June 16 - 1 year ago today I got engaged! And what a surprise it was!! I've never written out our engagement story before, so here it is... or you can just watch the video and call it quits.
We had been looking at rings for a while. I absolutely fell in love with one at Paris Jewellers in the mall. I had looked at a lot of rings in a lot of stores and never seen anything like it. I was hooked. Too bad it was over our budget... WAY over. The lady at the store told us it could likely go on sale, but even then it was on the high end of our budget. We put it on hold just in case. Normally I'm not the fancy shmancy type, or the type of girl to want an expensive ring, but for some reason I could not love anything else. Nick loved the ring too, we both talked about it the whole way home how much we both loved it.
So I started researching trying to find something smaller in size, or similar that we could afford. I found one I could create at People's that was smaller, had the same kind of style and was within our budget . I gave Nick all the information on how to order it and I knew it would take 6 weeks to get it customized. I'm a bit of a control freak. When I want things to get done I want them to get done right now. So it was really hard for me relinquish my power.
I waited and waited for any hint of him getting the ring but nothing, a couple of months passed. I called the store, the order still hadn't been placed. I was getting more and more discouraged. Finally on Father's Day weekend we had a good talk about how stressed out we've both been and how he was trying to find the perfect weekend but things kept coming up. Nick mentioned my dream ring had gone on sale and he was going to surprise me with it. So we almost just decided to get engaged right then and there to take the pressure off. But Nick still wanted to do something special, so we drove to the mall to see if the ring was still on sale or to place the order for my 2nd choice. Nick didn't want me coming with him, so I went to the food court to kill time. He came back and told me an older couple had come into the store and bought my dream ring, it had been on hold for so long the ladies at the store didn't think we wanted it anymore. He told me he went and placed the order so in 6 weeks we will be engaged! We had separate cars at the mall so we were going to meet at my parents and head out to the farm for Father's Day festivities.
I was a little sceptical about his story. I mean come on, another couple just HAPPENED to buy the ring the same day Nick was going to? This was classic boyfriend 101. Lying about the ring so you can "surprise" the girl. I wanted to know if he was lying, so I called Paris Jeweller on the way home. I told the lady my name and asked if my ring was still on hold. She asked if I could hold she would go check. Little did I know Nick went straight to the jewellery store to buy my dream ring. (he WAS lying just as I suspected) He was in the store when I called!! She told Nick his girlfriend was on the phone asking about the ring and what she should tell me. Nick thought "that little snoop dog!! trying to see if I was lying..." so he told her to tell me it had sold earlier and to apologize to me, they didn't know we still wanted it. So the lady told me exactly that. I hung up and was kinda bummed. I was THIS close to getting that amazing ring. Oh well. Nick's story checked out and I would have to wait 6 weeks for the other one to come in. At least I was getting a ring I kept thinking.... (I guess Nick's story was partially true, apparently an older couple HAD come in and looked at the ring earlier that day, wanting to buy it!!)
Apparently Nick got right to work, he got his plan rolling into action with the help of his family (1 day to get everything ready!) and texted all of my family to let them know he was going to propose the next day.
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was super grumpy. Nick surprised me by driving from Barnwell to go to church with me. He never does that, but I didn't think anything of it. We had a nice day at church together but I desperately needed a nap and I was getting grumpier and grumpier. Nick told me to take a nap and take my time getting ready then come out to Barnwell for Father's Day dinner. I woke up from my nap, still not in the best of moods and almost called to tell Nick I didn't want to come out for dinner I just wanted to stay home. But I decided to be a good sport and so I showered and headed out there.
So I started researching trying to find something smaller in size, or similar that we could afford. I found one I could create at People's that was smaller, had the same kind of style and was within our budget . I gave Nick all the information on how to order it and I knew it would take 6 weeks to get it customized. I'm a bit of a control freak. When I want things to get done I want them to get done right now. So it was really hard for me relinquish my power.
