How we met: It was not love at first sight for me. Ryan was asked by his mum to come to church on Nov 18th 2012 because there was ‘this girl’ he should meet. When we met, there were no fireworks or butterflies… at least not from me. If you ask Ryan, he would say there was soft music playing in the background, wind flowing through my hair and everything was in slow-motion. He was hooked and from that Sunday on, Ryan set out to win my heart. After that Sunday, he started to come to my church regularly and each time he came he would sit next to me and chat to me and always try to offer me a ride home. I however, was not easily swayed. Ryan was persistent. He was constantly inviting me to movies and catch ups. I just wasn’t interested and at one point, I even offered him over to my best friend!
I started to think if this guy is so interested I should just give him a chance to be nice so I finally caved and said yes to a group movie outing in January 2013. That night I realized that there was an attraction and I wanted to know him more. So we started to have lunch dates and catch up over hot chocolates and our feelings grew more for each other.
We were very straight with each other from the beginning and didn’t want to mess around so we dated with the intention of marriage. All the hard and awkward conversations were discussed early on because we didn’t want to waste our time if were didn’t think our relationship could go somewhere. After a few months of seeing each other and realising we were pretty crazy about each other, we decided to officially date on April 1st. We dated for 5 months until Ryan was ready to pop the big question. I know it seems like such a short time but I now understand people when they say ‘you just know’ when it’s the one. We went away to California in July for a music school and holiday and whilst we were there we did some ring shopping. I had an inkling that he had bought something while we were there but wasn’t fully sure. Once we got back to Sydney, he would stir me up about whether or not he had a ring and he’d always joke about it. It had me going crazy!
how they asked: I knew he was going to propose… It was just a matter of when and how. Ryan isn’t the type to do something ‘small’. He works in the film industry so I knew it was going to be big of some description. Some time went by and one weekend my friend said I should come over and get ready with her for church that night. Little did I know that all these plans were taking effect whilst I was innocently getting ready for a ‘regular Sunday night’. She was encouraging me to wash my hair and put on make up which I found odd but I went with it anyway. We generally do this but because she mentioned it, it made me wonder…
When we got to church, everything was pretty normal. I didn’t really notice anything until I people started to be more friendly than usual to me and my friend was watching me like a hawk to make sure I didn’t spoil anything. There were a lot more people there than usual but I thought it was because we had a guest speaker. The truth is Ryan invited EVERYONE to witness this momentous occasion. After the worship time was over, Ryan said he had to go to the ‘toilet’. He was gone for a while and I started to over think, as girls do. My friend sat next to me and I grabbed her hand as I was certain something was about to happen.
Next thing I know, Ryan pops up on the video screen, comes out from behind stage and starts serenading me in front of our entire church, friends and family! He was so nervous at first but it was the sweetest thing. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. He pulled me out from my seat and lead up onto the stage. All I could do was stare at him.
He sang a medley of songs and modified the lyrics so it suited our story, our love story. At the end of the song, he got down on bended-knee and said the four words every girl wants to hear from their soul mate. I said yes and at that moment, the band kicked in with a big finish and everyone around was so ecstatic.
The pastors prayed over us and then we went out into the foyer area so we could giggle it off and take some photos. We are so thankful for DaySpring Church and all the friends and our family who have supported and loved us through all the way. We got married 5 months later on the very same stage that he proposed to me on. It really is a dream come true. It all happened so quickly like a Disney movie but it was perfect and I wouldn’t change a thing.
