The engagement

We figured since this blog is about our wedding and the days leading up to it, we needed to post a little something about our engagement.

Whitney: My side of our stories are never little. They always turn out super long, so I'm sorry in advance if I add more information than you're willing to read.
Well, where to begin? Earlier that day, Friday 2-12-10, I had gone shopping, telling my friends that I needed to pick out my engagement shirt. Valentine's Day landed on a Sunday this year, and since we were busy with the high school ministry, we decided to celebrate it on Saturday. Isaac had been acting kind of fishy, telling me to keep my Saturday afternoon free because he made big plans. I took this to mean that he was going to propose, so I took preliminary action and bought a cute little outfit.

That night we had plans to go to Peoria to have dinner with the high school pastors and student leaders, so I rushed to paint my nails quick, and found a random outfit in Kate's closet. Knowing that I didn't have time to rewash my hair, I tossed my bangs back and clipped them with a bobby pin. I felt a little thrown together but was presentable. Isaac came and picked me up, wearing a cute little vest and tie, ready for the steakhouse, making me immediately feel like I hadn't put enough thought or effort into my appearance, but I knew I didn't have time to change. So off we went. We got to Peoria a little early so we stayed in the car, talking until everyone else showed up. Isaac started to get really anxious, which I attributed to his hunger, but started talking about how much he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. This wasn't unusual, we talked about these things all the time, and I probably wouldn't have given it a second thought if he weren't acting so weird. I knew something was up, I sat there, scrutinizing his face, wonder what he was going to do next. He suggested going into the restaurant, and as we were getting out of the car, Isaac asked me to grab his wallet from the glove compartment. Inside was a little note with my name on it and a little pink bag that had a key chain saying "You hold the key to an open heart." I looked at Isaac who in turn said, "Go on. Open it." The note was all typed up saying, "You thought we were going to have dinner with Drew (the high school pastor) and the crew . . . well we're not. We're going to do two of our favorite things: Dinner and a movie." For those of you who don't know us very well, dinner and a movie is something we do quite often. It's pretty much one of the only things to do in a small town as far as entertainment is concerned, so we do it a lot. Anyways, the bottom line of the note said " . . . . . . . . . . AND ONE MORE THING . . . . . . . . . ." Immediately I started to panic, and although I feel silly about this now, the first thing that I thought was, "OH NO! He's going to propose and I'm not even wearing my engagement outfit! I didn't even have time to wash my hair. I'm not going to look cute on my engagement!" When I finished reading the note, he was at my side, knelt down in the parking lot, holding out a little ring box. I was in shock, and a thousand things were running though my mind. When he asked, "Will you marry me?" I casually responded, "Of course," the moment not quite registering with me yet. He hugged me and started laughing at my reaction saying, "You act like you don't know what's going on right now." He was right. I was so surprised that I didn't know how to respond. It wasn't until a few minutes later that all the emotion caught up with me and I finally began to cry. I hugged and kissed him, still a little dazed from the happenings of a few moments prior. We both stared at the ring, which was now safely on my finger. The ring was beautiful and exactly what I had imagined. To this day, I still find myself staring at it, like right now for instance. Bezel set, emerald cut diamond, double banded, with pave diamonds covering every surface. Absolutely perfect for me. Exactly my style.


After my tears ceased, we called our parents letting them know the good news. This was just the tip of the iceberg. I had a revelation. I realized that I not only had to text my sisters, but my bridesmaids, all my friends, and my close family, and I had to do it right away. I didn't want my closest friends and family finding out through the grapevine or even worse, facebook! I wanted them to hear it directly from me first. So all throughout dinner, much to Isaac's dismay, I texted, and texted, . . . and texted some more. I was so busy texting that I barely ate my little salad I had ordered. After a while Isaac asked me to put away my phone so we could enjoy what was left of our dinner, and I reluctantly obliged even though I was hyper aware of how many texts I was receiving.

(You can see his cute little tie and vest in the picture above)
After dinner, we drove back to Bloomington and stopped by the house to show off my ring before heading to the movie.

In hindsight, it was the perfect proposal for us; secluded, away from the speculative gaze of complete strangers. We are fairly private people and don't really like flaunting our business (making a blog, for one, is a little out of character). But that night shall be remembered as our own private moment that was shared only between the two of us . . . and now all of you!