#asummercampwedding

I absolutely love surprises. The problem is that I also love solving mysteries. It is nearly impossible to plan a surprise around me without going to extra lengths to keep me in the dark because I have all the super powers of a teacher, like reading upside down, which comes in handy a surprisingly often. I had instructed Nathan that I wanted his proposal to be a surprise, which I knew was going to be no easy task for him. Luckily, he had our long distance relationship on his side. I knew it was happening when my friend Elise walked in with a bouquet of flowers and a card on a Thursday after work. I opened it to find a simple note telling me that Nathan had been missing me, my flight information, and a packing list. I was flying out the next day to Seattle, WA. He picked me up from the airport for a nice late evening dinner. The next morning he continued to keep me in the dark and only told me that we absolutely needed to be on time to our morning appointment. It wasn't until we were almost there that I figured out we were headed to the ferry for Orcas Island! After we arrived we walked around the downtown and headed to the beach where our Sea Kayak rentals were dropped off. While we were out enjoying the waves Nathan told me we needed to rush back because we had another surprise appointment. We showed up dripping wet to a small plane for a private tour of the islands. It was stunning. There were mixed rain showers in the afternoon sun as we circled around the small islands and our pilot told us of their history and her time exploring them via sailboat. Once we landed we headed to our Airbnb to get ready for dinner. We headed to our dinner reservation and that's where things became suspicious. Our reservation was in 5 minutes, but Nathan casually suggested we go for a walk instead. I mean we all know where this is going. We arrived at an overlook of the bay with the mountainous islands in the background. I'd like to say the proposal was perfect, but to be honest I was the one that ruined his wonderful plans. As soon as he was down on one knee I was yanking him back up before he could say a word. I had started to tear up and was worried I would full on ugly cry if he went back down to one knee. He was obviously very confused and telling me he hadn't even said anything yet or pulled out the ring. But I told him yes anyways and kept hugging him. It was after then that our wonderful friend Caleb popped his head up to tell us he had been taking photos. He continued to capture us as Nathan and I chatted and basked in the moment. There is one photo in particular that is my favorite, not because it is the most beautiful or aesthetic, because it is actually one of the least interesting ones to look at. But this photo is special because during it Nathan whispered all the wonderful things he had wanted say when he was proposing and what he had been thinking about over the last few months. All the while he had his arms around me and we were looking out over the bay with Caleb snapping shots behind us. To be honest, I think I liked it better hearing it that way instead of while he was down on one knee. It felt more personal and private, like he was whispering promises in my ear.