Celebrate With Us

We met during a weekend getaway with some mutual friends in September of 2022. We were searching for different things; I wanted to do something out of the ordinary, and he wanted to get blackout drunk. We both got what we were looking for. Three months later, we knew it was love. Five months in, we were looking for a place to live. By July of 2023, we had settled into our cozy home in Bellevue. One year later, he was down on one knee.

I reached out to Ashley's sister, Hope, to help me get things into motion. First mission: acquire the ring. It didn't take too long to find the perfect ring at Kay's, but the whole "perfect ring" thing didn't last too long either. Hope managed to acquire their grandmother's wedding ring, a treasured family heirloom, for Ashley instead. However, we decided Ashley was worth two rings and made plans to propose with both. Next mission: the blessing. Ashley's father visited Hope at work every Friday, so we devised a plan for me to intercept him without Ashley finding out. With some stalling from Hope's coworkers, they were able to keep him there long enough for me to ambush him. Thankfully, he gave me his blessing. I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like this: "If you can get her to say 'yes,' she's all yours. No refunds." Final mission: the proposal. I wanted to do something small and personal, just between us. I scattered flowers throughout the house and placed framed pictures of the memories we had made so far, all of which led into our backyard. Outside, I decorated and added lights in a big heart. Hope arranged dinner plans with Ashley to get her out of the house while I did all this. When Ashley got back, there was some awkward, nervous fumbling by me before I finally popped the question. And she said....Nothing. She was tipsy from the dinner with her sister, and couldn't process what was happening and why there were so many rings. So with some awkward fumbling from Ashley this time, she finally said "yes!"