how we met
Rob and I met in 2006, my freshman year of college/his sophomore year, at a social event. I remember him always being nice, super chatty, and friends with everyone. We were nothing more than friends. It wasn’t until August 2013, four years after college, that I ran into Rob at a friend’s birthday party in Chicago. I was leaving the restaurant, waiting for a cab, as I saw the cute blonde from college standing next to me, “ROB MAIN? OMG, how are you?” I exclaimed. He was definitely cuter than I remember and needless to say, I ditched the taxi and I stayed for one more drink as we caught up on the past four years of life.
I was living in Milwaukee for work and Rob was in Chicago at the time. Rob would reach out to me like clock work every 2 weeks for months, seeing if I was coming into the city for the weekend, so we could get together. I was planning on moving to California the upcoming year and did not want him or anyone to get in the way of these plans. November rolled around and we both happened to be in New York for work. I must have posted a picture online, because when he saw we were both in the same town (thanks to Facebook), he thought why not ask Amber out, one last time, nothing to lose. And so we met for dinner in the heart of New York City. We shared so many stories about our families, favorite past times, laughs, and love for international travel. Rob was planning a trip to India and Dubai in two months and looking for friends to go. He immediately asked if I would want to go. Two weeks later I confirmed I would go, 6 weeks later we were in India, and 6 months after that I was in love with him!
But what about California? I still moved and Rob encouraged me to go knowing that if we were meant to be, it would work out. I found a job, sold everything I owned (literally), packed up my car and drove out to California. Rob started business school that Fall, but put together an excel spreadsheet of flights, frequent flyer points and the weekends we would see each other. We saw each other every 3 weeks and sometimes more. Half way through business school, Rob received an incredible job offer, which would keep him in Chicago for a few years. Knowing that he had encouraged me to pursue my dream, naturally I told him he must take it and I would move back, so that now he could pursue his.
I lived in Venice Beach for 1.5 years, I thought I would never leave California. It was a beautiful and fulfilling time in life. But I know the Lord was so gracious to me and gave me the man of my prayers. I am so grateful and look forward to writing the stories in the unplanned chapters of Chicago with my soon to be husband, Rob Main!
how they asked
Rob was planning to visit California one last time before I moved back to Chicago. I decided to take off Friday from work as it was our last weekend together in LA. I planned a day for us in Malibu. We went horseback riding in the AM, followed by a lunch that overlooked the ocean at Geoffery’s. He told me the night before to pack a nice dress because he was taking me to Mastro’s in Malibu for our last dinner in California (I thought nothing of it, as this was our favorite restaurant). We stopped at a local grocery store to grab a cheese plate and champagne to watch the sunset later that night (my favorite thing to do!).
When we arrived to the beach, there was a high tide, hence no beach and it was very cloudy, so no sunset. I didn’t think the high tide was a big deal as we could walk about 10 minutes down the road to another beach. Rob proceeded to tell me, per the tide calendar, the tide was supposed to be low. I was so curious why he checked the tide calendar lol, but I didn’t make much of it. We walked down to the other beach, Rob way in front of me on his phone…(I was left trying to keep up, he said some buddies needed help with a class project. Little did I know, he had to update the photographer on a new location, LOL!)
As we set down the blanket, we popped a bottle of champagne. I was about to sit down and before I could, Rob immediately got down on one knee. I was so confused and thought he was kidding for a second. (Rob said we would not get engaged until we were living in the same city). All I remember is trying to kneel down and hug him. I kept saying, “Wait, what? Are you serious? Right now? Oh my gosh, this is happening?!?!?”
After my shock, I was able to stand up straight and Rob finally said what I had waited so long to hear (along with a lot of other very sweet things, that I blanked out on), “Will you marry me?” I said absolutely about 500 times! We kissed, we hugged, we laughed, and we rejoiced that we would be able to spend the rest of our lives with each other, writing in the chapters of a story unfinished.
After we had our moment, Rob told me to look to my left. There was a photographer snapping photos of us! I was so excited that we were able to capture it all on camera!
