this post was originally published on October 24, 2015
for as long as i can remember, i've been in love with love and marriage and weddings and proposals and rings and all of that stuff. i've been "planning" my own wedding for years on pinterest. i knew what i wanted and i had rules that the boy i would marry would need to follow for when he got down on one knee and proposed to me.
1. he has to ask my dad first.
2. there has to be a ring. [not because i'm like some spoiled brat that just wants a gorgeous ring, but mostly because i don't see the point in "getting engaged" if you don't quite look the part. it's a personal opinion.]
3. i don't want a lot of people there. [that's a really special moment between two people and i didn't want to feel obligated to say yes....... kind of an awkward reason, but that's one way i could know that he actually knows me]
4. i DO NOT want it to be at the temple. [another personal choice. i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the temple! buuuuuut that just seems really cliché to me. plus there are people at the temple. ALL THE TIME.]
5. it has to mean something to us. like have a memory(memories) attached to it.
and the last one.
6. he can't ask me to marry him.
yep. you read that right. and here's the reason. you know that scene in Definitely, Maybe when the main guy is practicing his proposal and he doesn't kneel down and then he says, "will you... umm... marry me??" and you can tell that he's super nervous and not quite sure whether or not the girl will say yes. and then the girl that he's practicing with says no? that's what i DIDN'T want. i didn't want it to be a question as to whether or not i would say yes. i wanted a straightforward, "sadie, i love you. so marry me." or something along those lines.
so. now that i've made you read a preface to our story, here's the story!
i'm a planner. i have to know what i'm doing during the week at least a week in advance or i stress out. so this sunday, parker and i sat down and were going through our week. we had two dates scheduled-- one for wednesday and one for thursday. just normal dates. and then we had a few other things that we needed to do. well, on tuesday [maybe wednesday, i can't really remember], parker came to me and asked if we could change our plans. he said that he had really been wanting to go to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and he just wanted to go this week. in my brain i was like, "yes. yes. yes. yes. yes. yes. yes. yes. yes. yes." but i kept my cool and said something like, "sure, we can do that." with a shrug for added emphasis on the cool that i was keeping.
then for the next few days, i was reaaaaaaally skeptical about all of the things that parker "had" to do. for instance, he had to "work late" for like two days. he NEVER works late. he "had" to go visit his brother thursday night up in salt lake. and then his best friend's wife all of a sudden needed a ride home from salt lake on thursday so they were just going to carpool to salt lake together (he said this was actually a full-truth but i was/still am skeptical about that one... too coincidental if you ask me. hahah).
and then on thursday night, he asked me if we could go to my favorite bench in salt lake after dinner. uhh. yes please.
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| this is from this summer when i first shared my bench with parker. |
even with all of these things, i still didn't feel like it was going to happen because he didn't have the ring yet. {please refer to rule #2} my lack of patience and excitement were getting the best of me. i didn't want to ruin our "special dinner" by being disappointed if we didn't get engaged. but i REAAAAALLY wanted to get engaged.
friday finally came. and it was the SLOWEST DAY EVER. luckily i had a lot of things that i needed to do that day, so it wasn't as slow as it could have been. around 3:30pm he came over to my apartment to pick me up. we just hung out at my apartment for about an hour because our dinner reservations weren't until 6pm. we headed up to salt lake around 4:30 and traffic was awful. it was stop and go through all of the dumb construction. and then what made it worse? we got into a fender bender accident. [for those that are worried, aka GRANDMAS: we are fine. everyone was fine. there is literally just a tiny dent in parker's rear bumper] parker was pretty annoyed at the guy that hit us, but he calmly got out of the car to exchange information. and unbeknownst to me, this was how it actually went down: parker: "look, i'm proposing tonight and i don't really have time for this. can i just get your information and call you later?" guy: "oh man. sure. good luck man!" and they exchanged information and we were on our way again.
