I can’t even believe I’m writing this blog post right now but WE’RE ENGAGED!! FINALLY!

“We’re Engaged.”
WHAT?? It’s still so weird to say!! Ryan and I have been dating for almost 5 years. We met back in 2013 while working together at Publix and started dating in 2015 after I made the first move and gave him my number #GIRLPOWER. I’ve shared a whole lot about our story on Instagram and my website so I’ll spare you those details and we’ll jump into all the engagement stuff 🙂

We talked about marriage on our first date.

I know – some people think that is SUPER weird and moving too quickly but honestly, why aren’t people having those conversations about expectations sooner? I know people who have gone years dating someone and marriage never came up once… How are you supposed to plan your future that way? I’m not sure. Ryan and I both agreed that we don’t date just to date. We date to marry and if either of us weren’t okay with that, our time wouldn’t be wasted. I love this quote by Jeff Bethke, “Dating without the intent of marriage is like going to the grocery store with no money. You either take something that’s not yours or you leave unsatisfied.” CAN I GET AN AMEN?? So we always knew the end goal was to be married some day.

Fast forward a few years and I’m metaphorically tapping my foot waiting and waiting and waiting for him to pop the question. He wanted to make sure he was financially stable to take care of us first (which I respect). Around the beginning of this year, he started talking about getting married more seriously. Like he was actually planning on proposing at some point in the next year and that made me so happy. Ryan started reaching out to photographers first for their availability because I told him that is the only thing I request for when he asks. Photos are obviously important to me if you can’t tell LOL.

Due to COVID, his plans got pushed back. Several times.

He told me he started planning the proposal back in Feb – March of 2020 right before the pandemic hit. Things were unstable with the economy, he worked at Disney when they closed their doors + everything was just uncertain. He ordered my ring from Zen Moissanite at the end of June and was about to try again in July. But the one weekend that worked with the photographer, I had several shoots so that didn’t work! UGH! Then he kept talking about us going back to my parent’s house the 2nd weekend of August. I just felt like something was coming. I knew he ordered the ring, knew it would take a couple weeks to make/ ship so it all seemed like perfect timing, ya know 😏

After just barely getting the ring in time to propose, we drove down to my parents. He asked if I wanted to go on a picnic at one of our first date spots in a local park. HE EVEN WORE THE SAME SHIRT!! 😍

We picked up a chicken tender sub from Publix to split and headed to the park. As we were sitting down, he kept looking around which I thought was strange. The spot looked different than before so I thought maybe that was it? After we ate, I stood up because (TMI) my legs were sweating from how hot it was LOL. He turned to me, started saying some super cute stuff. I was like, “OH MY GOSH IS THIS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW FOR REAL?”

“Will you be mine forever?”

After many tears were shed, I said yes!! I heard shutter clicks from a camera and was screaming internally. Then Ryan said, “There’s a couple people here to surprise you.” I saw the photographer, Karin, and immediately just freaked out. “There’s a few other people too.” I look behind Karin and my family was there!! That meant so much to me and I didn’t even have it in my mind that they would be there! It was all just perfect. We got home, popped some champagne with my parents and started Facetiming family and friends to tell them the news. Everyone was like, “Finally!!!” 😆 It’s already been a week being engaged and it’s freakin’ sweet. I can’t wait to marry this man🖤

Thank you so much to Karin Maria Photography for capturing this special moment for us! She was amazing. So glad we finally got to meet!!

It’s official! We’re engaged!!

The moment I saw my family there 🥺

I’ll be putting up another blog post all about my ring because it has a special story behind it. Plus it’s not a diamond! Don’t worry, I asked for it not to be 🥰

Ryan expected the ring to arrive the day we were supposed to leave to go to my parent’s house. Which is also the same night he proposed. He thought he wouldn’t get the ring in time so he got a temporary one as a symbol 🥺 . Thankfully, it got delivered one day earlier. We actually picked it up the night before after we shot Katie and Jacob’s wedding! His excuse was, “I just don’t want it sitting there the whole weekend.” Made sense, right?

“We’re engaged”. It is still unreal to say!! Calling him my fiancé instead of boyfriend is an adjustment but one I am very okay with getting used to🖤