The Proposal
Such a dreamy concept, isn’t it? It’s an opportunity to express love in such a special and specific way, and I could hardly wait to have one of my own. I had witnessed men proposing to their girlfriends on jumbo screens at sports events or in the middle of a restaurant or even in a supposedly secluded spot until their parents came running out of the bushes. They always seemed to be romantic and perfect for the individual couples, but I knew that was not the option for me! When I was younger and would dream of how I would be proposed to with friends, I would always tell them if a guy ever tried to propose to me in public I would tell them “no” and ask for them to try again haha. The only exception was a flash mob because those are epic!
I was mostly joking about the saying “no” part haha but all I wanted was to be completely surprised by a moment so special and so unique to my boyfriend and me that it would make me feel like a character in one of my favorite books or movies. A moment so magical and new and perfectly my own. Not a recreation or adaptation of someone else’s story, but the beginning of ours. The sort of beginning that catches you by surprise and takes your breathe away and makes you so excited you can hardly stand it! That’s not too much to ask for, right??
Jared knows how much I love surprises and did everything he could to keep me out of the loop! We had talked about getting married, but I had no idea he was planning anything especially since he hadn’t even asked me what kinds of rings I liked. And I like playing hard ball so I wasn’t about to just tell him the styles I liked without him asking me first haha. He sneakily started going to look at rings with my mom (who knew what I loved and who was able to steer him in the right direction) without me having a clue! I love so much that he chose the ring out himself and went to so much trouble to keep it all a surprise!
The week prior to Jared proposing was easily one of the most stressful and overwhelming weeks of my college career (maybe a tad dramatic haha) I had lots of exams and finals and research papers and I was honestly a mess. But the day that Jared ended up proposing, I kept getting emails and notifications from professors all saying that due dates were extended and projects were canceled and I could not stop smiling and dancing all day long! Jared picked me up to go to my parents house which is up on the mountain because we had been invited over for dinner and to watch a new episode of one of our favorite shows (survivor anyone??). Before we went to my house, Jared asked if I wanted to go to one of our favorite spots where a swing hangs down from a tree that overlooks the entire Utah valley. I obviously said yes, especially since that spot always makes me feel like I’m living my own version of Cinderella (if you know, you know).
Jared started pushing me on the swing as the sun set and I normally like him to push me super high so I feel like I’m flying, which he knows, so I started getting a little annoyed when I would try to swing high and he would stop me on purpose haha poor guy! I was totally oblivious to what was going on and was telling him this really irrelevant and long-winded story when he cut me off to remind me of some of our sweetest memories in that spot. I didn’t even realize that he was starting to propose because he’s rather sentimental and says sweet things to me often (which I am sooo thankful for <3). It wasn’t until my swing was at a complete stand still that I was turning around to ask him to push me higher when I noticed that he was down on one knee!! I started screaming and crying as he asked me to marry him and I gave him the most emphatic YES in response! It was then that I saw the ring for the first time and immediately started screaming again because OH MY GOODNESS it is soo beautiful and I love it sooo much!!! I felt like I was in a complete daze and had a smile so big it hurt my cheeks for the rest of the night. 🙂
It was so sweet and intimate and everything I had dreamed of! Apparently my brother Eli was hiding way far away hidden in the trees trying to capture some pictures of it all, but it was a cloudy day and the light was lost quicker than he thought it would be, so none of the pictures actually turned out haha which is honestly fine with me because all that really mattered was that I was surprised and that it was sweet and intimate and specific to us and our relationship– and it was all of those things!! We came back to my house and told everyone even though I was really the only one who didn’t know it was coming haha and had a mini photoshoot outside on our driveway 🙂 the perfect end to a perfect day.
The next photos are the only pictures from that night on my iPhone!
xoxo
