Leading Me Home: The Proposal

From the beginning of our talks about marriage I've told Michael that he wouldn't be able to surprise me. I'm just a tough person to surprise.....I seem to usually have an idea when something is happening. I will be the first to admit, that this time, I was wrong. He definitely surprised me!

Here's the Reader's Digest version:

Michael and I had plans to have dinner with a married couple that I've been friends with since high school. Shawna and I were going to go to the plaza to get manis and pedis. Michael and Andrew were going to hit golf balls. Then we were all going to meet up at 7:30 for our dinner reservations at Brio on the Country Club Plaza.

So....that's what happens....at least, that's what I thought. Shawna was 45 minutes late to my house (!). She blamed it on her baby. (I came to find out later that she was intentionally late.) That poor baby boy. She blamed a lot on that kid. :-)

We finished at 7:00. Our reservations were at 7:30. Shawna wanted to go to Forever 21 to shop. I wanted to go have a drink at the bar. She was adamant, though, about needing to go shopping (again, blaming her baby for not being able to go shopping anymore). So I obliged. We drove down to Forever 21 and before I knew it, it was 7:25 and I was in a dressing room trying on clothes. When I realized how late it was, I made Shawna head to the counter to pay.

We finally made it out of the store and headed to Brio -- remember....we had reservations there at 7:30. I texted Michael and told him we were running late. He said they were, too. Which made this Type-A gal a little stressed about potentially losing our reservation! It was prom night....so the plaza was BUSY! We drove around looking for a parking spot for what seemed like forever. Finally, we found one and headed to Brio. When we walked out of the parking garage, Andrew and Michael were standing on the sidewalk across from the garage. My immediate thought was, "Why aren't they saving our table?! We're late!!" Shawna assured me that our reservation would be fine. When we walked over to them Andrew said he had some bedding he wanted Shawna to see. (Bedding?! I'm hungry, I have to pee and we're late for our reservation!!!) Thankfully, I only thought those things and didn't actually say them!! So.....here's what happened next.

When we turned the corner, I genuinely didn't recognize anyone there. I saw a group of people, but it was prom on the Plaza! It was nuts there anyway! It wasn't until Michael pulled me away from the window that I realized what was happening. I saw my sister first. But I was still dumb/confused about it. I remember the next person I saw was Michael's grandma.

And that's when I figured out what was happening. :-)

These pics are from before I got there....when the surprise was being set up!

My mom, Noah (best friend's hubby), my sister Meredith

My Daddy

Bestie Courtney (she's just a little pre go), friends Carrie and Orrin

Michael's sisters, Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Angie

Some more of the crowd -- Michael's dad is in the black shirt

Some of my friends!

More of my friends!

Pics of the actual Proposal:

After the actual proposal, it was so fun to see all of our friends and family that shared the moment with us!! (PS....my favorite part of these pictures is to see the faces of everyone in the background!) Apparently the people on the balcony of Brio cheered for us, too. The whole thing was a blur. I have no idea what Michael said to me. I didn't even remember him getting down on one knee!

Anyway...after the proposal, we headed back to my parents' house for an engagement party! On the way there, Michael finally spilled his guts about the planning he'd been doing for the last two months. He even showed me the FB event page he had created!!

Here are pics from the party!