How He Asked and How I almost Messed the Whole Proposal up!
All photos were taken by Christie Leigh !
Find Christie on Instagram here and Facebook here!
Happy Wedding Wednesday loves! I’m so excited to start taking part in these Wedding Wednesday posts, and I hope y’all enjoy this new adventure with us. These past couple of weeks have been a total whirlwind, I’m still trying to comprehend that we are getting married! Every day since it’s happened I’ve had to remind myself that it’s actually happening. But I won’t ramble anymore, hope y’all enjoy reading How He Asked!
How We Met
Before we jump into how he asked, I wanted to share a little about the most debated topic in our relationship, how we met. If you ask Aaron, he’ll tell you that we first met four years ago. Aaron and Brittiani both claim that we met at her wedding…. Weddings are so overwhelming I only vaguely remember meeting Aaron that night.
Fast forward 2.5 years and I’m headed to Columbus to spend Easter with Brittiani and her family. I was in town Thursday-Sunday evening and was so excited to see Brit, since it had been about two years since the last visit. Friday evening she took me out around the Short North for some food and drinks. Brit casually mentioned that she invited Aaron to come join us. My response, “Who is that?” After Brit spent ten minutes explaining to me who Aaron was and how I had met him at least two times before, he finally showed up.
When Aaron arrived, Brit reintroduced us and I remember thinking, “this guy really looks like he belongs in California. And he’s really tall…” After the first couple minutes of Aaron giving me the cold shoulder, he finally started acting like a normal human.
I remind him weekly that he’s lucky I blew all of his comments off, or we would never be where we are today.
The next night Brit took me to hang out with all of her friends and yes, Aaron was there as well. You could say the rest is history and I’ve been pretty obsessed with his face ever since.
How He Asked
The fact that Aaron completely surprised me with this proposal is mind blowing! I’ve been SO nosey with trying to figure everything out. Between harassing my friends and constantly overthinking every action of his, it’s a miracle I was clueless.
Earlier in the week Aaron’s sister texted me asking if I wanted some blog pictures taken that Saturday. We’re always talking about when we can meet up for photo shoots, so the last thing on my mind was a proposal. I told her I had book club that morning but could be free around 12:30 that afternoon. I quickly ordered some clothes for the shoot and thought nothing more.
Saturday morning (November 18th) Aaron woke up SUPER early, like 7am early. If anyone knows him, that is crazy out of character. He usually sleeps in until around 9am or 10am on the weekends. I had book club that morning at 10:30am and Aaron had told me on Wednesday that he was going to go watch soccer with the guys. Once again, totally normal and typical since all of them are huge soccer fans.
Aaron cooked us breakfast and made coffee, while I tried my best to get moving. The funniest part about the whole day when I look back, is how calm Aaron was. I was casually changing my plans for the day left and right and somehow he kept it together. See, the clothes I had ordered never showed up Friday. So I texted Aaron’s sister telling her that the pieces I wanted to shoot didn’t arrive and we should probably just reschedule. All of this was happening while one of my best friends was flying in from Atlanta. It now makes sense why Aaron kept walking in and out of whichever room I was in all morning.
Aaron’s sister texted back that she really needed to get some pictures for her portfolio and asked if we could still meet. Since I’m a sucker for pictures and her, I agreed.
My friend Megan picked me up around 10:30am and off to book club we went. Throughout the morning I kind of noticed that she kept checking her phone, but I didn’t think much of it. Her friend Courtney said around noon that her parents were in town and she needed us to head back home. Which worked perfect since I needed to meet up with Aaron’s sister. While we were driving back I was in my own little world, scrolling through Instagram and telling Megan she needed to make sure my nails were done whenever Aaron planned to propose.
About ten minutes later we pulled up to the Schiller park and Megan said, “Here you go Emily.” Confused I responded, “What? I don’t live here!” Megan responded with, “Oh aren’t you taking pictures here? I think I see Aaron’s sister over there.” Truly confused I looked at Megan and said, “Megan, you’ve never met Aaron’s sister before.” After arguing with her for about 3 minutes she finally said, “Get out!!” So I did as I was told and got out of the car. In complete confusion I walked over to Aaron’s sister and said, “What is going on?” She casually said, “What do you mean? We’re taking pictures, go stand over on that bridge before we lose all the good lighting.”
For a brief moment I thought, maybe it’s happening today. I’ve had that thought so many times that I pushed it out of my head and tried to act normal. After posing on the bridge for about a minute I heard foot steps behind me, I kept still and figured it was a runner that would go around.
They told me to start slowly turning to the side. And next thing I know, out of the corner of my eye there’s Aaron down on one knee smiling!! I went into complete shock for the next twenty minutes. Aaron asked me those four words, “Will You Marry Me” and I immediately said, “YES! Are you serious?!” I’m pretty sure I asked him ten times if he was serious. I couldn’t believe that this amazing person had asked me to spend my life with him!
Y’all I’ve never been so giddy in my whole life!
After realizing that Aaron was serious and what was happening I looked behind to see Bri holding up two phones. My parents were on one as they were driving to Maryland for Thanksgiving. And my sister Sarah was on the other from Iceland! I’ve never laughed and smiled so much in my life before, it was two straight hours of child like excitement.
After the engagement we went back to the house, popped some champagne and called our loved ones to tell them the great news! Later that night we celebrated with all of our friends at Bar 23 (where we first met) and it was truly perfect. We both woke up Sunday feeling crazy loved by everyone who celebrated with us and those who were not able to as well.
I really wish I had words to describe how truly thankful and blessed I’m feeling to marry Aaron. Looking back on the past year and a half I know God had His hand in it all. I might have not known then that our “random” second meeting would lead to a lifetime together, but I do know I’m so excited to do life with this amazing human.
You can also find our story on The Knot!
XOXO
Emily