How We Met
Chris and I met in 3rd grade. We rode the same bus, and would argue who could sing better on the bus! We grew up as friends, growing crushes on each other in middle school and early high school. From movie dates (even being driven by parents!) to wearing his varsity football jersey, our friendship grew into a relationship by senior year of high school. Fast forward to 9+ years, and here we are! The term high school sweethearts is a little cheesy, but I truly feel so lucky to be where we are today, blessed that our separate lives have kept us together, and honored that Chris has asked me to be his girlfriend and wife.
How They Asked
Our first trip to Captiva Island was earlier this year. I immediately fell in love and told Chris that being with him in this gorgeous place, I had never felt so happy in my life. We decided that we’d come back in the future and be sure to stay at the island’s main resort (South Seas Island Resort). My year led me to a graduate study abroad program in Italy for a few weeks, extensive fall travel for my job and the two of us had a number of weddings and events that kept our summer jam-packed, leaving little time for the two of us to relax. At 9 years together, I constantly remained suspicious and hopeful about a proposal – I really thought it would happen during our first Captiva trip, or our trip to Savannah the year prior! We’ve talked about our future wedding for years, so it was only a matter of time.
Little did I know, Chris had been planning a proposal for months and surprised me with a last-minute December trip to this resort. I was nearly bursting from excitement to head back and really hoped this was it! Chris had me going back and forth with thinking he would propose to thinking this was just a casual extended weekend trip to FINALLY have time together. As I always do, I meticulously over packed, got a manicure, and kissed our kitty goodbye as we left to catch our flight.
After our first full day, Chris took me to a quiet beach location to celebrate our 9 year anniversary. With the sunset upon us and a bottle of wine in our hands, we found our perfect little spot to watch the sunset. After a glass of wine that one of us drank much quicker than the other (hint – it wasn’t me), he asked me to walk to the water with him. I could feel my heart beating so fast with excitement – I knew this was it! I turned around when he said my name and watched him pull out the ring box he had carried around with him all day and said the most heartwarming thing that I could ever imagine. “I have loved you for most of our lives, and I want to love you for the rest of our lives”, and he got down on one knee.
The world stood still at this moment, and although I knew this was coming, I couldn’t believe that this was real. To my surprise, he had a professional photographer ‘bird watching’ nearby who captured everything! We watched the sunset while taking photos for the next 30 minutes, and I swear I have never smiled harder in my life.
