During the four years that I Ben and I dated, I thought a ton about what our engagement would look like. We were never in a rush or felt like we were on any type of timeline, but I still loved to daydream about what that moment would be like. Where would it be? What would he say? How would I feel? I had heard stories of proposals and saw countless photos of guys down on one knee looking at a girl who was inevitably covering her face. Would I have that same reaction? Spoiler: I did.
Friday January 10th, 2020 was our four year anniversary. The night before, Ben asked me what I had going on at work the next day. I told him I had a few things to tie up but, most importantly, a new coffee shop was opening next to our office and they were doing free drinks all day. I had to be there. He told me that unfortunately my free coffee had to wait because he had a special day planned and had already cleared the time off with my supervisor. Eeek!
The next day we woke up and Ben made us both breakfast, we exchanged anniversary gifts and then he told me that the first stop on our anniversary day date would be massages at a local spa, Milk and Honey, followed by lunch at Geraldine’s. He suggested we just Uber around that day instead of drive and I agreed since dealing with parking downtown was zero fun.
After lunch, we went to a local coffee shop to grab a drink and plan some of our upcoming trip to Thailand. While we were there, Ben mentioned that he had one other surprise before dinner, but he had to cancel it because of the weather. Originally that Friday called for rain storms, 75 mph winds and a tornado warning–very unlike Austin–so he decided to reschedule this secret event and said that he’d tell me what it was at dinner.
That night we headed to one of our favorite spots in town, Uchi. Our first date was at its sister restaurant in North Austin, Ucihiko, and we also celebrated our two year anniversary at Uchi just two years prior. It’s a pretty special spot. We sat down for dinner, ordered the Chef’s special, had a few drinks and spent some time talking about the past four years and what was to come.
Towards the end of dinner, Ben divulged the final surprise that he had to postpone; a photo shoot in downtown Austin. If you’ve followed me for a while or know Ben and I, you’d know that we’ve done a few Flytographer shoots over the years. We have photos from Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Los Angeles and they are some of my favorite memories! So needless to say, when he said he scheduled a shoot in our home city of Austin as an anniversary gift, I was so excited. I also didn’t really think much of it being out of the ordinary because doing a little shoot like that was very much “us.”
The next morning, we woke up, got ready and headed to meet the photographer. Ben told me that he picked the first location as a meeting point, but that after that we could go anywhere in the city. As we got into the Uber I was racking my mind for cool/meaningful places downtown that we could go. As we got out of the car and started walking towards spot #1, I looked at Ben and knew exactly where we were going.
In the middle of downtown Austin, there’s an old parking lot that we used to walk by when we lived in the area. If you drove by, or even walked by, you may not even notice this small and unassuming mural on the wall. I love a good mural and the second I saw it, I fell in love. Every time we walked by, I would snap a photo of it, I just thought it was the coolest thing. The mural was painted on in white and said, “The only magic I still believe in is love.”
As we approached the mural, we shook hands with the photographer, Sam. He had us put our coats down and then told us to stand in front of the mural for a few test shots. After he took a couple of pictures, he told me to face away from Ben. Suddenly my mind starting racing–wait, was this it? I turned around to face the street and awkwardly smiled at the camera, not quite sure of what to do.
As I stood there, I heard rustling behind me—I peaked (oops)–and saw Ben starting to get down on one knee. Sam then told me to turn around and, when I did, I realized that it was actually happening. He was proposing.
He pulled the ring out and said a bunch of super sweet things that I can’t for the life of me remember (anyone else black out?) and then asked me to marry him. I nodded, very aggressively, and he put the ring on my finger.
It was the most amazing moment and it was everything I thought it would be. We instantly tested out the word “fiance” and spent the next few minutes just enjoying that special moment together.
Once we took a few more photos, Ben said that he had one more surprise for me and motioned to the side of the mural. I looked over and suddenly two of our best friends, Brittany and Brett, ran out from the side.
We hugged and talked about the engagement and how they had anxiously been waiting behind that mural trying to hear what was going on lol.
Then they mentioned that one other person was there to celebrate. I had no idea who it could be and stood looking at the same area where Brittany and Brett had came out a few minutes earlier. Suddenly I saw my best friend Lindsay turn the corner and I was in absolute shock.
Lindsay and I became friends at sleep away camp when we were 12 years old and stayed friends ever since. She lives in Manhattan and we typically only see each other 2-3 times a year. Knowing Ben reached out to her and that she flew to Austin to be there for that moment was so overwhelming. She popped out and we both cried, she walked over and we cried, she tried to hug me and, you guessed it, we cried.
Once things settled down, we were able to take group and individual photos with Sam. Being able to share/document that moment with some of our best friends is something I’ll cherish forever and ever.
As we were getting ready to leave the mural, Ben pointed out that both of our cars were in the parking lot. He had used them to save the spots in front of the mural so that no cars would park there (so dang sweet). That also meant that my car was missing for two days and I had no idea lol. I couldn’t believe that he even thought to do that–I mean, no wonder he wanted to Uber!
Once we left the wall, we walked to grab a cup of coffee and we called our close family/friends to tell them the news. Then we all went over to Le Poltique for brunch and champagne.
As we finished up, we decided to grab one more drink and Brittney suggested we do Whistlers on Austin’s East side. It’s one of our favorite spots, so I jumped in the car with Brittany and Lindsay and Ben and Brett drove over separately. When we got there, I was on the phone and told them I’d be in in just a minute.
As I finished up my call, I swung open the curtain that led into the bar and instantly heard screams. I quickly realized that the bar was filled with our closest Austin friends. I cried for the 20th time that day and went around to give everyone a hug.
We spent the rest of that afternoon cheers’ing with celebratory champagne, talking about the engagement and just all of the exciting things to come. UGH it was just the most amazing day. Can I go back and relive it? Pretty please?
Now fast forward two months to today, the day I’m writing this post, and I’m still on cloud 9 thinking about January 11th. Ben could not have done a better job putting everything together. He was just so sweet and so intentional with the thought process behind each and every detail.
And as every good story goes, there’s a whole other side to January 10th and 11th that I never even saw. To give you a little teaser, Ben had to change up the proposal location, photographer and even the meeting point for our friends multiple times due to the weather and cancellations. At one point we were getting engaged at The Long Center, another day it was the Austin Library, then a pedestrian bridge and even a suite at The Line Hotel. He had umbrellas ordered, friends moving our cars around town and probably texted the photographer more in one day than he’s texted me in four years lol.
I still can’t believe that he put the whole thing together and I’m just so thankful for him and all of our friends who helped make everything so dang perfect. That day would have been perfect no matter how it went down, but I’m just so happy with the story we get to tell. Hopefully Ben will do a guest post one day to tell his side because what he pulled off was incredible and this paragraph just doesn’t do it justice!
I plan to update the blog a bit more this year with wedding planning progress, so definitely stayed tuned! Until then, here’s a few more favorites from that day and a video that tells it all 🙂
Photos by Sam Hugh: https://samhugh.com/
