How He Asked: Our Engagement Story

Well, the secret is out–we’re engaged! Earlier this summer, we hosted a little Q&A session on our Instagram. One of our followers asked when Zach was going to pop the question. And of course, I said something along the lines of ‘not soon enough.’

That response caused a bit of a stir among some of our followers. Since starting Navy’s Instagram account and expanding our journey to this blog, most of our followers just assumed Zach and I were already married. Well, we are not. 

Zach and I are pretty private people. We keep our relationship off social media and among ourselves. But now that we’ve announced our engagement online, we figured why not have something to share with our family, friends and followers when they ask how it all happened.

Zach and I are very similar in that we don’t like to be the center of attention. He knew I didn’t want an over-the-top proposal. I wanted it to be just me, him and the dogs. 

I also have a love/hate relationship with surprises, so Zach did a pretty good job hinting to me that he would pop the question soon. Initially, he told me he wanted to propose around the fourth anniversary of our first date towards the end of August. He also mentioned he wanted to propose abroad–something we obviously can’t do because of COVID.

We both ended up getting incredibly busy with work towards the end of summer. We had tentative plans to plan a little weekend getaway with friends, but it didn’t pan out. Little did I know, Zach had asked our mutual friends to go on this weekend trip with us and help with the proposal!

I knew we had our annual family trip to the Outer Banks the first week of September, so I had a pretty strong clue that he would propose at the beach.

One thing I really wanted was a secret photographer to capture the proposal. Again, Zach and I are pretty private people. We don’t have a lot of photos together. I wanted awesome photos from a professional photographer so I could remember the day forever.

Okay, I caught Zach googling photographers in the Outer Banks. I knew something was up. He caught be snooping and said that he couldn’t find any photographers with availability during the week we were at the beach. Little did I know, he had contacted over 20 photographers until he was referred to the fantastic @katieludolphphotos, who luckily had availability early in the week–as Zach had wanted.

Monday night, Zach was acting a little strange and insisted we go on a family walk to watch the sunset. I made sure that I look presentable. The sunset came and went…no proposal. I was a little bummed when we walked back to the house. Zach noticed this and said he planned a special day for us tomorrow [Tuesday], and we would need to leave the house early. It was happening.

The Proposal – Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Zach wouldn’t give me details about the day he had planned but did show me attire would be appropriate (of course, I chose a white dress). 

Zach is not a morning person. Tuesday morning, he jumped out of bed at the first alarm and disappeared. I took my time to make sure I looked presentable. Zach was nowhere to be found. He miraculously appeared just before it was time to leave the house for this “adventure.”

We got in the car, and he drove us to the beach. We got to the beach, and as I ran around with the dogs, enjoying the beach, Zach was on his phone. In fact, Zach was on his phone all morning. He was up to something.

As the sun was about to rise, I asked Zach if he would sit with me down by the water and just watch. He was a nervous wreck. He said he had to get something and ran over to the backpack he brought with us that we left by the dunes. He came back holding a towel all bunched up in a way that no average person would ever hold a towel. I knew he was hiding something, but I let him have his moment.

And just as the sun started to rise…he dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. [Insert a million heart eye emojis.]

Well, that’s our story! The moment was so perfect, and it was everything I imagined and more. We are both so thrilled. I wanted to share this story with you all a lot sooner, but I needed some time to fully wrap my head around the fact: WE’RE ENGAGED.

To answer your most asked questions…

The ring. Many of you had questions and comments about our ring, and honestly, that was the biggest surprise of the engagement. The ring has a bit of a story to it. I have been following Lauren B Jewelry on Instagram for as long as I can remember and admiring their gorgeous rings. I would occasionally send Zach rings I liked and tag him in posts on Instagram. Last summer, when we went to New York City, I somehow convinced Zach to schedule an appointment at Lauren B. He did! 

I tried on many rings, and Zach and I picked what we liked from a few designs to customize a Lauren B ring. For those who asked, my ring is two-toned with a white gold basket top and a thin rose gold pave band for those who asked. 

The ring was the biggest surprise out of the proposal. I thought Zach would take the design we created at Lauren B, use it as inspiration, and purchase a ring through another jeweler. But, when he got down on one knee and opened the ring box, it was the ring! It was the ring we designed together at Lauren B! He did pretty good, right? It is seriously the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I am obsessed, and if I had my way, I would never take it off.

When are we actually getting married? That is an excellent question. I think the bigger question is, where are we getting married? I would like a Fall wedding, so I was initially hoping for a Fall 2021 date. Because of COVID, so many couples moved their weddings from 2020 to 2021-leaving little availability for 2021. We are open to waiting for a wedding until Fall 2022. We will be spending so much money on a wedding, so we want to make sure it is everything that we wanted. We are looking at venues in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. For not, we are trying to live in the moment and enjoy this special time together.

Will Navy and Duke be involved in the wedding? I hope so! Most venues we are looking at allow dogs to participate in the ceremony and photos but do not allow dogs at the reception.

I am so excited! Thank you for sharing our excitement and this special moment with us. We are so thankful for our online community of friends.

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Thank you all for reading and being so invested in us and our relationship. I hope we answered your most asked questions. We can’t wait to share our wedding planning journey with you! Would you want to see a series on our blog? Let us know in the comments below.