How We Met: Brandyn and I are both from the same hometown, and attended high school together. We were introduced on a youth retreat sponsored by my church, and he had the guts to ask for my number from my little sister! The rest is history – we started dating when we were sixteen. Even though we were young at the time, Brandyn asked me on a very official, very special first date in downtown Rochester to attend the Annual Lilac Festival. We took a romantic stroll along the path, and Brandyn picked a flower for me to hold. We played some of the carnival games, and Brandyn bought me an orange creamsicle smoothie (of course I didn’t tell him at the time that I hate orange creamsicle!). To capture the moment, we attempted a “selfie” in front of the lilac bush with the biggest blooms – the start of a tradition that continued for years to come. While I was both nervous and excited to go on a date with the cutest football player on our school’s team, it was hard not to notice his perfect chivalry and charming smile. After our first date, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world; today, sevenyears later, I know I still am.
how they asked: Every year since our first date, we have returned to the Lilac Festival to relive the day and appreciate our city’s beautiful Lilacs in Highland Park. And every year, we take a picture in front of the lilac tree with the biggest blooms to add another year of memories to our growing collection of selfies. Brandyn loved to make jokes around festival time each year to try to break my excitement, “I don’t know if we
should go this year” or, “we have plans that weekend” or my favorite, “they cancelled it this year!”. But I knew he was just as excited to go as I was. When we got to the festival this year, we picked out our tree, and started to take the “annual selfie” to add to our collection. After we had picked out the winner, something happened. Brandyn put down his camera, and held both my hands tight, looking into my eyes. He began to tell me how much it meant to him that we have had the opportunity to attend the festival together for 8 years, and that it’s certainly a tradition he intends to continue. He told me that he has loved me ever since our first date in that exact spot we were standing seven years ago, and that he will love me forever. At this point, I couldn’t tell you exactly what he said in that moment, as I was lost in overwhelming emotions, but it was something like, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Kaitlin Elizabeth Wilson, will you marry me?”
Of course I SAID YES! I kiss and hug him, and he puts the most beautiful ring that I’ve ever only dreamed of on my finger. I look around, and a crowd of people along the path have stopped to cheer and congratulate us. To make the moment even more exciting, the news media covering the festival had caught the whole proposal on video and wanted to interview us for the news! I looked back at my fiance, who had the biggest, happiest grin on his face that I’d ever seen. I love everything about my proposal, the ring, and “how they asked”, but most importantly, it’s the man who I get to spend forever with who made it perfect.
