That Proposal

That Bride is back and ringless no more! Let's dive right into the magical proposal, shall we? As you all know, I had an engagement shoot scheduled for the weekend that we were in Mexico on a vacation sponsored by That Groom's company. I did not know That Groom had slyly converted a portion of our engagement shoot to a proposal shoot as well.

Before we dive into the pictures let me give you a little bit of back story (or if you are like me, you will just scroll down immediately to see them and then come back up and read the story afterwards).

When we left on Wednesday, I was positive I would have a ring on my finger by Saturday night. That Groom did not appreciate my bragging about it, and he spent the entire weekend attempting to confuse me. First he tells me that we can't shoot engagement photos Saturday night because he wants to have some time for just the two of us. The next day he tells me it doesn't matter if Saturday night is free or not and acts like I am crazy for suggesting we might want to avoid making plans. Saturday nights engagement shoot didn't quite go as planned with fog and rain and stormy clouds forcing us to hike all over the coast of Mexico in an attempt to find a beach that wasn't either (a) private or (b) flooded out by a river of muddy water.

We ended the night on a busy beach right next to the city trying to catch some pretty shots at sunset. There was one moment where I was positive that it was going to happen. He had this look in his eyes and I was so ready, but then we were leaving and the moment was over.

That night, he kept telling me how sorry he was, how all of his plans had fallen through one by one and he had realized that he was just going to have to think of something to do in Dallas Monday or Tuesday before I move home to Washington on Wednesday. I was really bummed, and completely convinced that I would be getting on the plane without my pretty ring. I was worried it would be forced and rushed and awkward between him working so many hours to catch up from vacation and me trying to get all packed and ready to move home for 2 1/2 months.

We woke up the last morning of our stay in Mexico at 6 am to try another round of shooting. We shot for about 15 minutes when Kelli, the photographer, whispered in my ear that she would like to capture a few shots of me alone next to this hot pink wall we had seen. We slipped away for a second and told That Groom we would be right back. I spent the next few minutes trying to think up an alibi, as I was hoping these photos might be something I could give to him on the day of the wedding (I even slipped my little sweater off and paid some attention to my decolletage to give the shots a little va-va voom). He came looking for us a few minutes later telling us that we needed to hurry back to the beach because it was starting to get crowded with people.

As we were walking back, Kelli told us that she wanted to get some shots of us walking and holding hands. She stayed back to catch a few of us from behind, and then all of the sudden she was shooting out in front of us (literally dashing through the water). I thought she was just being really dedicated to the photos until I looked down to see rose petals and candles sprinkled in the rocks and sand. He had things set up perfectly so that I didn't even realize what was happening until we were literally standing right on top of them.

Apparently he had a whole bunch of people in on the setup, as my roomate on the trip was the one who brought down the candles, and a coworker helped him get everything set up on the beach. The concierge hooked him up with some of the biggest, reddest, rose petals I have ever seen.

I told myself so many times that I would not be overwhelmed by the situation and that I would write down everything he said in his proposal right afterwards. Even though I knew it was coming, it was still so fast and wonderful that I can only remember a few things he said. I remember he proposed using the special pet name he has for me, and it still makes me smile every time. The things I do recall, were beautiful and personal, all of the things I wanted most (I believe those few sentences are the most important part of the entire process!)

Despite everyones predictions, I did not cry. That Groom even revealed that he liked the idea of proposing at the hotel beach because he was worried I would cry so hard that I would smear my makeup and have to run up to the room to fix it. I love that he knows how much these pictures mean to me!

We kissed for a long time. I think Kelli probably got bored.

I rotated between being unable to take my eyes off of the ring and not being able to take my eyes off of my new fiance. I love the word fiance. Fiance, fiance.

I was so happy I kept clapping and yelling out into the ocean "I'm engaged!". I should have learned how to say it in Spanish as well because I don't think the people around me knew what I was saying.

Kelli emailed me these photos at 3 AM this morning, after taking them that morning and flying all day. The pictures are so amazing, and I love looking at them over and over. I think we shot for about 6 hours total during our stay in Mexico, so I should have a whole lot more in a few weeks.

Next up: The pretty pretty ring!

All photos in this post should be credited to my fantabulous photographer (and friend!), Kelli Nicole.