We’re Engaged!

March 22, 2016

Wow, you guys, it has been a crazy two weeks! On March 6th I turned 23 and got the best birthday present….a fiance!!! I officially introduced you guys to Joe after Valentine’s Day in this post –> Our Love Story and now here we are, planning our wedding and the rest of our lives together!

It is absolutely surreal. I can’t stop looking down at the beautiful ring Joe got for me and I dream about my wedding colors and decorations. My friends told me to go ahead and let this engagement season soak in but I jumped right into planning because I was so excited!

I plan to blog more regularly about what the planning process is like and everything that I’m learning along the way. It’s such an exciting season for me and the most beautiful time of the year, nothing could be more perfect!

The Day of the Engagement

It started out as a typical day and I was really excited because Joe had made this entire itinerary for the day packed with activities for us. He made me an amazing breakfast and we headed to church. After church, we went to the farmer’s market and just browsed around and met up with Joe’s dad and his brother. Joe was on the phone all day, calling his parents, texting them and other people, and just doing things very secretively but I just figured he was getting my birthday present ready for me so I didn’t bother him about it. WHO KNEW it would be a diamond ring?!

Running is a special part of our history so Joe scheduled a run for us at Duke Gardens. When we both attended NCSSM, we used to take long runs together and run around Duke Gardens while learning about each other. I was very resistant to running because the last thing I wanted to do was exercise and get sweaty but somehow Joe convinced me to change into my running gear and we went on a very short run.

We targeted a bench as our “stopping point” and as we got closer I noticed a shoebox on the bench. Immediately I thought, “How cute! Joe got me running shoes for my birthday! :)” I sat down and opened the box to see a pair of pink sneakers (my favorite color). He put on the right shoe for me (he told me later that this concept was meant to make me feel like Cinderella, how cute is that). and then he asked me to untie the shoelace of the left shoe.

Of course I agreed to untie the laces for him and as soon as I grabbed them I noticed a ring… a VERY SHINY ring. And in that moment everything froze and it felt like an eternity before I bust out saying “OH MY GOSH. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” And there he was, the love of my life, down on one knee gleaming and nodding at me. I couldn’t believe it, I was so shocked that the emotions hit me all at once and I started crying. He asked me in a trembling voice, “Will you marry me” and I said “YES!!!”

I was still crying as Joe took me to his parents and I noticed my dear friend Annie Venable, snapping pictures with her camera. Joe had scheduled in a little birthday shoot into the itinerary but I had no idea that what he had in mind had been engagement pictures! We quickly changed into the clothes we had been wearing and took these adorable engagement pictures.

After taking all the pictures, we met my parents and my brother and celebrated at a restaurant. Then we went to go see the Lion King. I was so emotional during the entire show that I teared up several times and had a LOT of trouble focusing because I couldn’t stop staring at my ring!