Our Engagement Story

I’m engaged! Like, what??

This is what has been running through my head for the past five days. Yes, I’m still on Cloud 9. No, I haven’t stopped smiling.

In case you missed it on my Instagram, Brandon proposed on my birthday and I just still can’t believe it. To say I was surprised would be a major understatement (just watch the video below).

While we haven’t started any sort of planning and probably won’t for a few months while things settle down with COVID-19, I wanted to start documenting our engagement so we could have something to remember this special time in our lives. Lucky for me, I have a blog to do all of that.

So, today starts the first of many wedding/marriage related posts. I have no idea what I’ll post about in the future, how much I’ll share, etc. but I think it’s going to be fun to share this process with you guys!

First up: the proposal.

Fun story. This was supposed to happen in Jamaica. You know, the trip we canceled from the airport gate. And that was just Plan A. But more on that later.

If I could sum up Brandon’s proposal in one word it would be: PERFECT. Every single moment of that night was so perfect. From him looping in my best friend Sarah to totally trick me while he set up to surprising me with our parents and an acapella singer – it was just all so magical and a night I’ll never forget.

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watch the proposal!

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Things don’t go as planned…

Would you believe me if I told you that the proposal you just watched was PLAN F????? Not Plan B. Not even Plan C. But the sixth plan. And I’ll tell you something, after hearing about all of the other things that were “supposed” to happen, I swear that I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is the way it was meant to be. Intimate. Family. Memorable.

For a little background:

• Plan A: Was supposed to happen in Jamaica on my birthday. Brandon was going to start the day with a couple’s massage followed by a riverboat tour. I’d then be surprised by the dresses in our hotel room before heading to a mansion for cocktails where my parents and Sarah along with Brandon’s immediate family would all be there waiting for me.
• Plan B: After Jamaica was cancelled, the plan shifted to Orlando. B and I were supposed to go here for a few days before Jamaica. My dad was already there so both of our moms were going to drive or fly in and do the entire proposal and surprise there.
• Plan C: Once we decided to cancel our flights from the airport, Brandon shifted to doing the proposal at the Candler Hotel. But, with all this quarantine business, those plans fizzled pretty quickly (lack of staff, heightened safety precautions, etc.)
• Plan D: Brandon has a friend that was going to reserve his restaurant for the proposal. But, alas, no restaurants in Atlanta were allowing dining inside (only takeout and delivery). So that plan was bashed.
• Plan E: Getting closer! The plan was to do a private dinner at his mom’s and then bring me back to the house where all of our friends and family were waiting to surprise me before he proposed. Well, with social distancing, that wasn’t an option anymore. This got changed morning of!
• Plan F: On Friday morning (the day of the proposal), Brandon connected with his planning committee and came up with the final plan. With just a few hours to spare, they pulled it together for the most magical, memorable night of my entire life.

After hearing about all of the plans and cancellations and pivots, I just knew I wanted to share it with you guys. This situation we’re all in right now as a country (and as a world, really) has been the unfriendly reminder that things can change in an instant and shock us all to our core. The unknown can be a scary thing but we get to choose how we let it impact us. While the proposal is on a much smaller and less relevant scale compared to the pandemic we’re experiencing right now, the message is still the same and has played a huge role in shifting B and I’s perspective on life in general.

Life happens. We don’t get to control what happens around us but we do get to control how we react. On top of that, we get to choose how we let it impact our mindset. Instead of letting stress or anxiety get the best of us, we can focus on the positive things in our lives. In this case, for us it’s the engagement and all that we have to look forward to.

To sum it up

I’m happy. So happy, actually. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with Brandon. We annoy each other. We laugh a lot. We explore. We don’t always agree. We love movies and creating new memories. And, we’re currently quarantined together for the foreseeable future.

We’ll look back on this time in our lives as a hot mess of emotions but the thing we’ll remember most is how we took the first step in creating a life together. And that means more to me than anything.

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COMING UP: The story behind the engagement ring!