Michael and I are ENGAGED!! Ahh! I still can’t believe it. It almost doesn’t seem real!! Michael asked me to marry him on December 19, just under a week before Christmas. I am so excited and feel so grateful that God gave me Michael. He has been one of the biggest blessings in my life ever since we started dating, and now we get to spend the rest of forever together! Today I’m sharing how he proposed. First I’ll give a quick backstory, but someday I’ll do a longer blog post with our story of how we met and started dating. :) We’ve been dating for almost a year and a half. We met through our church’s small group for college/young adults. The first time we were introduced was while playing spikeball… and it didn’t take long for us to realize we really liked each other! We started dating a few months after that, and dated for almost a year and a half before we were engaged.

Now for the proposal story! First, I’m going to give my side of it and what I thought was going on… then Michael’s going to give his side and how he set it all up. :) (Side note: Michael’s side has a lot more of the pictures from the whole story!) Enjoy!!

From Stephanie:

A couple weeks before it happened, I was told that one of my friend’s boyfriends was coming home early to surprise her. Brittney and Josh are dating long distance, with Josh being in the military and at an academy in New York. I thought myself, Audrey, and Melissa were all planning a special day for Brittney to be surprised by him coming home early for Christmas. My sister, Melissa, and another good friend, Audrey, “planned” to take Brittney out shopping, then make an excuse to stop at our church to grab something… but then bring her inside, blindfold her, and take her upstairs where Josh was waiting for her. Little did I know, Brittney, Audrey, and Melissa had actually been planning with Michael to surprise me. The whole thing was not real, and Josh wasn’t actually coming back… but instead, Michael had everything set up to propose to me.

Once we arrived at the church, we all went inside with Brittney and blindfolded her. At this point, I still believed we were surprising her. But once we got to the top of the stairs, Audrey told me to go inside first. Inside the door was a little area with a chair, some pictures of Michael and I, and flowers, along with some chocolate and sparkling juice. Audrey, Brittney, and Mel then told me that it was time for me to get ready. Once they said that, I immediately knew what was going on. They brought three different dresses for me to choose from, and funny enough, I picked the one that matched Michael’s outfit!

After they all helped me do my hair and makeup, I was told to walk out into the main room (at this point, we had only been in a small closed off section of the hallway and the bathroom). I walked out, and there were a row of candles leading up to the door of the main room upstairs. Michael greeted me at the door with the biggest smile and a big bear hug. :) He walked me inside the room, where he had two tables set up on either side. The tables had a lot of pictures and memories from when we’ve been dating, all the way from the start. We’re both pretty sentimental, so we each have a box of things that remind us of what we’ve done, such as pictures, receipts, tickets, notes, and things we’ve made for each other.

After he showed me around the tables and we took it all in, he walked me to the back of the room where there was one more table set up. It had something sitting in the middle covered by a piece of cloth, surrounded by candles and flowers. At this point, I only remember a few things he said… the rest I only remember because it’s on video. But I do remember asking what it was on the table, and him start to tell me about how the room was the one we first said we loved each other in and had our first ever dance in. I remember him going on to talk about the amazing days we’ve had together, and giving him a big hug because tears started coming down. After he finished talking, he took the cloth off and revealed a heart underneath of it that said, “Will you marry me”. He actually MADE the heart completely by himself!! It was so awesome. I spun it around, where there was a little “door” that said yes on it. Inside it contained the ring, so he took it and got down on one knee. And of course, I said YES!! :)

After he proposed, we danced to a few songs, including “I Got You Babe”, because we love saying that line to each other a lot. After we cleaned things up at the church, we went out to eat at Molly Woos, where we celebrated with our family and friends. It’s a restaurant that’s really special to Michael’s family, because they go out to eat there for a lot of special occasions.

Huge thank you to Audrey, Brittney, Melissa, and Josh for helping plan everything!! It couldn’t have been done without you, and I had NO IDEA it was coming!! I couldn’t tell at all. It was such a shock! They also took all the pictures and videos of it happening. And of course, Michael, I’m so excited to spend the rest of my life with you, my best friend. :)

From Michael:

WE’RE ENGAGED!! The most incredible woman has said YES. Who’s the lucky guy? That’s me!

Synopsis:

I proposed to Stephanie on December 19^th in a wing of our church, located on the second floor. This wing consisted of 1 large room, a hall way, and a bathroom. Other than just being a lovely spot because of Jesus, this location was also where we had our first dance and, let’s just say, where we both first said “I love you” to each other. ;)

The premise for the proposal was that our friend, Josh, was surprising his girlfriend, Brittney (also a friend of ours, and in on it) at the church with a date. He of course needed the help of Stephanie, her sister Melissa, and our friend Audrey. So, the three girls were put in charge of distracting Brittney for the day and then getting her to the church at 5pm. Once at the church the ladies were instructed to blind fold Brittney and bring her up the stairs.

The Set Up:

I left my house roughly around 9am on Dec 19^th to being setting up at the church. Now, I’ll admit, I really love flowers and enjoy buying them for Stephanie. So, of course I stopped at the store on my way and picked up a few.

A whole tub full.

I arrived at the church around 10am and began setting up. The room contained large dividers that could split it into 3 smaller rooms, so I closed the dividers and only utilize the middle room. At the back of the room (where I proposed) I hung curtains, set up a table, a few candle stands, and flowers. Leading up to the back table I formed a short path with flowers and tea candles in small, blue, mason jars. Towards the front of the room were two long tables. Now, we are both pretty sentimental people. So naturally, we each have a shoe box filled with movie stumps, letters, notes (there is a difference), what I call love crafts (ie. Candy wrappers formed into hearts), and so on. So I placed these on the table in the best chronological order that I could remember along with other photos, gifts, and of course more flowers. I had to sneak these items out of Stephanie’s room after she left to “distract Brittney”.

In addition to the “proposal room” I had also sectioned off part of the hall way attached to the bathroom as a space for the girls to get Stephanie ready. This room was also attached to the stairs that the ladies would first come up.

The setup took me 8 hours to complete (which was exactly how much time I had allotted for myself). It took way longer than I thought it would. Stephanie texted me saying telling me they were one their way and I still hadn’t finished lighting all the candles or changed yet. (It’s also funny to point out that Stephanie was the lookout for her own proposal! Haha) Anyways, I was also lucky that our friend Audrey was able to stop by for an hour or two to help me set up!

While the ladies got her ready I finished lighting all the candles in the room and patiently waited. I wasn’t nervous at all, just super excited. It seemed like it took them forever to get her ready! I know… that’s such a guy thing to say. But, I mean she’s already so darn beautiful how much primping do you really need? Anyways, after 2 years she walked down a candle lit path from the small sectioned off hallway room and meet me at the doorway of “the proposal room”. From there, hand in hand, we “walked down memory lane” as we looked at the items on each table.

Once we finished, I escorted her to the back of the room where the table was. On the table was a heart that I crafted out of wood. The heart had “Will you marry me?” written on one side and was covered with a cloth. After I told her how much I loved her I pulled off the cloth revealing the words as I said them. I also instructed her to spin the heart around if she says yes. On the other side was a heart shaped door with the word “Yes” on it. I then opened the door, took out the ring inside, bent down on one knee, and put the ring on her finger. We then had our first kiss. (We waited until we got engaged to kiss. It was also the first time either of us had ever kissed someone) Needless to say, it was awkward. Following, we dimmed the lights and danced to a few songs.