How We Met
Elliott and I went to the same college, a small school in the city of Chicago. We knew of each other because I went to high school with a few of his friends that he met in college, but we never really crossed paths. Elliott had reached out to me a couple of times on Facebook and Instagram but it never really went further than a casual conversation. A couple of years passed after college and we ended up both being at a Kenny Chesney Concert (we both LOVE country music) and Elliott had seen me from afar but I did not see him.
He reached out to me that night after seeing me and we had another casual conversation and he had asked to meet up after the concert but that never ended up happening. A week goes by after the concert and we ran into each other AGAIN on the street one night out in the city. We decided to go into a bar together and we had an amazing night, laughing and dancing together. We went on our first official date a few days later and the rest is history!
How They Asked
Elliott and I planned a trip to his parent’s second home in the Florida Keys with two of our good friends. It’s one of our favorite places to visit and relax with his family. I had a work conference in Orlando so the plan was that Elliott would fly in after my work trip was over and we would drive down to The Keys from there to spend a week with our friends and his family. We were there for a couple of days spending our time laying on the beach and eating lots of good seafood. On the day of the proposal, we had a really fun day drinking on the beach and jetskiing. (I also got thrown off of the jet ski in the middle of the ocean by my soon-to-be fiance!!)
Everyone from the small town gathers with drinks in hand at sunset every night at the beach to sing a song and enjoy the view. So on the night of the proposal, the plan was to go there so that our friends could experience the tradition that we always look forward to doing when visiting The Keys. We all got our drinks ready and started our walk to the beach, on our way to the beach Elliott wouldn’t let go of my hand and yelled at me every time I started walking ahead of the group. I didn’t suspect a thing because he seemed so calm and we had a normal conversation talking about how we would one day love to have a vacation home like his parents have so that we can make memories like this one day with our kids.
We walked up to the beach and Elliott asked me if I wanted to go on the pier. Our friend Jon who was with us (who is also a photographer) said it was a great idea and we could get some good pictures out there. We started walking to the pier and I noticed there was a ton of people on it looking out at the ocean, as I got closer I realized that those people were my family! My mom, dad, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, and Elliott’s siblings were all at the end of the pier waiting for us!!
I started crying the second I realized that it was our family because I knew what was about to happen. We got to the end of the pier and as Elliott was getting down on one knee my dad decided he wanted to give me a hug mid proposal! We were all laughing and then finally Elliott got to ask me to be his wife. It was the best day of my life and Elliott knew that it was so important to me to have our families there to share the moment with us because they are such a huge part of our relationship. I am the luckiest girl in the world that I get to be his wife!
