The past few days have been such a blur but it really happened. We’re engaged! I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with this guy. Here’s our engagement story. 

Our Engagement Story

It all happened on Saturday afternoon. We were packing for our trip to Portugal so I was bouncing around from room to room and getting ready to run a few last minute errands. Conor asked me to sit down for a second, gave me a kiss, and I’m not sure what was said because as I said, everything’s a blur, but realized suddenly that I didn’t like the sweater I has on and went back into the bedroom to change.

He was a little off

Conor seemed visibly nervous and maybe a little annoyed by the fact that I was all over the place, so he asked if I’d bring our passports into the living room so he could book our train ticket. He went into the other room to get Buddy and sat him next to us on the sofa, and asked if I was sure we had everything we needed.

“I think so?”
“Are you sure? You can’t think of anything else?”

I knew about the ring

I knew he had a ring and thought he might propose before our trip. And I actually told a close friend I thought it would happen that day. But it was 3:00 in the afternoon and we had errands to run, so I was a really thrown off. In my head I was all “well I’d love my ring” since I knew he had it but held back. I reminded him that we had errands to run. Breezy, right? Conor told me he had something he thought I might want to bring on the trip. Right there in our first home with our two pups, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

It was all a blur

I remember him telling me he loved me and couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life with anyone else. I said I loved him, kept asking if this was really happening, and tried to steady my shaky hands. We called some of our family and friends and hopped in the car to get Buddy’s pills before the pharmacy closed. Once we got home I was told I had an hour to get ready. We were off to Sportsman Club–the spot where we had our first date on May 19 almost two years ago. We sat in the same booth where we first met and even had the same drinks – tequila & soda for me and a bourbon-amaro concoction for him. Less than two years ago I met this guy on Tinder for a first date and here we are celebrating our engagement.

Dinner and drinks at Maude’s

We got to Maude’s where there was a bottle of champagne waiting for us. I felt generally suspicious that something else might happen and joked that I was waiting for Emilia to pop up with her camera. Conor said we weren’t done celebrating and that he wanted to stop by the pups to let the dogs out.  This is when things started coming together. The dogs had gone out less than 3 hours earlier. So it was then that I realized Conor had made me take all our folded piles of clothes off the bed so we wouldn’t “mess them up when we got home late.” He had also cleaned the entire kitchen before we left.

There were people at our place.

We got home and I walked in to find over 30 friends and a few of my soon-to-be family members there to celebrate us.

Here are a few favorites–all shot by Emilia–from the evening.

A hug for my future mother-in-law!

FaceTiming my new sister!

Mimi gave me a beautiful little ring holder. I got one from my new aunt Carol, too! I grew up without any aunts and uncles and Conor’s mom is one of eight, so my tiny, tiny family just got a lot bigger.

Smothering my first little love. 

We’re currently on a layover in Ireland and should be in Portugal in a few hours. So excited to have the next week to celebrate our engagement together.

The following morning, we had brunch plans with my friend Jessie since she’s moving away.

I casually asked if anyone else was joining since I felt a surprise coming on, and (I’m the worst) guessed exactly who would be there. 

Even though I saw it coming it was still such a surprise and the most perfect evening. 

Thank you to everyone who commented and reached out the past few days. To our friends and family who celebrated us and to Emilia for capturing the happiest night of my life. And to my fiancé for asking me to spend the rest of my life with him.