Our Engagement / Love Story
I'm so excited to share my engagement and “how we met” story with you!
2012-2013
Brian and I were introduced by a mutual friend during my junior year of college, he was five years older than me and fully immersed into the workforce. We went on a first date for lunch, chatted for a few hours, hugged goodbye and went on our ways. We kept texting but things between us eventually fizzled out and I never heard from him again!
2014
I always wondered why Brian never truly followed up from our first date, I thought it went well. Turns out, the timing wasn’t right. Fast forward to after my college graduation and moving back home to Buffalo for the summer… I found out through our mutual friend that Brian was doing really well and was in the process of buying a home. Not going to lie, I was a little bitter! I sent him a text, wishing him well and luckily Brian saw this as an opportunity to reconnect. He asked me to go on a “second” first date. He picked me up in his truck, we found a spot near the waterfront with an outdoor fireplace and we talked for seven hours. We reignited that spark that was between us the first time. However, my intentions with him were minimal because I had plans to accept a full-time job five hours away.
As time evolved, I fell hard for him and he quickly became my best friend! I moved in only after 5 months of dating into our current home that we live in now (when you know, you know?). Life without him became more of a daunting task. He is truly someone who I couldn’t live without, keeps me grounded, laughing and makes life fun.
Brian and I had always discussed the commitment of marriage. We had built a home together, adopted Walter together - we became a team. So after almost three years together, we knew that it was the right time for us to get engaged. I had no idea on when it would happen though!
2017
It was a sunny Friday morning in June, I had exciting plans of getting our air ducts cleaned. Brian had suggested that we go to lunch since he works until noon on Fridays. We previously saw someone go for a picnic near the waterfront, so he thought it would be a fun idea do that. I was excited for buying cheese and other snacks for our picnic, I hadn’t even realized that suggesting a picnic was out of character for Brian.
We packed up our picnic basket, our dog- Lil Walter Harvey and set out for a perfect spot on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor. We laid out our blanket, snacks and opened our bottle of wine. Walter kept lunging for the cheese so we tied him to a nearby tree, he was not happy about it (shown above).
Me, Brian and Walter!
I kept mentioning to Brian that I had “surprise” for him. I found these lemon bars for us to share, not that exciting… Once we were settled in, he asked where his surprise was! I excitedly showed him the lemon bars and jokingly responded “now, where’s my surprise?”
Brian encouraged me to open the picnic basket. I peeked into the basket and there it was, one sparkly ring! Brian got on one knee and asked me to marry him. Wish I could remember more about what he said but it was perfect for us. One of my favorite parts about his proposal was that we were the only ones there, just our little family. We were able to bask in the moment for ourselves and let it be our little secret for a few hours. Once the initial excitement sunk in, we were able to pack up and go visit our families. It was a beautiful day! Thanks for reading. xx