#SameZipCodeForever | The Proposal

This is the first in a series of wedding-related posts!  Because we want to be able to share in our big day with all of y'all, I thought it would be fun to take you behind the scenes of each stage of our planning, preparation, and excitement.  Hope you'll enjoy! 

 Picture this:  It's December 20 and The Redheaded Camel has approximately 20 orders left before Christmas.  Quentin suggests that we go see Christmas lights, which I love.  Also, we have a PF Changs gift card, which I super love.  So, naturally, I suggest the lights we should see... and then change my mind, because that's what I do best.  We have to stop to pick up apparel orders on the way to dinner, which takes about 40 minutes longer than anticipated... and Quentin is freaking out with every tick of the clock.  Finally, we get on the road... and the road we need to take to Raleigh is closed.  Whoops.  More frustration ensues.  About an hour later than planned, we make it to the restaurant, and we forget the gift card in the car.

Dinner goes as planned - aka, no surprises or delays.  We then head to the Chinese Lantern Festival and see all the displays!  Of course, I'm snapping photos here and there and having so much fun.  Grumpy Gills, on the other hand, seems kind of "off."  

After watching a performance by some of the drummers in the festival, Q requests that we go back to the dragon lantern... which is weird, because we'd already seen and taken photos of it.  He insists (at this point, it's starting to rain) so I oblige.  He wants to take a picture in front of the dragon - even though we'd already done that, too!

When we get back to the dragon lantern, I see a really petite girl taking photos with a nice camera.  I almost asked her to take our photo so it wouldn't have to be a selfie.  I even mentioned to Q how much she looked like my BFF, Victoria.  Obviously, I did not go and ask the stranger to take our picture.

So, selfie it is.  When I turn around to put my phone back in my pocket... Quentin is getting down on one knee?!?!?!  Honestly, at first I thought he was tying his shoe, y'all.  And then I started to figure out what was going on... and then there were a LOT of tears!  I hugged him for about five minutes before I even actually saw the ring and he was able to put it on my finger!

Crazily enough, the petite blonde girl was walking down the steps at this point.  I'm thinking "OMG she just got our proposal on camera!"  Turns out, that was the whole point, because it WAS my best friend!  She drove from the coast to Raleigh to be there for our engagement and it was such a sweet addition to the sweetest day.

The rest of our evening involved calling family and friends and sitting in a stunned kind of shock together!  My parents were in Germany when all this transpired, so that was probably the toughest part for me.  I just wanted my mama to see the ring!!!  Don't worry though, they were well aware that this was the plan and Quentin had actually talked to them almost two months earlier!

I don't know what made me think of it, but I told Q pretty much immediately after I said "YES!" that I wanted to take some time to just enjoy the moment before sharing with the world.  We spent almost 24 hours just basking in our engaged-ness before posting anywhere on social media and took time to call our family and friends to make sure they knew before Facebook knew.

I actually posted a regular, totally non-related post on The Redheaded Camel's IG the morning after we got engaged!  No one had a clue ;) I also had a few errands to run and low-key was hoping someone would notice my newest piece of jewelry, but no one did!  Once I shared on social media later that day, several of the people who had seen me earlier in the day were so surprised they didn't notice!

If you're expecting a proposal soon or know someone who might be, I highly encourage you to consider embracing this "being present" approach.  Had we not taken time to just absorb #allthefeelings and just been so busy scrolling through the comments of online friends, we wouldn't have been able to enjoy this huge moment in our lives!  I also felt like it was so important that we actually tell our closest circle instead of just letting people find out on their own.

So, there you have it!  The long, winding story of how I finally said yes to the sweetest boy in the whole wide world!  Stay tuned for more wedding posts coming soon.

Have a happy day!