we got to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building with like a minute to spare. maybe. but we made it. we ate dinner. he got salmon and i got a caesar salad. [after the night was over, he told me that was the worst salmon he's ever had but only because he was so nervous that he couldn't even enjoy it.] we ate and then because we were on the 10th floor of the JSMB we went and looked out the windows at the temple. [quite possibly one of my favorite spots in salt lake] and then parker told me he had to go to the bathroom. [where he was texting his friends and telling them we were done with dinner] HE WAS GONE FOR FOREVER. when he came back, i had to refrain from quoting psych, "you were in the bathroom for a REALLY long time." but at that point i had already texted my friend emily and was certain that it wasn't happening that night.
he apparently had to stall because his friends weren't finished setting it up yet. so he asked if i wanted to go walk around temple square. i said sure. we looked at the temple for like a minute and then went over to the fountains because parker loves water fountains a lot. so we did that. i was getting pretty antsy because i wanted to go sit on my bench before it got too cold and dark. plus, in my mind it wasn't happening that night and i didn't want to ruin the night by getting frustrated. but he sure was taking his sweet time walking around the fountains...
we finally went back to the car and started heading towards my bench. and then parker turned to me and was like, "i know you know the way, but i think i can get there on my own. so don't give me directions." so i was like, alllllright. and guys, that was the most painful part of the whole night. backseat driving is one of my many talents that help absolutely no one. and there was more than one time that we were going in the complete wrong direction... so hard. hahaha. i'm pretty sure he was continuing to stall by taking all those wrong turns.. at least i'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
after like 30 minutes of driving, he got us to the right street. my bench is on a hill that overlooks the salt lake valley.
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| he had his friends put tiki torches up the walk way and around my bench and his sisters covered up this ugly sign with a cute little sign they had made. |
as we were driving up the hill, this was my thought process: i'm so excited to go to my bench again! .... what are those? .... someone put something weird around my--- ohhhhhhh. it IS happening tonight. .... what am i supposed to do? .... do i pretend like i didn't see or like i don't know what's going on? .... holy crap. i'm getting engaged!
he parked the car and looked at me and said, "are ya ready?" and i just nodded because i literally had no words. we got a blanket out of his car and i grabbed my coat. and we went and sat down on my bench. he told me all of the things that he loves about me and why he fell in love with me. and my bench became our bench.
and then we stood up and looked at salt lake.
and THEN he knelt down in front of me. pulled out my gorgeous ring and said, "sadie, i want to be with you for forever." and i said, "okay!" and then he stood up and said, "i'm taking your 'okay' as a yes."
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| i never realize how short i actually am until i see pictures like this... |
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| this is one of my favorite pictures from the night because seriously, this is our relationship in a nutshell. he says something and i die laughing. every time. also, can i just mention that i love the feeling that these pictures give? maybe it's just because they're mine... but i seriously LOVE all of these. definitely some of my favorite pictures ever. |
and then he put the ring on my finger.
it was seriously the best moment of my life thus far.
and then his sisters who were taking the pictures ran across the street and congratulated us, gave us hugs and took a few more pictures. and then we left to go back to orem.
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| the classic "ring picture" with our cute sign his sister made! :) |
it was the happiest night. he did such a good job. i'm the luckiest girl in the world because i get to marry parker. one thing that i absolutely love about parker is that he helps me to follow my dreams and make my dreams a reality. and i don't just mean that he followed my silly proposal rules, but he encourages me every day to develop my talents and become a better version of myself. i'm so incredibly grateful that God placed him in my life at the perfect times and that everything fell together perfectly. and last but certainly not least, i'm so excited to start our new adventure as a MARRIED COUPLE [what? dreams do come true, kids. they really do!] on january 15, 2016 in the Salt Lake Temple!
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| seriously. he did SUCH A GOOD JOB. what a winner. |
this is still one of my most favorite stories on the planet. sometimes it doesn't even seem real. but it totally is! parker and i have been happily married for two months now and it has just been so much fun. now, i'm reposting this BECAUSE today is NATIONAL PROPOSAL DAY!! (if i had known this was a real holiday, i would've been celebrating it my entire life)
soooooo.... happy proposal day!
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