How We Met
Our meeting story is super short but sweet! We met through a mutual friend at a party and the rest was history! After about two weeks of knowing each other, we vacationed together for two weeks in North Carolina. The Biltmore is one of our favorite places to go and is where we will be getting married as well.
How They Asked
The Backstory:
Tilo and I had planned a trip to Seattle, WA at the beginning of this year, and little did I know that a few weeks after booking our flights, Tilo began secretly planning the proposal and designing my engagement ring. I’m honestly shocked he was able to hide this whole thing from me since I am basically in the FBI, but he was very successful in making sure I didn’t see it coming. I had begun to get a little suspicious a week or two before the actual thing happened, but my parents and my friend Destiny were very good at convincing me otherwise. Side story: I actually FaceTimed Destiny in the lounge bathroom at the airport because it was the only place I could get away from Tilo and she made sure I didn’t think it was happening and then proceeded to text Tilo and tell him to stop being so sketchy with his camera bag which is where the ring was hidden. After traveling for 20+ hours we finally make it to Seattle and little did I know that in less than 24 hours I was going to be a fiance. We wake up the next morning, our first full day in Seattle, and somehow Tilo convinced me that we needed to be out the door at 10:45 am and at the Yacht Club which was across town at 11 am to watch the boats and take some really cute pictures with them in the backdrop. If you know me, you know I am always down to take cute pictures so we were out the door and in an Uber heading over to the “picture location”.
We get out of the Uber and Tilo leads the way as we walk through the docks and over to a grassy secluded area on the water. As we’re walking, in the distance I see the cutest picnic set up. I keep walking with Tilo, the whole time he is playing it so cool, and I hadn’t caught on yet. We keep walking closer to the picnic and I can make out the words, “Will you be my forever co-pilot?” written out on a chalkboard next to the setup. It took me a few seconds to process what I had just read, and Tilo of course is still playing it cool while I start to freak out on the inside. The song “Please Keep Loving Me” begins to play as we walk closer. I look over at Tilo and burst out in tears because I was so overwhelmed with what I thought was about to happen. He hadn’t even asked me to marry him yet and I was already sobbing… LOL. Me being my dramatic self, per usual, I throw my purse on the ground and literally almost dropped to the ground because I was so emotional. Tilo gets down on his knee and officially asks me to marry him. It is all kind of a blacked-out blur from how emotional I was, but I am pretty sure that was the quickest I had ever said yes in my life. A few moments go by and a photographer jumps out from behind a tree and had gotten the whole thing on his camera. Bless Tilo for booking a photographer because he knew how important it was to me to have documentation of this special moment. We also had a mini photoshoot after, which was so special to me to be able to have all these memories saved through photographs.
The Setup:
Tilo reached out to picnic Party Seattle a couple of months before the big day so they could plan the most magical setup. We are big charcuterie people, so he made sure there was a little setup as well as setting the table with hydrangeas which is my favorite flower of all time. The umbrella had printed out photos hung from some of our favorite moments together, which I saved and have in my nightstand drawer. To set the mood even further, Tilo had made an engagement playlist filled with songs that made him think of me. Our picnic was filled with listening to each song, stuffing ourselves with charcuterie, taking lots of polaroids, and of course lots of happy tears.
The Ring:
I hadn’t mentioned much to him about my “dream ring” or what I liked because I always wanted it to be something special that he picked out for me. I also never wanted to be one of those girls who demanded a huge diamond as an ultimatum of engagement. Never did I ever think the ring on my finger would have been specially designed for me and only me. Tilo spent months emailing back and forth and sneaking over to Tom Cook Jewelers, the local jewelers in our town, for meetings to design my ring and handpick the diamond from many that they had shipped in from around the country. He chose Tom Cook because it is right next door to the location of my family’s old business, Dunn Brothers. Dunn Brothers are no longer around, but Tilo knew how important it was to me to have a little part of the home and a connection to my family as we will be moving all around the world for the rest of our lives.
