We're Getting Married | Our Proposal Story

I know that most people already know this and a lot of you are probably sick of hearing about it, buuut I'm going to write about it anyway because I wanted to share how the proposal happened with those who I haven't had the chance to speak to in person yet. So...Sam and I are engaged! To be married! Like legit, we're going to be husband and wife! How weird is that?! It's so surreal to me that I'm now at this stage of my life. I still feel so young but at the same time I know that I am so ready for this crazy and exciting new adventure to begin!

If you saw my last blog post, then you'll have seen that Sam and I went for a little getaway in Brighton at the beginning of the month just to relax and spend some time together after working lots over the busy Christmas period. On the first day we went exploring around the city and had a lovely time discovering all the hotspots like the lanes, the pier and the beach. On the second day we decided to take a much more relaxed approach and just see where the day would take us. On Tuesday the 8th January, we woke up to a clear blue sky with the sun brightly shining and you could just tell that it was going to be a wonderful day...regardless of any big life-changing surprises due to happen!

To make the most of the sunshine, we decided to take a lazy morning stroll along the beach front before going to find some lunch. I'm smiling thinking about it now because this was already shaping up to be one of my favourite days! I remember as we were sitting there on the beach (in the photo above) I said to Sam, "the only thing that could possibly make me any happier right now would be if you proposed!" I had absolutely no idea that sneakily tucked away right there beside me in his coat pocket was the ring that he was later going to shock me with. Sam told me later that evening that he was so tempted to propose there and then when I had said that but he decided to just wait it out a little longer and looking back, I'm glad he did.

As the day went on, we went to the cosiest little pub to grab some lunch, we then wandered back down to the beach to get an ice-cream before setting off in search for the infamous Brighton beach huts. As we were walking, we passed by the bandstand on the beach front and we decided that we would go back later to take some photos. By the time we got back later, the sky looked like this...

I mean...how beautiful is that sunset?! We were completely in awe and knew that we wanted to set the camera up to get some shots of us whilst the sun was setting. Now, the problem that we encountered with this however, is that everyone passing by wanted to do the same thing!! We ended up standing around for quite a while waiting for a clear moment where we could quickly set the camera up on self-timer and snap some shots.

We spent a few minutes taking some cute photos but it wasn't long before more people came along. I was feeling satisfied with what we had taken so I picked up my camera and made to leave. As people started making their way up onto the bandstand and taking our spot, Sam started getting quite frustrated and annoyed saying that he wanted to take more pictures and that we weren't finished yet. I was so surprised and confused because Sam never ever gets worked up about photos that we do or don't take, usually that's my role haha. I tried to cheer him up anyway, totally oblivious to the real reason why he was annoyed and I just kept saying that we can come back tomorrow or another time that we visit Brighton. That approach wasn't really working though so we decided to just sit and wait for the bandstand to clear again. Eventually it did and so we set up the camera again, took a few more cutesy shots, went to take our final photo and bam! Sam is suddenly on one knee, holding out a ring and asking me to marry him! *Click*

I was in complete and utter shock!! I thought it was a joke at first!! All I kept saying was "oh my gosh, oh my gosh! You're joking, this is a joke! Does my mum know? Oh my gosh!" Sam was laughing and said "no, this isn't a joke" and "yes, your mum knows" and then he had to ask me multiple times if it was a yes. Eventually I managed to nod and stutter out my yes as he put the ring on my finger. As we started to snap back to reality a little, we realised that there were people who had seen the proposal as they were walking past and they were taking pictures and shouting their congratulations to us.

My legs honestly felt like jelly, I was in complete shock. We sat down on a bench just beside the bandstand and we both couldn't stop laughing. It just didn't feel like real life! People keep asking me if I was expecting it and truthfully, I wasn't. Quite a few months ago Sam and I started talking about getting married and I was always joking around asking when he was going to propose. I dreamed that it would happen in 2019 but I genuinely didn't think that Sam had enough money to afford a ring yet. I was actually preparing myself for it to possibly happen around our three year anniversary in June. Little did I know that he had actually already bought the ring back in November/December and he had also spoken to my mum asking for her blessing and spoken to my dad. Some of his friends knew too and all I can say is well done to them because everyone managed to keep the secret so well! Sneaky sneaky people haha!

A few days after getting engaged, when we started to float down from cloud 9, we realised that we actually had no idea how to even begin planning a wedding!! It's all well and good having a bomb pinterest board but that wasn't really going to help us with anything other than aesthetics. I thought that it would be a fun idea to document our wedding planning here on my blog, sharing our successes (and possibly failures) as we venture through the exciting and anxiety-inducing process of planning our wedding. I like to think that by sharing our little DIYs, tips and tricks that we learn along the way, it might be of help to some other young couples out there like us who also don't have a clue what they're doing yet. It'll also be a nice way to keep you all up-to-date and share in the excitement! If you don't care about either of those things, then...sorry!

I just want to say on behalf of both Sam and myself, a massive thank you to everyone who has sent us messages, comments, cards and presents congratulating us on our engagement! We both feel incredibly blessed to have so many loving people in our lives and we can't wait to share this whole experience with you!!

- S xo