We’re getting married!!

Our proposal was a long time coming and a whole lot of planning. I’m horrible at keeping secrets or waiting to give gifts (Jhia gets her Christmas gifts in October). So for this occasion, I wanted it to be a total surprise. I decided that I wanted to propose in New River Gorge National Park but had to make it as inconspicuous as possible. I managed to convince Jhia that she wanted to go to New River Gorge for a nice weekend getaway and set the wheels in motion. We headed out on a Friday and went straight to the park to see the big ol’ bridge. Originally, my plan was to wait and propose the next day but we found ourselves on a beautiful cliff right under the bridge overlooking the gorge and I knew it was going to be there. When I popped the question, Jhia was totally surprised (thanks to months of the greatest deception ever seen) and it took a while for her to get it together and say yes (finally!). But that wasn’t the end of the plan. Little did she know, our parents were coming out to meet us on Saturday. The rest of the day consisted of us seeing the sites, me convincing her to keep the engagement between us to not ruin the surprise she had waiting, and her going “I can’t believe we’re getting married!” every five minutes. The next day, we got up and went to go see some waterfalls while our parents were sneaking their way to the Grandview Overlook. I had to nonchalantly rush Jhia through the waterfalls so we could get to the overlook on time. I ended up being almost too good at it because our parents showed up at exactly the same time, but everything worked out just fine. The rest of the weekend consisted of us all seeing the sites, me reliving the planning process for everyone involved, and laying the plans for our wedding.