How He Asked: Proposal Story

Lizzie told me at Thanksgiving that she was sad that I hadn’t written a blog post about the proposal and how it happened so I finally got around to actually sitting down and writing it. (three weeks late, sorry fish!)

So, important context for the proposal. Almost a month after we started dating, maybe two or so weeks after we had started dating officially, we met at this Whole Foods by us after work so we could pick up things for dinner. After we had finished shopping, we walked out to the parking lot to get into our separate cars. Right as we were parting ways, he said “Okay, goodbye! I’ll see you soon. I love you!” I kind of stood there shocked and didn’t say anything and skittered off to my car.

He apparently called his mom right after he said that freaking out that I was going to think he was insane. But when he showed up to my apartment I opened the door, hugged him, and told him that I loved him too.

Okay, context given. Now back to the proposal.

Nate was terrible at keeping the ring a secret. We looked at rings designs together and he decided he was going to have a custom ring made for me. During the design process, he was so excited about it that he kept telling me things about it. Nothing really specific, just that he had seen it and it was gorgeous and he was so excited to give it to me. He even showed me a video of the center diamond on day when I was sad. It was honestly adorable but it made me really antsy for him to propose.

I thought he was maybe going to propose when we went on vacation to New Orleans in October and then when that didn’t happen I thought he was going to propose when we were at the aquarium in Atlanta in front of the whale sharks. That didn’t happen either so I tried really hard to stop assuming and getting my hopes up.

Our two-year anniversary rolled around and I asked Nate what he wanted to do. He volunteered to plan dinner so we could celebrate. I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. It was a little unusual but not out of the ordinary.

Our anniversary day arrived and Nate told me that we needed to go back to that Whole Foods I mentioned above because someone told him that there was a bottle of wine there that we had been looking for. I got ready for the evening not really thinking anything of it and assuming that we were getting a bottle of wine to celebrate after dinner.

I was trying so hard to not get my hopes up about him proposing but it was in the back of my mind. He slightly tipped me off when he refused to take a picture together before we left and when he took longer than usual to come downstairs after I was ready to go.

We drove over to the Whole Foods on the other side of town and headed back to the wine section. He seemed a little flustered so I asked if I could help him find the wine. He asked me if I remembered that night when he accidentally said “I love you” and I started wracking my brain trying to remember what wine we drank that night almost two years ago. I also thought that maybe he was proposing but I tried really hard to keep my cool and remember to breathe normally.

He kept talking and said “That night it was an accident that I said ‘I love you’ but I want to be very clear that it’s not an accident now and I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So will you open this box?” He pulled the ring box out of his pocket and I opened it to see the most stunning ring ever. I felt my breath catch and he asked me to marry him.

Of course, I said yes and we left the Whole Foods to go to dinner. I Facetimed my mom to tell her and she asked us where we were going for dinner and I said it was a surprise. She said “Oh right! You’re meeting your sister and her boyfriend!” Nate was less than pleased that the surprise was spoiled but I had no idea what he actually had planned.

We drove all the way back from the East side to our house and he gets me out of the car and we start walking to an area that doesn’t have a ton of restaurants. I thought that maybe we were going to one of the less fancy places to meet Lizzie and Greg for dinner but then we turned the corner and start heading to Ohio City Provisions, our local butcher shop/grocery store. I thought that we were going pop in and tell Todd, one of the owners we are good friends with, that we got engaged.

I walked into the shop, look up, and standing there are a ton of our friends and Lizzie. I cried and was basically stunned into silence. Nate had planned a whole engagement party for us! He invited a ton of our friends and even tracked down some of my old coworkers and my old boss to celebrate with us.

There was charcuterie and a bar with custom cocktails and wine. There was also a whole dinner served complete with delicious cake. It was honestly the best way to celebrate the huge milestone in our life. After the party, we headed over to The Black Pig to deliver cake to our favorite bartenders and have a drink.

The chef came out and opened a bottle of champagne for us as a congratulations and other friends who couldn’t make the party showed up. It ended up being one of the best nights I’ve ever had with Nate.

We’ve decided that we want to have our wedding in the fall of 2018 at the farm that one of the other owners of Ohio City Provisions owns. That place has become our family and there is no better way we can think to celebrate the start of our live together then there.

Wedding planning has commenced and I even made a second bullet journal for it. Nate and I are both very excited and we are anxiously looking forward to taking this next step together.