How We Met
Jake and I met on a Friday night in June of 2017. We both had sort of ended up in downtown Indy by fate. His being he’d been given free tickets to an Indianapolis Indians baseball game and mine being coerced by my best friend who was eager to go out that night!
We happened to be in the same bar at the same time and my friend noticed him looking over at us. “This guy keeps looking at us but he won’t come over here,” she said. She is also married and thought it would be fun to play matchmaker! I rolled my eyes at her – I was single and not really looking to mingle at the time.
Finally, Jake made his way over and introduced himself to us. My initial thought was, “He’s really cute but I’m not trying to be in a relationship right now…”. Well, it didn’t take long for him to change my skeptical mentality! We hung out the rest of the night, had our first date the following week, and were instantly head over heels! Not only did I know I had found the man I was going to marry, but I can also thank my best friend for playing a part in “hand picking” my future husband!
How They Asked
December 1st, 2018 Jake and I were heading to Chicago on a small trip I had planned for us months in advance and I was ecstatic to see the city in full swing for the Christmas season (I am a Christmas FREAK). Jake and I had previously talked about marriage and knew we wanted to get married eventually, but I had made a point not to think about it too much and just let Jake do his thing. When the time was right it would happen! That being said, an engagement was the last thing on my mind on this day but for some reason, I had a jittery feeling that I couldn’t shake. On the drive to Chicago, I told Jake, “I don’t know why but I feel so anxious today. It’s like I have butterflies or something.” I thought I was just more excited for our mini getaway than I had anticipated. Jake thought I was catching on to his plan to propose. Woman’s intuition at its finest, I guess! When we arrived we spent the day sightseeing and ended the evening with dinner on top of the John Hancock building.
After dinner, I insisted that we do some outdoor ice skating. The city’s rink is nestled in Millenium Park with a beautiful view of the Chicago Christmas Tree – how much merrier can you get than that?! Jake hardly obliged despite having my engagement ring in his pocket and, unbeknownst to me, being slightly concerned it might fall out in the case he took a tumble (luckily his coat pockets had zippers). After some mildly clumsy ice skating (he had never been) and my attempt to keep him balanced (we actually avoided a wipeout so kudos to us), we casually walked around the bean and tried to take a picture. Then, Jake spotted a photographer and suggested we ask him to take our photo so I unsuspectingly said sure!
When Jake approached the photographer, handed off his phone, and proceeded to pop the question I went into absolute shock! We both still joke about not remembering anything he said during his proposal aside from something along the lines of, “I know you’ve been nervous today and there’s a reason why…” as he got down on one knee. It took me a few minutes to process the reality of our engagement or the belief this might be some kind of awesome dream. Finally, with happy tears and a shaking hand that now dawned an insanely gorgeous diamond, we called our family and friends to share the news! We celebrated the next morning with breakfast in a cozy, downtown cafe and some more sightseeing – but mostly I just couldn’t stop staring at my new bling and pinching myself all day. That weekend is a memory I will cherish and relive for a lifetime!
