Welcome back to the blog! I have been home from our road trip for a couple of days now and I am soooo excited to be back in a routine. Traveling is so much fun but there is just something about getting back into the swing of things in your own home. While I work on that recap blog post (I’ll link it here once it’s up), I thought I would write a little life update post for this week! If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that we got engaged just about two weeks ago! I am so beyond excited and cannot wait to share a few bits and pieces of engagement and wedding planning content along the way! I haven’t shared much about our relationship on social media as I prefer to keep some things private, so I thought I would kick things off by giving a little bit of background before I jump into our engagement story!
How We Met
My fiancé and I had been dating for a little over 7 years before getting engaged a couple of weeks ago! We met in high school during our junior year gym class (lol). I sat with his sister at lunch and we had some mutual friends so I knew who he was but we didn’t interact much. One day we got talking and decided to be running partners. Over time, we got to know each other and a few weeks later, he asked me to our junior prom! We went out for ice cream a few days later and started officially dating shortly after the dance. Fast forward to senior year, and it was time for everyone in our class to go our separate ways. I was leaving for college and he was enlisting in the Navy. We knew long distance would be difficult, especially in the military, but we both knew that we were committed to the relationship and wanted to see where things would lead. During his two months at basic training (and my first two months at college), the only communication we had were written letters and the occasional phone call every few weeks. It was tough to say the least! We definitely came out of that experience stronger than ever! The next few years would involve more long distance, different time zones, and an overseas deployment. However, we made it a point to communicate clearly and always tried to plan the next time we could see each other. The “see you later’s” were (and still are) the hardest part, but we are now one step closer to closing out the long distance chapter of our relationship!
The Proposal
One of the questions I have been asked the most is “did you know / were you surprised?”. The answer is yes and no! Since we had been dating for such a long time, we had many in-depth conversations about our future over the years and knew that we wanted to get married one day. With that in mind, I did expect it sometime soon, but I wasn’t expecting anything on Monday, June 26th! The day started out as any typical day. We had a dinner date planned as we were leaving for our road trip the following day, but other than that nothing seemed suspicious or out of the ordinary. A few days prior, my best friend and I got our nails done. At the time, it may have seemed like a subtle hint, but this is something we would normally do together so I thought I was reading too much into things. We tried a new restaurant on the boardwalk which we absolutely loved and afterwards we decided to go for a “walk in the park” since we were so full. What I didn’t know was that my best friend and her sister as well as my fiancé’s sister were hiding in the bushes taking all of our pictures! We walked around for a while before landing on one of my favorite spots in the park where I tend to take a decent amount of my blog pictures. He got down on one knee and neither one of us really remembers what he said haha! There were so many happy tears and I am so happy that our friends were there to capture the moment and share it with us! We took more pictures around the park and then went back to my house where our families hosted us a surprise engagement party complete with dessert and a champagne toast! It was the perfect day and a great start to our time on the road!
There is a little bit more long distance in store for us over the next few months but I know it will all be worth it! In the meantime, I’m looking forward to all of the wedding planning adventures!
Thank you so much for reading!
