getting engaged - part one

We've been engaged for two and a half months now, and things have finally calmed down enough to where I feel like I can actually write about it.

I know, about time!

Let me just start by saying this.

I've always had an irrational fear of becoming that bride - you know, the bride that never stops talking about her wedding and annoys everyone within a 20 mile radius because she can't talk about anything else.

My MOH can attest to this.

She may or may not have told me once that it's like pulling teeth to get me to tell her details about the wedding...I just don't want to be that bride!

So, naturally, I didn't want to turn this into a wedding blog either.

But as I thought more about it, I realized something.

This is the perfect place for me to share wedding stuff.  Whoever wants to read it can read it, and I don't have to feel like I'm talking about it all day everyday in real life {although sometimes I am...the half of me that isn't worried about being annoying loves to relive it all :)}.

So without further ado, I'll start from the beginning.

The story of our engagement.

Joe and I have been together for five years - that's five years full of college and tailgates and graduations and new jobs and moving and buying our first puppy and vacations and laughter and tears.

All of that and more.

And I've known since year one that I was going to marry him.

I just couldn't see myself with anyone else.

He was so different than any other guy I had dated.  No guessing games, no lying.  I always knew where I stood with him, and I loved it.

Being with him was so easy.  He was total husband material.

One thing I've always loved about him is how level-headed he is about big decisions.

He puts a lot of thought into the future, and he doesn't take decision-making lightly.

If I had it my way, we would have been engaged before I graduated college.

Why wait?!  We're meant to be!  Let's do this!

But he would always brush it off - we're not in the right place, things need to happen before we can get there, and my personal favorite, stop asking me about this, Amber.
There was a lot of frustration over the years regarding these responses, but looking back on it now, I'm actually grateful.
Grateful he was smart enough to wait until the timing was right.  I truly believe it made all the difference.
And to those of you that think "the timing will never be perfect," you may be right - but from my experience, timing was everything, and it was pretty darn close to being perfect.
I'll tell you why.

One particular night last summer, we went out to dinner after work - our Friday routine.

We were having a great time together, and on our way home Joe suggested that we crack open a fancy bottle of wine he brought home for us from his trip to Napa Valley.

We had been holding on to that bottle for a few months because it was pricy, way more expensive than anything we'd buy ourselves on a regular night, and in my head I just assumed we'd be saving it for a very special occasion - i.e. our engagement.

I hadn't told him this before though, so when he suggested we open the bottle I just blurted it out - I was thinking we'd drink that when we get engaged!

Obviously, blurting it out in the middle of a date {completely out of the blue, by the way} was not the most smooth way to suggest this, but what can I say?

After four and a half years together, I hardly felt the need to dance around my thoughts and feelings.

Long story short, we did not drink the wine that night.
Joe was hardly thrilled with my revelation, and the wine went back in the corner of our kitchen - out of sight and out of mind.

Six months or so passed without either of us mentioning the wine incident, and besides the occasional complaint to my girlfriends {I'm a girl, what do you expect?!}, we were really happy.
I got a new job, Joe was doing really well at his job, and we had settled into a comfortable routine together in our new city.
Basically an unmarried married couple, if that makes sense.
I had no idea whatsoever that soon he would give me the surprise of the century.

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Because this post would be the longest and wordiest post I've ever shared if I continued the story, I'm breaking it into two parts.
Please don't hate me!
And tune in later this week for part two {plus a video of the big moment!}!