How We Met
We’ve known each other for about 10 years through a mutual friend. However, I was in another long-term relationship and didn’t think anything of it until June 2016 at the Columbus Pride festival. It was the first time we were both single after not seeing each other for a few years and it was instant chemistry. All of our friends kept saying “well this is going to happen” because apparently, we both looked like the IRL heart eyes emoji. From that exact day, I knew I was going to fall hard for her and we haven’t stopped talking since.
How They Asked
It was Lexi’s 30th birthday this year, and I knew I had to do something big. For those that know, Lexi has a big personality, so I wanted to celebrate her day as such. Plus, her birthday was a perfect way to hide a surprise proposal at the end. It all started on January 15, 2018. That was the day that I decided I was going to propose sometime this year. I started a journal on that day explaining to her my gut feelings, how I knew I wanted to do it this year, and my tentative plans. From that day, I wrote a journal entry for each of the big things that happened, or little details that went into the planning – the day I bought the ring, the day I told her best friend, when I Face Timed her parents in Boston to ask for their support, finding the proposal spot. Everything. It was my way of feeling like I was sharing some of the most exciting times with her (also as an outlet in hopes of me not accidentally spoiling the surprise), and also so she felt like she was a part of the planning in a way.
So July rolls around and I had everything in place after planning for almost 6 months. I had thought of every detail that I could. Day off, her best friend comes to pick her up for breakfast. I had made up some excuse for why I couldn’t come and said that I would try to meet up with her later. Once she was in the car with her friend, I had a prerecorded video ready for her. It states that I had maybe lied to her a little bit (up to this point, I had just told her that I had nothing planned for her birthday and we could figure it out once she was back home) and that I did, in fact, have an entire day planned to spoil her.
I told her that she would be going on a scavenger hunt around Columbus and be getting clues along the way. But that’s all I told her. She looked over at her friend beaming and said “Um, what’s happening”, and in they went to one of our favorite local breakfast spots, spot #1. At the end of breakfast, I had arranged the waitress to give Lexi her first clue. Each of the clues she got throughout the day had something written about the next place she was going, specifically a memory from there, or a moment that I remember, and then, of course, a clue as to where that next place was. Each of the locations she went to, were some places that were special to us, and her best friend, Nicole, was there with her the entire day driving her around and making sure she found the clues that I had previously hid that morning.
Throughout the day, she went to 10 different locations – including our favorite restaurants, where we had our first kiss, the spot we had our first date, our favorite local coffee shop, the school where she was getting her MFA. Also at each location was someone that was important to her, or for those that lived far away, a video of them sending their love from afar. My plan in laying them out was so that she just thought it was a birthday surprise. For spot #7 though, I wanted her to start getting an idea that it may be something different. She had always said that she hates to get her nails done professionally because she could just do them herself and that the only time I could take her to get her nails done was on the day that I proposed. So I had made appointments for her and her best friend to get their nails done.
When they got to the salon, she kept looking at Nicole and saying, “OMG does this mean….” but didn’t want to get her hopes up. After a couple of other final stops, including playing Ms PacMan and Skee-Ball at our favorite arcade bar, they finally made it to the last stop: The Whetstone Park of Roses. They walked up and it took Lexi a second to see me. I was under a gazebo surrounded by roses where I had strung up pictures of us throughout the past two years, and playing our songs in the background. She immediately had “the look” in her eyes, questioning if this was it and if she was about to be engaged. She walked up and we both immediately started sobbing. We looked at the pictures together, laughed at some of the memories, listening to the music just holding each other. When one of our favorite songs came on, I turned her around to face me where I started telling her just how much I loved her. It was then that I asked her to marry me and spend forever together. I think she was in such a state of shock that she forgot to say yes before I even put the ring on her finger.
Afterward, we sat on a picnic blanket, drinking champagne, talking & laughing about the craziness of the day, and then I gave her the journal. I think that was one of her favorite parts. After we got it together, I told her there was one more surprise. We got back to the car, I put a blindfold on her, and then I drove back to our house and had all of her closest friends and family waiting for a surprise engagement/birthday party. That she was definitely not expecting.
It was truly such a perfect and special day that we’ll remember forever. And the best part? I get to marry my best friend.
