How We Met
It all started with a swipe… Her opening line was “you look familiar…”. While it sounded like a line, I ate it up and we chatted for a bit until I finally told her after couple days that if she doesn’t give me her number, that every time I come on this app I’m going to swipe on all these other girls before getting to her message… We exchanged numbers, and I sent her a rose…
How They Asked
We had planned all week to have a healthy Saturday morning and go for a run outside, even though it was going to be below 40 degrees. I’m not a fan of the cold. Steve let me sleep until 11:20 am until he told me to get up. His brother, sister in law & kids were stopping by on their way to New Jersey. We were planning to meet them for lunch at 1:30 so he wanted us to leave for the run around noon. Or so I thought…
At about 12:15, we left our apt. We typically sync our playlists when we run and he asked me to start it from song #3. I thought nothing of it as these were the songs he added to my “Scootie” playlist, the one I listen to on my scooter ride to work. Anyway, we left our apartment, playlists synced and it was a beautiful sunny day. We ran the path we’ve run a few times before along the water. Right around the Smorgesburg area Bruno Mars “Marry you” came on. Still, I thought nothing of it. We reached the water. Steve took his headphones off, looked at me and told me that he had gone to the cemetery to see his mother a few weeks prior. Surprised as this is something he usually would tell me, he continues to say, “I told her that I was going to ask you to marry me”. I replied, “When?”. Seconds later, he was down on one knee, ring in hand… After I said yes, there was a New Orleans style brass band waiting on a bench a few dozen feet away.
Of course, I noticed them before but it’s Williamsburg, Brooklyn… so when I saw them at first I didn’t think anything of it. They got up and started playing Penthouse Floor by John Legend, my favorite song. Out of nowhere a videographer and photographer that were hiding came out. We started to make our way with the band following up to the main street from the water and there were my parents and his aunts and uncle on their way down with New Orleans style umbrellas, balloons, hugs, and kisses as the first to share the most special moment of my life! About a half a block up the road was our brothers and sisters to join in on the parade (second line).
Once we hit N 9th and Wythe, we turn south… at that point, we were about 15 of us + the band… From there on we had an amazing cluster of friends and family waiting for every 20-30 feet. Equipped with umbrellas and beads in true New Orleans fashion, we shut the block down until we were about 60 close friends and family celebrating through the streets of Brooklyn.
The last group was actually my three best friends, who had all secretly flown up from Charleston, Austin, and Louisville for the event. Every group that added onto the march was one heart explosion after another and so many happy tears. We made our way down Wythe and turned onto N 3rd where we end up at Radegast, a large beer hall where we had the band join us for another couple hours of celebration. The fact that my fiancé was able to plan and coordinate this without me having the slightest clue is remarkable on another level…
