Y'all, I get married this month.
No matter how many times I say it, or type it, or think it,
it just doesn’t seem real!
Between our engagement last June, planning a wedding across
states, a move home to Ohio (way sooner than anticipated) and a new job, life has
been a little crazy. There has been so much going on, and weirdly enough, now
that we are in the home stretch I think I am finally starting to catch my
breath. Maybe all of the to-do’s or done? Or maybe I’m forgetting something on
the list? Either way, there is a welcome change of pace happening right now,
and I am not going to fight it.
Now that I am starting to slow my roll and have a moment to
think, I wanted to write down Michael and my engagement story. Partly to share
with you, but also to have it documented before I forget all of the
details.
So let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? It will be
short and sweet and it will answer the often asked question about the duck
costume ;)
The Proposal
My mom, sister, and nephew flew to Connecticut for a mini
vacation to visit me and celebrate my mom’s 50th. Michael and I had
already discussed engagement, I knew he had the ring, I knew he had asked my
parents’ permission, and I knew he was going to ask that summer. What I did not,
was when it would happen.
I suspected he would ask while my family was in town. In
fact, I was pretty certain of it and had my nails prepped and ready just in
case. (If you couldn’t tell from the above paragraph, I don’t like being
surprised lol.)
Days came and went, as did seemingly opportune moments and picturesque scenes. The last day of their trip was the only day I was sure it would
not be: my mom’s birthday. It was pretty much the only day during the entire
summer that I assumed I didn’t need to be at the ready.
I’m sure you’re all super shocked to read that I was wrong.
June 26, 2018
I really don’t remember what we did for the first part of the day
on June 26th. I remember messaging my friend, Michelle, for the
name of the Italian restaurant she recommended a while back. (I would later find
out that Michael also messaged her about the restaurant and made his own
reservations thinking I had forgotten. He collected the information before I
did and did a great job playing dumb when I said I had gotten the name of it.
Michelle also played along and practiced some serious restraint by not showing
up to see the proposal happen. I told her I would not have put two and two
together - and based on how the rest of the evening went, I stand by my
statement that I would have been oblivious.)
I also remember wanting to wear jeans to dinner and my
sister insisting I put in a little more effort for mom’s birthday. She also
offered to do my hair and makeup which should have been a big clue, but like I
said, I was positive it wasn’t happening that day. I remember being slightly
suspicious when after I was ready she forced me to take off my watch, but by
the time we were at dinner, I had already forgotten.
Dinner
When we arrived at
Arezzo's (
highly recommend if you’re near Westport, CT), and after a little
confusion regarding the double reservation (again, I had no clue), we were
seated outside in the beautiful weather. We ordered a bottle of white wine for the table and decided on our meals. (I don’t remember what everyone chose, but I had the gnocchi and it
was
amazing.)
After we finished dinner, my sister
announced she had to go change Mason. He was 16 months old, so this was normal.
What was not normal, was when she came back to the table
with him dressed in a duck costume. You might be thinking, “Surely you knew
something was up at this point,” and my answer would be, “nope!” My thought
process basically went, “Oh, he must have had a blowout. Weird that all you had was this
Halloween costume in your bag…”
… and then I saw the ring box in my tiny nephew’s hands.
(I’m actually tearing up thinking about this now.)
Michael took my hand and started saying the sweetest things
in front of my mom and sister. At one point he took the ring from Mason and, as
you can imagine, the babe did not like that. To compromise, he took out the
ring and gave back the box and continued his speech, which at that point had
caught the attention of neighboring tables (crying babies tend to do that lol).
M finished his sweet words, got down on one knee, and asked
me to marry him. I, of course, said “yes!” and everyone around us clapped and
clinked their glasses as he slid the ring on my finger and we shared our first
kiss as an engaged couple. The restaurant brought us champagne and our dessert
and we finished our meal on cloud 9 with multiple “congratulations” from kind
strangers who’d witnessed our special moment.
Even as I type this out, it still feel like a dream. As
cliché as it sounds, we are truly blessed.
The Duck Costume
The most frequent question we get when we tell people the
story or show them the photos is about the duck costume. If I’m being honest, I
didn’t understand the significance either until Michael explained it.
The first year and a half of our relationship was spent long
distance and somewhere along the way, for a reason neither of us remember, we
started sending pictures of ducks we saw in the wild to each other. It was an odd
but cute way to let the other know that we were thinking them even when we
couldn’t be together. It just became a thing.
Once M moved to Connecticut, the need to send pictures of
ducks didn’t exist anymore, so we hadn’t sent any in months – hens why I
completely forgot about it.
Apparently when he was talking about the proposal with my
sister, his original plan was for him to dress up as a duck, to which she politely
suggested to have the baby wear the costume instead…
And for that, Bethany, I will forever be grateful.
--
We are so overjoyed to begin this next chapter of our lives and are so grateful for all of your kind words and prayers. They mean the world <3
Peace,
Sarah
