How We Met
Huan and I met through family friends on Thanksgiving of 2015 but didn’t get to exchange contacts. I couldn’t stop thinking about him so every party we went to after that, I just kept hoping I’d see him again. It wasn’t until 4th of July of 2016 that we saw each other again but I was still too shy to talk to him, which is very out of character for me to be that nervous, but my sister, Cathy, pushed me to just go up and talk to him.
We finally exchanged numbers and he contacted me the next day, we set up our first date, and here we are now. It wasn’t until a year or so into our relationship that I told him how funny it was that I kept thinking about him since the first time we met and how I was so nervous to talk to him and he told me he was going through the exact same thing! We both knew the minute we met and felt like it was just meant to be, as cliche as that sounds. He likes to say it was serendipity the way we met and our relationship overall.
How They Asked
We planned a friend’s trip to Lake Tahoe, CA after Christmas just for fun since my sister’s boyfriend would be back in town from Duke for the holidays. My sisters, Cathy and Liz, headed up there first in one car while I had to wait for Huan to get back from his “work emergency” which, in hindsight, should’ve been a massive flag considering it was a Saturday, lol!
By the time we got nearer to our destination, Huan called out some code word and my two youngest siblings, Matt and Angela, blindfolded me in the car while Cathy and Liz came up to walk me down a grassy pathway. When Cathy took off my blindfold, it took a while for my eyes to adjust before I could finally see and, oh my God, it took my breath away. There he was, standing in front of a beautiful backdrop set up with the perfect view of the lake and the mountains just as the sun was setting, with an acapella rendition of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” playing in the background.
As I walked down the aisle that were lined with polaroid photos of my favorite moments in our 3+ years together, I couldn’t hold back my tears and I ugly cried the entire way down. He got down on his knees, said a beautiful speech, and asked me to marry him. I said, “Yes… FINALLY!” and kissed him. There was a lot of screaming and clapping which I turned around to and noticed that he had invited our friends and family to witness this moment. My cousin had flown in from Texas, my best friend from Washington, and our friends even ended their family trip early to come back in time. It was so heartwarming and special, and I couldn’t have even imagined a better proposal.
Oh, remember how I mentioned that our relationship was serendipity?—well, apparently while my family and friends were setting up for the proposal, there was a photographer, Taylor Benedickt, taking wedding portraits for a couple nearby. They thought it was beautiful and Taylor so kindly offered to stay back and take pictures for us as we didn’t have a professional photographer. She was able to capture these special moments that we wouldn’t otherwise have. Serendipity!
