Engagement Story

 July 11, 2020

The BEST moment EVER!

On Instagram yesterday, I asked you all if you would be interested in seeing some wedding content while I go through the process of planning. My goal is going to be to try to post new wedding content every Friday! I figured a fun way to start would be to share our engagement story - since today marks two months engaged! Cheers! I hope you all enjoy!

Every year my family, friends and I head up north for the annual Saco River camping trip, usually during the second week in July. Almost every year, Brendan is not able to come because he is usually swamped with work (Brendan is a carpenter, and summer is definitely his busiest season so he hates to take time out of work), but this year he was going to join us for 4 out of the 6 days we were up north! I was so thrilled because of course I always want him to vacation with us, but since last summer, after my Mom passed away, this trip has not really been the same, so it was nice to have something extra to look forward to.

Something Brendan and I love to do is be outdoors, in the winter it's usually snowmobiling, but in the summer we love to get our hands on an ATV or in this years case, a UTV (which I prefer, so much more comfortable! haha!)

Our UTV rental

So, we decided while everyone was pulling the campers up Saturday morning, we would head up into the White Mountains of NH to one of our favorite spots, and rent a UTV for the morning until everyone got up to NH. We hopped into our rental at around 9:30 and it was POURING - like could not see in front of you, cold, hard, rain. Either way, neither of us were letting the weather stop us from our adventure. So we took off to my favorite spot in the area, the Jericho Wind Turbines, the picture below is from the first time we rented a UTV together in the winter - this is the view of the turbines.

The Jericho Wind Turbines back in 2017 on a UTV winter ride

So off to the turbines we went - got a little lost on the way there... paper directions +  rain do not mix well but we made it! We got to the top and stopped at the first turbine all the way to the left (in the picture above), the turbine all the way to the right had about 10-12 UTV’s already parked at it, and with COVID social distancing stuff, we figured it would be best to be on our own (which is what I was thinking...). Brendan hopped out of the UTV and went to pee, so I just took in the view (which was a little foggy, but the rain had let up so it was still nice!). When he came back, we stood there for a minute, and the next thing I know he is getting down on one knee in front of me telling me how much he loves me, and asking me to marry him! (Now - if you know me, you know my reaction already - crying, naturally. haha). But I was ecstatic! I don't even remember what I said back to him, I just remember grabbing him and squeezing him with the biggest hug and as I did, the group of those 10-12 UTV's saw Brendan get down on one knee, and started driving by screaming and yelling congratulations. It was the most perfect moment of my life.

Minutes after saying "yes!" And what made the moment, and this entire engagement so much more special is the ring he used to propose to me with. When he opened the ring box, I instantly saw my mother's marquise diamond ring, the diamond my Dad gave to her when they got engaged over 30 years ago. I think this is what was a big part of the tears... But it made everything so special, and the fact that when Brendan placed it on my finger it fit like a glove, I was in awe!  After taking a few minutes to ourselves, and for me to calm down, we made all the phone calls and FaceTimes to our friends and family - some knew, some did not, but it was so exciting to hear the excitement in their voices when we shared the big news! We had the UTV rented until 1:00pm that day, when we went to climb back in, the rain started again and we looked at each other, "do we want to keep riding, or go grab lunch and celebrate?" - we headed right back on the trail, to head back to the truck to grab lunch in one of our favorite places, where we would be spending the next four days together, in North Conway. Looking back to this day, there are SO many moments throughout that day and week that made this engagement so special to me. I was blown away at all the time Brendan took to plan this special day for us, and kept his cool the entire 3.5 hour car ride up to the mountains that morning! Such an overwhelming happy, emotional, loving, special day and I would not trade it for the world! I am just so happy that I get to spend forever with my best friend.