If you haven't yet...I highly suggest starting with the first three parts of the epic proposal saga:
Part 1: An OOPS of Epic proportions
Part 2: When life gives you lemons...go shopping
Part 3: T-24 Hours
Thursday, February 7th was the longest day EVER. I was waking up early all week (I have no idea why, ha!) and Thursday was no different. I knew I had a full day of work to get through before the big event so I purposefully planned to have a project that would take me the whole day and would keep me focused and zen! It worked, the day flew by, and before I knew it, I was getting ready! I was originally supposed to be ready by 6 but (as I later found out) Connor's plane was delayed in Chicago so that was pushed back until after 7. Of course I was ready by about 5:30 so there was lots of pacing and thinking and re-touching. Finally Erin said it was time to go so with a leg warmer as a blindfold, off we went to the top secret location!
Erin managed to throw me off on our way to the location but once we started driving up some big hills, I was pretty sure I knew where we were! The BEAUTIFUL Alms Park in Cincinnati. It was dark by the time I arrived but I've included two photos of what it looks like in the daylight.
This is the place he was waiting for me. The compass rose was surrounded by candles and rose petals. Facing the other way is a beautiful view of the Ohio river and downtown in the background which sparkled in the dark.
A view from above...the lower area is where it all happened!
It was so wonderful to see Connor in front of me when the blindfold was taken off. Being in a long distance relationship with him makes every time I see him incredibly special, this night especially. I sort of expected him to start talking (I mean, this was his deal after all!) but there was definitely a minute of awkward small talk that still makes me laugh a little bit. I was thinking, "Uh...I think this is where you say nice stuff" and finally he started in on a very sweet little speech. I don't remember much of it but I'm pretty sure he called me the "Apple of his eye" which is great because he has beautiful blue eyes. He got down on one knee, said my full name, and asked me to be his wife. I think I might have had a tear in my eye but I really just had a huge smile on my face. Of course it was dark when he opened the ring box so he ran over and grabbed his phone to shine a light on it.
THAT was the moment I got emotional. Connor took everything I had ever said about what I would love in a ring and presented me with the most beautiful ring I had ever laid my eyes on. He listened. He worked (really) hard to make sure it would be something that I would love (and I do!). I'm proud to wear it because it is beautiful but I'm even more proud because it means that I get to marry my best friend!!!! Still love saying it!
The ring gets a whole post to itself but I've had lots of requests for this, so here it is!!
After the proposal, Connor pulled out his computer and started showing me a video that he had put together. Remember that Facebook message I mistakenly got? It was a request for pictures and videos to share with me after the big event. We got through the first five minutes of it when his computer had a hiccup and he announced that we had dinner plans and needed to go! (Sidenote: we did finally finish the video the next morning and it was really incredible to watch 20 minutes of the most important people in my life congratulating us on our engagement.)
We called my parents on the way to dinner and I think my mom was as excited that the proposal happened as she was that she didn't have to keep it a secret any longer. We were headed to Metropole at the 21C Hotel in Cincinnati for dinner and to stay there for the night. Dinner was really lovely. Our food was fantastic and we had a sweet little table for two. It was so fun to hear about his side of the story, learn about the ring, his asking my parents (which he did on December 28th, my birthday, when we were in Texas), and start talking about when we wanted to get married.
Just after I commented on how lovely it was that we were having such a nice, leisurely dinner, he looked down and realized that we were going to be late for the final event of the evening.
To finish off the night, Connor walked me to Igby's, a new bar around the corner. When we walked in, we had 15 of my wonderful friends waiting to celebrate our engagement with us! It was a really wonderful way to end the night! (Thanks everyone for joining us!!)
The rest of the weekend was filled with staring at my hand, giggling over calling each other 'fiance', phoning family and friends, posting to Facebook to make it officially official, and smiling from ear to ear. My wonderful roommates gave us a bottle of champagne and a wedding magazine (that was for me, though Connor got a good laugh by looking through it!) so we got to toast to our future before my fiance had to head back to California.
We have already begun the fun of planning our wedding and I plan on sharing much of the adventure on the blog! I'm living in Ohio, Connor is in California, and we're planning our wedding in Texas so having something to share with friends and family across the country is important to me. I'm even hoping that Connor will be making an appearance with some posts as he's a fantastic writer and I think the male's perspective would be an interesting addition to a typical wedding blog.
Congrats, Megan! I am so happy for y'all!
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