Well, my Fall Giveaway Week is in full swing and I’m so excited about it!! Yesterday was great hearing about everyone’s favorite things about this beautiful season. So, thank you to everyone who wrote in! The winner of yesterday’s contest is announced below! The week is just getting started though and there are plenty of chances to win other things. So, keep writing in and passing the word around. Today’s giveaway is for all of you online shoppers and avid readers out there! I will be giving away a $20 Amazon gift card this Tuesday. Since the fall season is one of the highest for engagements and since I’m a wedding photographer, this post is in honor of those two things. I LOVE hearing engagement stories because they are all unique and different. So, in order to win, leave a comment telling me something sweet/funny/cool/awesome/unique about an engagement story, be it yours, a friends or your dream proposal. Be as concise as possible!
Also, congrats to Emily B for winning yesterday’s $15 Starbucks gift card! We will be in touch! See her unique fall tradition below!
‘Fall is hands-down my very favorite season. The trees, the smells, the food, the holidays, the cooler temps. If/when I get married, I definitely want a fall wedding! But my FAVORITE part?? Our family’s annual tradition of a fall meal. It’s basically a Thanksgiving meal that occurs earlier in the season. This all got started during our middle school years when my mom basically cooked a Thanksgiving meal early in the season because the ingredients were on really good sale. This tradition became annual as a lighter version of Thanksgiving. It’s blossomed into this big meal because while we get a somewhat typical meal on Thanksgiving day at my grandma’s retirement center, it’s just not the same. So we get to continue this delicious fall tradition.’ -Emily
My husband was in school full time when he wanted to propose to me. Money was tight to say the least, but he got creative. =) His school was near the D.C. area and so he got involved in the National Institutes of Health to basically be a guinea pig. As he puts it, he “sold his body to science” to make money for my beautiful engagement ring! That is commitment!
My husband was in the navy living in Washington state while I was at school at OU. I went to visit him for his birthday and I suspected he may propose during my visit. He had a great evening planned around Seattle and we had a very romantic dinner at the top of the Space Needle. But, dinner ended and no proposal. So we headed back to my brothers house (where I was staying). I just assumed he wasn’t as ready as I thought! Well just before he had to leave that night to go home, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! He explained then that he had planned to ask me publicly at our romantic dinner, but he forgot the ring!!! Haha! Everyone makes fun I him for it (still, 5 years later!), but it is just perfect for us and our relationship, we both goof up like that all the time!
I was a senior in high school and my husband was an active duty soldier stationed 4 1/2 hrs away. He would come up to visit every weekend. This weekend happened to be senior prom night. I was sad that I couldn’t take him because was too old and that he would be deploying to Iraq in a few weeks. He wanted to make my night special for me and cheer me up so he needed up proposing to me after my after prom. I came to his house and he had candles and flower petals all over and 3 roses laying next to him. He handed me my first rose and said “this rose represents trust, and the and the trust that I have in you and the trust that you have in me and the trust that will continue to build over the years we share together”. He handed me my second rose and said ” this rose represent love, and the the love that I have for you and the you have for me and the love that will continue to grow over the years”. He then handed me the third rose, which was even bigger and more beautiful than the first two. He held this rose and said “this rose represents my plan, and the plan to provide for you, comfort you when you need and to always be there for you. Most of all this rose represents my plan to be the best husband I can be for you.” Then he pulled the ring down from the stem of the rose and slid it on my finger and said “lyndsey, will you marry me?” Of course I said yes and we have been happily married for over 8 years and have 3 beautiful boys and another baby on the way. It is a night I will never forget.
My husband knew I loved to fly, so he hired a pilot to fly us in a small plane over the area where I grew up. It was perfect, except for one thing. I kind of guessed the surprise. I knew he was going to propose, so I kept asking how he was going to do it. I asked if he was taking me flying, thinking I was throwing something extravagant out, like “African safari.” Turns out, it wasn’t so far-fetched after all. Oops!
We got engaged at Trinity. Matthew had it all set up, but had to move to a kids room at the last second because the Chinese were celebrating new year :). Kind of fitting as we worked with internationals throughout college!
