How We Met: We passed each other in the hall at school everyday, but it wasn’t until the spring of my sophomore year and AJ’s freshman year that we were finally introduced! Two of our friends set us up and we went on our first date to get smoothies after school — I drove because AJ didn’t have his license yet;) The rest is history and almost 7 years later I FINALLY got to say yes to my high school sweet heart and best friend! God has blessed us in so many ways as we have grown up together and grown more in love with Him and with each other.
how they asked: After almost 7 years I was convinced there was no way AJ was going to be able to surprise me with a proposal! We have always openly talked about getting married throughout the years and after this long I was sure I would see it coming. I am always telling AJ I know him “too” well because I can predict just about everything he does, but I definitely underestimated how well he knows me because he managed to have me completely fooled!
In the months leading up to the proposal I was really starting to wonder when he would finally pop the question so anytime we went anywhere I was saying “what if its this time” in the back of my mind! I was so ready to be engaged and even though we both knew we wanted to get married after we graduated college, I couldn’t tell if proposing was anywhere on his radar. Little did I know, AJ was sneaking around for 2 months working with a jeweler and talking to my dad!;)
Because of my constant suspicions, AJ went above and beyond to fool me! He made up a whole story about how we were going to Highlands North Carolina to work on updating his families town home. We have taken many trips to Highlands throughout the years with his family, and it is one of our favorite places! He made sure I packed clothes for “painting”, and he even brought carpet and paint swatches in the car and told me his mom wanted my help picking out colors! He told me to bring one nice outfit encase we went out to dinner.
When we got to Highlands he told me that his parents were getting there in the morning so we were going to pick up the keys for a house that his parents were considering buying (all completely made up but seemed totally normal to me). AJ told me that the man selling the house was “the mayor of Highlands” and that “he has been very selective about who he wants to buy the house so we need to dress nice and treat this like an interview”. Then he added, “we have to be there at 8 a.m.” Now, I am NOT a morning person so at this point any thoughts of getting engaged were far from my mind! I mean who’s ever herd of getting engaged at 8 in the morning!
Friday morning, September 26, we went and got coffee and went to go “meet the mayor”. We drove up the mountain called Big Bear Pen where there is a beautiful view overlooking the mountains. AJ told me we had some extra time so we stopped to get out and look at the view. The spot we went to was where AJ asked me to the high school homecoming dance 6 years ago on my first trip to Highlands with his family. We got out and walked over to look at the view, I even carried my coffee with me totally clueless of what was about to happen! It was a breathtaking view, but what took my breath away was watching him drop to one knee. I was so shocked that I actually thought he was joking around with me at first! Once I realized it was REAL I lost it and cried happy tears the whole time.
He said a lot of sweet something’s and I love you’s and he asked me to marry him. I said yes! I said YES and could barely get out the words through my shock and crying! In the video you can barely hear him talking or me saying yes over all my blubbering! :) My next surprise was that he had hired a photographer and someone to video the whole thing, and we got to go back later that afternoon to get more pictures done!
We enjoyed the day walking around town calling all of our friends and family and letting it all soak in!
It was an incredible memory and we are both so excited to start our lives together! God has blessed us in so many ways already and we can’t wait to see where His path leads us!
Photos by Sarah Valentine Photography