I couldn’t believe it when I got an email from a bride saying she found me on PINTEREST! Really!? How cool is that! I immediately checked out her pinterest page, and saw we had so much in common. I couldn’t wait to work with this couple! I knew their wedding was going to be perfect! And Shana & Barret did not disappoint! When I saw Shana’s one of a kind dress, I was in awe. Her mom took the top half of her own wedding dress, and made the rest of the dress herself!! Every button, every lace detail.. She found lace that was a close enough match her dress from 30 years ago!! I had to keep myself from drooling on it.. My mouth just wouldn’t close. When I saw the guys dressed in their blue seersucker suits, I was in wedding heaven. Every single detail in their whole entire wedding was swoon worthy. Swoon. Worthy. Flowers, bridesmaids dresses, cake, centerpieces.. It was all so perfect.
Here is the sweet story about how Barrett proposed! What a thoughtful guy!
The day Barrett proposed was the most shocking day of my life to date. I had NO IDEA it was coming (people still don’t believe me. We had been dating for five years and living together for four.) I started law school in August, and I was having a few adjustment issues. I had a little melt down on a Friday morning about three weeks into the semester. It was the Friday before the first weekend of college football season (also know as college colors day) so I got myself together and I pulled on a hand-me-down UCF polo and a black skirt and headed off to class.
After class I called Barrett to tell him I was out, then I called my dear friend to see if I could stop by and see her and her new daughter. She didn’t answer; I just assumed they were napping, so I headed home. When I arrived home I opened my front door to find a giant (like 5ft tall) box gift-wrapped in my entryway. I called out to Barrett and asked what this was all about and he told me to open it and find out. I assumed it was flowers or some other little pick-me-up present to make me feel better after my morning meltdown. It wasn’t until I had the entire box lifted and looked down that I realized what was happening. Under the box was a little chair, on the chair was a bunch of roses, and in the middle of the roses was the ring in the open box. I was stunned. I just stared and tried to understand what was happening. Barrett came from the back of the house and just looked at me and said “so..?” I said yes (obviously).
As I started calling around to tell friends and family I was having trouble getting my best friend on the phone. I assumed that it was just because it was still early in the afternoon and she was likely working. I made the decision that I was not going to call all of my friends; I thought it was weird to just randomly call people up to tell them I was engaged. I told Barrett that I would just let them see the next day at the tailgate for the UCF game. Barrett agreed and we decided that we should go to dinner and then out for a few drinks. We went to my favorite restaurant and then Barrett suggested that we stop by a new restaurant for a beer before we head to our favorite watering hole. I found this bizarre, but went along with it. When we finally arrived our intended destination we were greeted by ALL of our friends that live in the area and a few that had traveled from out of town, a day early, just to help us celebrate.
After arriving at the bar I learned just how much deception had been going on in my life. I learned that Barrett bought my engagement ring two months before he proposed. That he had managed to let this fact slip to nearly all of our friends, one at a time, every time he went out. I learned that the Saturday before, as my all girl fantasy football league met to conduct our draft, Barrett told each of them that he was going to propose on Friday and asked if everyone could return to Orlando to be present. I further learned that Barrett had sent out a Facebook invite the Monday prior to his proposal. The invite informed our friends of his plan to propose and instructed them that all communication with me had to cease beginning at noon on that Friday. So when I tried to call my dear friend to see her sweet baby, she was in fact standing over her phone watching it ring and begging her husband to let her answer it. And, when I could not get my best friend on the phone she was just ignoring my calls, per my sweet Barrett’s request.