Hands down, this would have to be my older brother’s proposal.
Eric had been dating his high school sweetheart for 9 years. I practically grew up with her as a sister. For the last several years I would occasionally ask my brother “When are you gonna propose!?” About two years ago, he said his plan was in the works. A year before he proposed, he started dressing nicer, taking Elaine out more, going on weekend trips more often, just so she wouldn’t suspect anything the one time it was a little different. Last November was a busy month for him, he was “working late” nearly every evening, but promised Elaine they could still go on the trip to Tennessee at the end of the month that they had planned earlier. They stayed at a beautiful B&B overlooking the Smoky Mountains in the middle of Fall. Eric convinced Elaine to get up early with him Saturday to watch the sunrise. When she awoke, he had set out two chairs on the hillside, and a bouquet of roses. Hidden within was a ring. When Elaine came out, he got down on one knee, presented her with a 50 page(!) scrapbook of their past 9 years together that he had made over the last month (“working late”), took the ring from one of the roses, and proposed.
I was so impressed with my brother and I can’t wait for their wedding in May and to finally have a sister!
My husband flew to Branson while I was working at Kanakuk for my last summer. I was led on a scavenger hunt to where I thought the surprise was getting Starbucks or Sonic! haha Little did I know he was the surprise waiting for me in the chapel to propose to me. It was perfect! 🙂
My husband is not a romantic, but let me redefine before you lose your butterflies. I knew him growing up before we became interested in each other and I knew he was the sort of man that would not spend weeks thinking of, planning, and executing splendid dating ventures that would pull on the strings of my heart. He was and is no-nonsense. He wanted a woman to depend on for having a traditional dinners cooked and ready for him when he got home from work. He wanted a woman to care for his needs: clean up after him even. He wanted a woman who was ambitious, both getting her things at home done and getting cleaned up attractively for him. On his end, he would be money wise, a provider, and a strong leader. My husband is purposeful. When he proposed to me, the greatest surprise was that he bought the ring the day after he asked for my parent’s blessing on the relationship and got down on his knee the same week. Yes he brought me to an overlook and yes be brought me roses to tell me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me, but what I have grown to love about him is not that he dreams up romantic situations to put me in. In the words that led up to “Will you marry me?” he looked me in the eyes and quoted Genesis 3. He reminded me of God’s plan for marriage and the covenant God has with his people. This straightforward pursuit of me and an awe of God is what makes me completely ecstatic to be his wife. I am not always thrilled that he puts me in situations where I know I need to die to myself, but the constancy of this man in his pursuit of God’s glory through resting in the work of Christ is the foundation of every way in which he captures my affections. He may not be a romantic, but he is romantic. And by the way, he proposed during our favorite time of the year–Fall.
well, during our proposal I thought the hubs was going to lean in for the 1st kiss of our entire relationship…turns out when he said he had committed to not kissing until the girl was his wife…he did not mean engagement but the big day! So as I leaned in for the 1st kiss when we got engaged he was leaning backwards to get away…still cracks me up! turned out pretty darn great though as our 1st kiss was on the alter as we made our covenant in marriage!
My husband had been working hard to throw me off of his trail for weeks. He had asked me on a date to go to the restaurant where he first told me that he loved me. I, of course, suspected something was up. But, then for the next few weeks, he said all kinds of things that threw me off. By the time we got to the date, I was absolutely convinced he wasn’t going to propose that night. When he sat me down and pulled out roses and began reading a letter he had written, I thought, “wow, this is really good stuff. Why isn’t he saving this for a proposal?” haha, it took me a minute to gather my thoughts when all of the sudden he was down on one knee! His plan worked. I was completely surprised! And even more surprised when I realized he had flown in my best friend and my mom for the big day and planned an engagement party after with all of our friends. Second best day of our lives (next to our wedding!).
My dream proposal would involve stops at many important sites, ones that are special to me and to my future husband. I’d like one of those stops to be at the K-1 party barn, haha! How fun would that be?!!
The day started with a picnic at the Dallas Aboretum and a few episodes of the Office with dinner plans later. Just a normal day, right?
We pulled out to his place for dinner but when we made it to his front door he asked me to close my eyes. He led me inside the doorway and almost to the living room when he told me to open them. His entire living room was cleared out except for a chair and small table in the center of the room. There were candles lit all around the room and music softly playing. He sat me down & began to wash my feet in silence.
On the table next to the chair were four letters. The first one was from him. On our first date I had to go to the emergency room and have a ring I was wearing cut off because I was so nervous. At the end of his letter he said that I lost a ring on our first date and that he hoped I liked the replacement. He told me he loved me for the first time and on one knee he asked me to marry him.
He handed me the other four letters. All were written to me from both set of parents. Tears streamed down my face as I read each of them as they shared their excitement and joy and welcomed me into their family.
He had one more surprise in store. We pulled up to a friend’s home and I was completely shocked to see that he had planned an engagement party for us with our close friends. And to make it even more special – both set of parents drove & flew in from Missouri for the special day.
Well I’m not yet at the engaged/married stage at my life, but there’s one part of both of my older sisters’ proposals that I loved. After asking my parents’ permission, but before actually proposing, both of my now brother-in-laws called me to ask MY permission to marry my big sis. Because I’m so close to both of my sisters, this small gesture meant so much to me and both times left me in tears! I’m so glad that they proposed and married my sisters to officially join our family and become my brothers.
It was a normal Wednesday and I was heading to work. I found a banana chocolate chip muffin (his specialty), banana-gram tiles (some with numbers written on the back), and a few notes from some of my favorite people. Throughout the day, I got a new set of banana-gram tiles and notes from different people including one of my dear buddies Tayler, the senior girls I mentored, and my roomie Blair. The tiles spelled out my instructions to meet him where we first met, his house. At his house he had more letters from parents and friends that led me through the house and finally to a beautiful jewelry box he made. FINALLY, after lots of tears and sniffling my way through the letters, he appeared, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. Perfect day of encouraging notes ending with the perfect engagement. 🙂
One of the coolest moments from my engagement was hearing all the planning involved leading up too. (I had no idea when he proposed) One of the best stories is when Jonathan asked my Mom if she wanted to help pick out the ring, after he received my parents blessings! Of course she was honored and they went shopping together, when she dropped me off at a baby shower and she said she was going shoe shopping. It shows how compassionate, thoughtful, and sweet my fiancé Jonathan is!! She will cherish that moment for a lifetime and know that touched her heart!
The best engagement story I’ve heard is one of my best friends. Gerald had this extravagant day planned for him and Michelle. Each part of the date had to do with one of the five senses and all the locations had a special meaning to them.
Smell: They had quiet time at Starbucks, and she correctly ID’d coffees and got a candle!
Sight: Played a game with words at a bookstore.
Sound: At their park, she followed his voice while blindfolded to a blanket where he said, “I want to tell you how I love you but we’d be here for hours so I put it into a little black box.” *gasp* He pulled out a box with a picture on every side of them. Inside were little pieces of paper with dozens of reasons why he loves her.
Touch: At Virginia Tech’s football stadium, she touched and guessed what different objects were while blindfolded.
During ‘touch’, I was waiting with my camera in the parking lot of the stadium. I watched them climb the ladder to the lights at the top of the stands. He told her how much he loved her and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. He got down on one knee, and SHE SAID YES!!!! I was clicking away with my camera and a borrowed zoom lens. It was incredible! I quickly ran to CVS, printed the pictures, hung them in her room with streamers, balloons, signs, and a dress Gerald had gotten her. She was so amazed at how much we had done for the proposal. IT WAS AMAZING!!!
On our one year anniversary of dating my now fiancée and I decided to exchange gifts before we went to dinner. I let her go first because I figured my gift to her would steal the show. Turns out she had the perfect present in store also. She gave me a photo book full of pictures of us entitled 52 Reasons Why I Love You (one for each week we had been dating). It was perfect lead up to my proposal.