how we met
Mike and I met Labor Day weekend 2014. I was out with my girlfriends getting some drinks at a bar in Boston. When we walked in, a guy sitting across the bar with a friend caught my eye. While I didn’t approach him, I was curious about him the entire time we were at the bar and kept catching his eye. Around 11:30 pm my friends decided they wanted to make their way to another bar. A little bummed, I walked out with them, but then immediately pulled my best friend aside and said, “I don’t want to leave, there is something about this guy.” Being the absolute best friend that she is and understanding that I never act this way, she went back inside the bar with me. He noticed that I was back and a few minutes later him and his friend came over to us. We chatted until it was time for the bar to close and before leaving, he took my number and told me he was going to take me on a date. Four and half years later, we’re engaged! I am so thankful I followed my gut feeling about him and went back into the bar that night.
how they asked
Mike woke me up at 3:30 am on a Friday morning and told me we were going on vacation. I panicked because I am a control freak (especially when it comes to work), but he told me that my boss already knows and that I shouldn’t worry. Next thing I knew, we were on a plane to California. First stop was Carmel/Big Sur where I had always wanted to visit. That Saturday we explored the area, hiking point lobos and going to the Bixby bridge. Then he told me he had plans for dinner but wanted to stop at a beach to see the sunset first.
When we arrived at the beach, Mike had a specific location he wanted to “watch the sunset” from. There was one problem – the path to the spot was blocked off! So me being a rule follower, said we can’t go down that path and led him away from it to another area.
Mike saw the photographers (Laura & Rachel) standing at the location he wanted to propose. He later told me that while I wasn’t looking, they were trying to wave him over and tell him it’s ok to come through the blocked area.
Lucky for him, we ended up seeing two people walking up the blocked off path, so he used that as an excuse to say it’s fine for us to walk through. We walked towards the spot and climbed up a rock that overlooked the ocean. He turned towards me and started talking about how beautiful it is here, how beautiful I am, and how much he loves me. He refers to some journal entries from the hotel room at the Tickle Pink Inn where other guests wrote about celebrating their engagement and anniversaries each year and he said that we have to do the same, but in order to do that we have to get married. Then he got down on one knee and proposed. I was overwhelmed with happiness and love in that moment.
That Sunday we drove to Sonoma (another place I’d always wanted to visit) and spent the following 3 days celebrating with lots of champagne!
