2 Month Countdown and Our Proposal Story

I've been meaning to write out our engagement story for a while now (10 months flew by REAL quick!). So in honor of our two month countdown until the wedding and of my escalating emotions (reminiscing, excited, stressed, lovey-dovey), here it is...

I was waiting for Bryan to propose...sitting around, twiddling my thumbs like HELLO CAN YOU PROPOSE ALREADY? I would be lying if I said I wasn't...most girls are :) We had been dating one year on and off and three years officially at this point, so yes, I was like let's get this show on the road. I had told my sister (who I always talked about this all with) that I was really hoping he would propose during the summer. We're a summer couple...we both live for and thrive in the summer, going to the beach, with outside workouts...it's our happy time so it only seemed natural that he would either do it then, or on a vacation in a warm place.

As the last few weekends of summer rolled around, I could see that weekends were running out. The first week of August, we spent in LBI with Bryan's entire family. I didn't expect him to do it there, but instead something else happened. We were having a great week, until he passed me his phone to look something up and when I opened his browser I saw that he had googled something along the lines of "18K gold ring" I immediately threw his phone back at him, pretended I didn't see it and started texting my sister freaking out. I interpreted this as him just googling information about a ring for the first time. Knowing how long it takes him to make a decision, I "knew" from that it wasn't happening anytime soon. My sister (who at this point already knew Bry was proposing two weeks later) calmed me down and told me she thought it would happen by end of 2016 and to not freak out until the year was over. All that said, we had a very special week in LBI and things just felt right so I knew deep down that it was going to happen but after seeing that in his phone, didn't think it would be anytime in the near future.

This might explain why I didn't pick up on all of the signs that did happen leading up to it (either that or because I tend to be oblivious). I took the train down to our shore house after work on Friday 8.19. Bryan and Jaclyn (my sister) both got off work later so they took the train down together. Clearly getting engaged was still on my mind because I spent my entire 2 hour ride down pinning rings on Pinterest, forgetting that my mom had access to my ring board and could see every time I pinned something. When we all got down to the beach house, my mom called me out for pinning rings. I (a bit frustrated that the engagement was nowhere in the near future so I thought) made a joke that the longer Bryan waited, the bigger the diamonds I was pinning. My dad responded...he's going to run away if you say things like that. Bryan, uncomfortable that everyone was so casually talking about this the night before it was going to happen (yes...they all knew and still brought it up!), grabbed a beer from the kitchen and went upstairs. I remember thinking his demeanor was a bit aggressive (for his normal personality). I also remember that while Jac and I were cooking dinner, he was snappy, blaming it on being "hangry" and I said to Jac "I dno why he's in a bad mood."

We went to bed that night. My parents house is set up with two twin beds in each room, so in the morning I usually sneak into Bryan's bed to wake him up. When I did that, I noticed his heart was POUNDING out of his chest and when I asked if he was OK, he played it off like nothing was happening. I thought to myself, "omg I hope his health is OK." We did our normal routine...got up, had coffee on the front porch and then got ready for a boardwalk run. When I went upstairs to get him, I noticed that he was doing his hair...very odd. I questioned why he was doing his hair before a run and he responded "I always do my hair before runs...!" Still, with all of these signs, I didn't think anything of it.

We headed out on our run and when we got up to the boardwalk (1/2 a mile from my house), the sun was glistening on the water and the weather was perfect (hot, but perfect). About a mile into the run, we usually walk out onto the pier in Ocean Grove to stretch. Bryan stopped running and started walking a little earlier than usual and was out of breath...again I thought, "is his health OK, he seems out of shape." When we walked out onto the pier I saw a big heart of seashells and my initial thought was "that's so cute, some kids must have made it" ...but then it hit me that this could be happening. I looked out into the ocean and as it got in my head, I started spacing out a bit. Bryan could tell that I made the connection so he pulled me to the side, and recited a little speech that he had prepared. For the first half of the speech, I still wasn't sure if THIS was happening, it sounded like it was but I didn't want to get my hopes up. Towards the middle I knew that his heart wasn't only pounding because of our 3 mile jog. He talked about how we met, some specific good memories, the things that have made him fall in love with me. All senses were heightened...the smell of the ocean, the sun beating down on us, the sweat from our run dripping down our faces. He got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. At some point, I fell down to my knees too (I felt so weak and was shaking). I was so excited/happy/nervous that I just hugged him, trying to absorb what was happening. He put the (most perfect) ring on me (after taking it out of the small pocket tucked into his running shorts) and then I remembered I hadn't said yes yet! I of course said yes. We kissed sweaty salty kisses. I specifically remember his blue eyes squinting down at me. It was the best moment.

We sat on a bench on the pier and I made him re-recite his speech so I could remember it (and pay attention this time). After taking it all in, we walked home (no energy to run). He told me that no one knew and we had to figure out how to tell everyone (little did I know, his sister and brother-in-law were at the pier with us snapping pictures the whole time!). I started making plans to invite both families to the beach to tell them, but when we got back to my house, our families were already there waiting in the backyard to celebrate.

The Sperduto's & The Allman's after the proposal celebrating our soon-to-be new family

I went to call my friends and he told me that everyone already knew and was meeting us at a bar later that day for more celebrations (one of my friends even flew in from ATL for it!).

enjoying a beautiful sunset at the bar with our friends after

To Bryan, this post is for you :) You did the most amazing job planning the most perfect proposal. I don't know how I didn't pick up on the little signs leading up to it but I'm happy I didn't because I was genuinely surprised with the proposal and both of the celebrations you had planned for after. I love that you proposed in the summer, at the beach, on a run, in our happy place. I love reminiscing on this day and love you, so much.

8.20.16