Our Engagement Story

Last week I shared our “How I met my Husband” story with you. It was an Ask Elizabeth question and since our 5th anniversary just happened to be on a Friday, I answered that one to celebrate. I wanted to piggy back of that with our engagement story!

It’s pretty crazy that all these years I have been blogging, I never wrote much about our dating, engagement, and wedding story. I wasn’t blogging seriously (or really at all) during that time. It is kind of a bummer since one of the reasons I blog is to capture those memories! But at the same time, it’s okay. Not every season is for everything! I didn’t share the story 5 years ago when I got engaged, but I can now!

Bruce and I had been dating for 15 months when he proposed. We were the kind of couple that didn’t talk about marriage, weddings, and rings because we didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves. I mean, we were serious about our relationship, just also keeping perspective. We didn’t want to plan a wedding until we were engaged and actually ready to plan a wedding. Because of that, I had no idea what the timeline would be. I knew we would probably get married (I think we both did when we finally started dating) but I was thinking that the soonest we would get engaged would be at Christmas of that year.

It was May. We had been talking about zoo memberships and decided just to get them – it would be fun to have a place to hang out all the time especially going into the summer. Bruce asked if I could get off work early on a Friday so that we could snag them before the last admission. I was like “Okay!” I was a bit nervous to ask to take off early since I had only been working at my job 2 weeks but everyone else on my team had already left early one day that week so I was empowered to ask and it was no big deal!

I had no idea. We met up as normal and I was just thrilled we were getting zoo memberships! Bruce bought my membership at the door (which was so sweet) and we grab skyway tickets because we hadn’t rode the new gondola yet. Everything still felt like normal. I was excited about the zoo and chatting about my day and all the normal things.

We rode the lift first per Bruce’s request. I now know it was because he had a ring burning a hole in his pocket! Haha! When we got to the top, we looked over the city and were pointing things out. He asked if I could see my house and I was looking hard for it and then turned around to say I couldn’t see it when I saw Bruce down on one knee.

Here is the part where he said a bunch of really sweet things that I don’t remember but my heart was rushing and I was all like “I’m getting married!” in my head. But outside I just said, “Are you serious? Is this a joke?” Which are really weird things to say in hindsight. I am SUCH a planner and I was NOT AT ALL expecting this so my brain was trying to catch up with my heart! Bruce finally said “So is that a yes?” To which I responded, “YES!”

He then put the most perfect solitaire ring on my finger. It was everything simple and beautiful I had wanted in a ring and I didn’t even have to tell him a thing about it. It’s one of my most valuable possessions – not just monetarily but also sentimentally.

We went out to dinner afterwards to process and start the wedding planning. My favorite was when he asked me if I had any dates in mind because he already had several. I hadn’t had time to think about wedding planning at all – I didn’t even know I was getting engaged! I’m pretty sure we talked things out and still set a date that night.

To celebrate five years of marriage, we got photos taken again where we got engaged. I found these engagement photos on my blog so you can see round one! It was fun to be back in the same place – a place that holds so many sweet memories of us! All the photos were taken by the talented Rachel of Rachel Beckwith Photography!

Outfit Details: Lace Dress || VISCATA Satuna Espadrilles || Rose Gold Watch || Light Pink Pendant Necklace