My husband and I have been married for a little over four months now. Three weeks ago we celebrated the anniversary of his proposing to me by going back to the same spot where it all happened.
February 28th, 2015 will go down in history as the best marriage proposal ever! (I am a little biased though). Although I kind of expected it, the whole thing was still a surprise to me. Months before he proposed, we had gone ring shopping and discussed when we should get engaged based off of when we wanted to get married. At the time, I still had my braces on (that's a whole other story), and I didn't want to have them on for when he proposed. My braces were a hard thing for me to accept since it was my second time round when the first time, in high school, should have been done correctly in the first place. You could say I was holding onto the bitterness from that, and so having them on in any pictures would have brought back those hard feelings.
Anyways, my braces were coming off February 12th! Giving him the green light to propose anytime after that. And I was getting excited!
For three weeks leading up to the proposal, Nathan left special surprises for me as a way to show me he cared. I knew it was coming, I just still didn't know when. That's until two days before.
I had always suspected he would propose to me at Moss Beach, a special little cove in Laguna that is one of my most favorite spots in the world. It's the same place he told me he loved me for the first time, and I just felt like that would be where he would pop the question.
My best friend, Katie, had planned a girl day for just the two of us. We would go to David's Bridal in the afternoon for her to try on wedding dresses (she had been engaged since November), then we would go to Moss Beach, since she had never been there. All was good, nothing suspicious, until two days before when I had the biggest realization of my life. Katie doesn't even like the beach! That's when I knew for sure it was going to happen.
So February 28th came, and Katie and I left her house to go to David's Bridal. While we were there she convinced me to try on dresses as well. I didn't tell people until after the wedding, but I actually tried on my future wedding dress an hour before getting engaged! That's a whole other story for another post.
After trying on dresses for an hour, we headed down to Laguna. Now, Moss Beach is a small cove that you have to walk down a steep flight of stairs to get to. Each step down the staircase made my heart beat faster. I held my breath as "our spot" came into view . . . but nothing. No Nathan. No chairs or towel. Nothing. My heart sunk.
So many thoughts swam around in my head as I told myself I might have been wrong about that day all along. "Maybe it isn't today. Maybe this is another one of those special surprises he has been doing lately. It's got to be a way to throw me off."
I looked at Katie and took a deep breath, "Let's go over there, I'll show you the spot where Nathan and I always sit." We started walking over to the spot, when I spotted a large conch shell! In all my life I had never seen a shell so big wash up on this beach. "Katie! Check this out! It's huge!"
I ran over to the shell and noticed a piece of paper rolled up like a scroll sticking out of it. I thought, "This is the surprise! I knew it was just a surprise. But wait, how did she plant this here for him?" I turned back to ask her how she did it, but she was gone! I turned back only to see Nathan running towards me. I froze and tears began welling up in my eyes as I whipsered to myself, "It's happening!"
Nathan had set up 13 beautiful seashells along the coast of the cove, each with a small note of why he loves me, except the last one which held the ring. But to get to that spot where he would pop the question, we had to walk over rocks through the rising tide and climb up the side of a very large rock, which proved to be somewhat difficult while wearing a maxi-skirt. But of course, it was all worth it in the end because I was engaged to get married to my best friend!
If you watched the video, you're probably wondering why the background song in the beginning is "The Bare Necessities," from The Jungle Book. Long story short, Nathan and I swing dance, and long before we started dating, my first time swing dancing, that was the first song we ever danced to together. The song at the end of the video is called "The Marriage Prayer," by John Waller. That song is very special to us as it is essentially a prayer of how we want our marriage to glorify God.
I can't write about the amzing proposing without giving credit to everyone who helped make it possible. Katie was prepared for everything and set up the plans to keep me distracted throughout the day. She even brought my yoga pants to change into afterwards, which was a good call since my maxi-skirt got so drenched by the high tide that it was almost impossible to keep wearing. Evan G., Nathan's best friend, and Kimber G., Nathan's sister, set up seven cameras total to help capture the moment from every angle possible. Kimber literally sat on the edge of a cliff taking pictures of us. Nathan planned the most beautiful way to express his love to me, and I am so thankful for such a creative husband. Most of all, I thank God every day for bringing the two of us together. None of this would have happened if it weren't for Him. He even left us with a gorgeous sunset backdrop to make the moment even more spectacular.