Yes, there will be an open bar.

Fun Fact: Jim and I went to high school together! But I was in marching band and he ran cross country... I joined marching band so I didn't have to run and he ran for fun. So, we obviously did not cross paths back then. It wasn't until early January 2015 that we met for the first time. What brought us together? VEGAS! And our beautiful friend Elana's birthday. Jim and I showed up separately to the house and I couldn't help but notice this cute guy offering to make drinks for everyone. As he was in the kitchen being our bartender (Did you know Jim went to bartending school?!), I went up to order a Moscow Mule and start a conversation with him. Fast forward to the last night of the weekend. The crew went to a club and SOMEONE got a little drunk. We were all dancing and Jim back-up danced into me and said, "Ali, can I take you on a date?" I said sure and he walked away. A few minutes later he came up to me and said, "Ali, can I take you on a date?" I gave him a confused look and said yes. He walked away. You guessed it! A few minutes later he came up to me again and said, "Ali, can I take you on a date?" And I said, "if you ask me one more time I'm going to say no." He didn't ask again after that :) The next morning I wasn't sure he would remember but to my surprise, as we were all leaving, he told me he'd call me about our date. And that is how this whole thing started...

It had been 5+ years of dating and being the nosey person I am, Jim warned me that when the time came, he would plan random activities so I wouldn't see a proposal coming and ruin the surprise. When I spotted the hot air balloon, I truly had no idea what was happening... First, some back story - we had planned a hot air balloon ride around the beginning of our relationship but it was canceled due to weather. So this was positioned as our "makeup" ride. Who would think otherwise, right?! As we waited to get into our balloon, two groups went before us and we were the last to board our private balloon. The pilot offered to take a picture of us before we got in and little did I know he was actually taking a video of Jim getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him. Considering I blacked out for most of it, I only remember him saying something along the lines of - "I hope I only have to ask you this question once..." (see the 'How We First Met' story for reference). After I said yes, we jumped in our hot air balloon and flew over San Diego at sunset. It was the most beautiful, yet terrifying, experience. Long story short, we couldn't land the first time, had to fly back up above the clouds until it was safe to land, then got stuck in a field for about 2 hours because the chase van couldn't find us and our van got stuck on a hill...BUT, talk about a memorable engagement!