Weddingbee boards

I feel so blessed to be able to say that the proposal was EVERYTHING I EVER DREAMED OF.  And no, as you'll soon find out, my dreams don't include the Eiffel tower, or spectacular vacations, or even fancy dinners. 

My family has been staying at the same cabin, on the same gorgeous lake in the middle-of-nowhere Maine for as long as I can remember.  This was our 20th year spending a summer week vacationing at "Pleasant Lake", and the 4th year BF (now FI) was joining us.  We had been living together in Virginia after college and had a big move coming up- so this was our last bit of respite before packing up our apartment and moving even further from home for FI to get his masters.  I'd hoped/dreamed about it happening this summer, both because I knew we were ready for the commitment, and because it was such a huge transition period in our lives. 

So the week goes on and one afternoon the men (dad, FI and my sister's BF) were going out fishing.  Apparently FI had secretly asked my sister's BF if he wouldn't mind grabbing another canoe instead of joining them, as he had something important to talk to my dad about.  He asked for my dad's blessing at sunset while fishing (my dad's dream come true) and while I don't know much about that conversation, I know that my dad said yes before FI could even get to say any of his prepared speech :)

I give my (very emotional) father major credit for not saying anything to the family that night.  The next day BF and I went out on a hike to a remote campsite, which had become something of a tradition for us.  A tree bridge over a creek had been washed out and we were forced to return a few hours earlier than expected.  BF started to get quiet on the walk back, but I thought he was just bummed we couldn't make the trip.

We reached the final bridge to get back to the main campground which was, when we were little, called the "kissing bridge."  I have pictures of me at 5 years old giving my mum, dad, and siblings kisses as we crossed over.  Definitely a memorable place for our family.  He pulled me into a hug and asked me if I knew how much I loved him?  This is a pretty common saying for us, and it's usually followed by something like "I love you more than chocolate icecream, or I love you more than mashed potatoes (my favorite)."  But this time he followed up with "I want to show you how much I love you..."

He got down on one knee on the kissing bridge and told me the most wonderful things anyone could ask to hear during a proposal.  I was a teary mess by the end of it and could only nod my head to say yes and then jump into his arms.  I didn't even LOOK at the ring until we pulled away from each other and sat down on the beach. 

The ring is based on a design from a very old and respected jeweler in my homestate, and handmade by a jeweler in his home state.  The 3 stones are family diamonds.  The total weight is .75ct and it couldn't be any more perfect for my petite 3.25/3.5 finger.  He managed to pick out a ring that was so perfectly me it's hard to believe I didn't pick it out myself. 

Our reunion with my family back at the cabin was pretty hilarious.  I couldn't keep myself together so at first my mother thought I was hurt.  My dad said softly "Those are happy tears" and everyone completely flipped out.  I would have expected nothing less.  :)  To top it off, we found out the campground is rededicating the Kissing bridge with a new sign (the old one had fallen down years ago) and the date of our engagement :)  It will be a wonderful reminder everytime we visit.

To all you ladies in waiting.. hang in there :)  I was in your shoes for a while too.  Your day will come and it will be everything you ever dreamed of!

Finally got the picture thing figured out.   I used the website picture first to show what it really looks like, my craptastic ancient camera doesn't do it justice!

The design the ring was based on:

A la Anne Ruthmann (although very badly): and on me!

We had talked very early on about rings (back before I thought he was even looking) and I expressed my preference for only two things:  That I prefer white metal, and that I wanted bezel set (or some variation) because tall rings on little hands catch EVERYTHING.  Plus I work around kids a lot and I didn't want it to be getting in the way.  The ring is so unique, I love it.  The boy did good :)

this is harder than I thought :) I'll keep trying to get some up here.

(EDIT: they're up, see above)