I waited and waited for any hint of him getting the ring but nothing, a couple of months passed. I called the store, the order still hadn't been placed. I was getting more and more discouraged. Finally on Father's Day weekend we had a good talk about how stressed out we've both been and how he was trying to find the perfect weekend but things kept coming up. Nick mentioned my dream ring had gone on sale and he was going to surprise me with it. So we almost just decided to get engaged right then and there to take the pressure off. But Nick still wanted to do something special, so we drove to the mall to see if the ring was still on sale or to place the order for my 2nd choice. Nick didn't want me coming with him, so I went to the food court to kill time. He came back and told me an older couple had come into the store and bought my dream ring, it had been on hold for so long the ladies at the store didn't think we wanted it anymore. He told me he went and placed the order so in 6 weeks we will be engaged! We had separate cars at the mall so we were going to meet at my parents and head out to the farm for Father's Day festivities.
I was a little sceptical about his story. I mean come on, another couple just HAPPENED to buy the ring the same day Nick was going to? This was classic boyfriend 101. Lying about the ring so you can "surprise" the girl. I wanted to know if he was lying, so I called Paris Jeweller on the way home. I told the lady my name and asked if my ring was still on hold. She asked if I could hold she would go check. Little did I know Nick went straight to the jewellery store to buy my dream ring. (he WAS lying just as I suspected) He was in the store when I called!! She told Nick his girlfriend was on the phone asking about the ring and what she should tell me. Nick thought "that little snoop dog!! trying to see if I was lying..." so he told her to tell me it had sold earlier and to apologize to me, they didn't know we still wanted it. So the lady told me exactly that. I hung up and was kinda bummed. I was THIS close to getting that amazing ring. Oh well. Nick's story checked out and I would have to wait 6 weeks for the other one to come in. At least I was getting a ring I kept thinking.... (I guess Nick's story was partially true, apparently an older couple HAD come in and looked at the ring earlier that day, wanting to buy it!!)
Apparently Nick got right to work, he got his plan rolling into action with the help of his family (1 day to get everything ready!) and texted all of my family to let them know he was going to propose the next day.
{NEXT DAY}
I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was super grumpy. Nick surprised me by driving from Barnwell to go to church with me. He never does that, but I didn't think anything of it. We had a nice day at church together but I desperately needed a nap and I was getting grumpier and grumpier. Nick told me to take a nap and take my time getting ready then come out to Barnwell for Father's Day dinner. I woke up from my nap, still not in the best of moods and almost called to tell Nick I didn't want to come out for dinner I just wanted to stay home. But I decided to be a good sport and so I showered and headed out there.
During the summer Nick had cleaned out his Grandma Johnson's quonset and found big barrels full of food storage, some of them were labelled instant mashed potatoes and Nick's imagination started going wild. When I arrived at the Johnson house they were making a kiddy pool full of instant mashed potatoes (apparently when they opened the barrels they were actually full of wheat!! So they had to improvise and Nick's dad went out and bought like 20 boxes of instant mashed potatoes). Nick's family later that night asked me if I was at all suspicious of why the heck they were making a pool full of mashed potatoes, but honestly nothing crossed my mind. I was completely oblivious. It had Nick written all over it, he is always coming up with crazy stuff like this.
Nick's sister's Alisha and Carly had me help them put the kids prizes into plastic baggies to hide in the mashed potatoes. So we put in chocolate bars, nail polish, dollar store action figures, etc. Sneakily Alisha showed me the little princess ring they got for one of Nick's nieces, Lily. It was in a little sparkly heart shaped box. Again, totally oblivious. I mean why would I be suspicious? My ring had sold and we ordered another one to come in 6 weeks from now. The kids got into their swimsuits and we were gonna start playing games, trying to find the prizes. I tried to hide in the kitchen and clean up dinner and do the dishes but Nick kept saying I got voted to go first against his brother-in-law Tony. I told him I was happy to stay in the kitchen and clean up, I'll watch out the window, but he wouldn't have it. He asked me to be a good sport, so I finally went outside dragging my feet. I did not want to get dirty and get mashed potatoes all over me....
no clue what is about to happen in a few minutes
both Tony and I got blind folded and Alisha hid the "prize" in the pool. Whoever found it first won.
#1) I didn't want him to do it in front of anyone. I wanted it to be just the 2 of us
#2) I didn't want anything fancy. I just wanted him to tell me why he loved me and wanted to marry me
So much for just the 2 of us! I got proposed to in front of his whole family! But it was perfect. The surprise was much better. Family and Friends were on standby waiting to come out to Barnwell to congratulate us and have cake and dessert with us. It was such a special day! And to think I was grumpy earlier!
Courtesy of Nicole Maclean Photography
Courtesy of Meghan Maxwell Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment