We're Engaged!
I am LITERALLY 9 months late on this post. But here we are! I have been wanting to start my wedding series on the blog: our engagement story, wedding venues, my inspo board, etc. Make sure to go here to find all wedding related posts. At this point in our engagement we have booked our venue and majority of the vendors — I am now planning the small stuff, decor and save the dates. I will be making a post about all these things! I am also building the website — stay tuned.
Me & Tom had been dating for almost 3.5 years when we got engaged - 1.5 years living together. When I moved to DC we talked about our future and knew we’d get married one day because it was such a big step in our relationship. After talking about it and making many jokes about when we will get engaged — he looked at me one day last fall (2019) and said we should go look at rings and try some on. I was sooo excited, and nervous AF. I had no idea what cut I wanted, if I wanted gold or silver, and I had no idea what my ring size was. We went that day and I figured it all out, and patiently waited knowing the proposal was coming any day.
On the day of March 15, 2020 me and Tom were figuring out our plans for the day, and he wanted to go get dinner with his family (his mom’s birthday was a few days prior). I suggested that we meet halfway in Annapolis and get dinner on the water somewhere. Little did I know, I was actually planning my own engagement LOL. I remember that day I put on a casual outfit, and Tom asked me if I should wear that because the restaurant we were going to was fancy. This has never happened in the history of our whole relationship — he never questions what I am wearing. I should have known right then!! I ended up changing my top and shoes, but still wore jeans because I knew I’d be freezing.
We leave for Annapolis and get there an hour earlier than his family because I wanted to walk around, go in some shops, and get an OOTD shot near the water. After walking for about 20 minutes, we end up near the main downtown area in Annapolis with a dock and park. He suggested we walk around the water edge and go down this dock didn’t have railings or anything - it looked abandoned. And me being difficult, said absolutely not but you can go and I’ll sit here. Anyways, he ends up FORCING me down this dock and I was so annoyed, as I walk down and go “K” and start walking away, he grabs me and hugs me and starts talking about how much he loves me, and basically I blacked out from there because I have no idea what he said. He went down on one knee, (I think I said yes??), and next thing you know, we’re engaged!
After freaking out, crying, kissing, etc: I ask him to repeat what he said to me because I remembered NOTHING. Well, he was also nervous and remembered nothing. So to this day we don’t know what was said HAHA. I FaceTime my mom, sister, best friend and brother because I was in shock and needed to tell the people I love! We went in the closest bar and got a glass of champagne (the picture above was us on self timer at the bar). His family picked us up and we had a gorgeous dinner on the water, it was the perfect evening.
As for the ring… it didn’t fit!!! I was devastated - and so was Tom. You can see in the picture above that it did not go over my knuckle. The next day Tom reached out to his ring dealer to try and get it resized right away because I wanted to wear it. Businesses had already started to shut down because of COVID — so we didn’t hear back for days. We finally got ahold of him and he told us to come in right away, and we went that day. After arriving and Tom bringing his paperwork, we realized that Tom had my correct ring size and they actually made the ring a size too small. After realizing their mistake, they made the change immediately and I went home that day with my ring!
A little back story on our engagement (that I learned after). Tom had been planning the proposal for months, and it was supposed to be March 21. He invited everyone we love — our families and friends. He planned on proposing at the botanic garden (a place we both love), and then surprising me with all my friends and family at our rooftop afterwards. Well COVID started to hit the world in January, and by February it was worse. By the end of February, my work had already sent me home to work remote. Everyone who was flying in started cancelling their flights and hotels because the pandemic was getting bad. By the time mid-March hit, everything in DC was shut down and we were both working remote. Tom knew we were going to dinner with his family and wasn’t sure when he would get another opportunity to propose, so he decided to do it the day he proposed! Which honestly worked out great because days after, the whole country was shut down, travel was shut down and it was declared a “Global Pandemic”. It was horrifying (as we all know). It was a very weird time to get engaged — I was so excited, but this virus was global and people were dying at a rapid rate. It was the weirdest feeling ever. I was super down for months about it — I didn’t plan anything, I didn’t research, I did nothing. I did not want to set a date because the world seemed so uncertain. So, we waited. In July, we finally started looking at venues and booked one ASAP. Mainly because it was one of few dates left of 2021 — from all the 2020 weddings being postponed.
We are still very unsure if our wedding will happen (it’s a nightmare), but we’re staying hopeful! I hope you enjoyed our strange, very different proposal story. It was such a beautiful day and it was just us (which was all I wanted). I also requested no videos or photos, that is why we don’t have any. I wanted it to be an intimate moment and not worry about the moment being captured. And it was wonderful! I’m so glad it worked out, because honestly, we didn’t dress up and go out to dinner for months after that day and he would have had to wait (or proposed on the couch during quarantine).
