find his mom videotaping our entry! She asked us about our night and we re-told the story :).

It was the sweetest proposal imaginable and I couldn't be a luckier girl!

I can't wait to marry you, dear fiance!

xoxo