THE PROPOSAL

As a little girl, I never really thought about or imagined my wedding. Flowers, dress, details, I never really cared to obsess over those matters. I was never a girly girl. If it happened someday, then great, I thought. But that was it. Even during most of the 9 years that I have been with my boyfriend, I was never really in a hurry to get married. I loved him, he loved me, and we were happy. We didn't need a wedding to prove our love. Of course we constantly got asked by family and friends, "when's the wedding?" "why aren't you two engaged yet?" I guess for a couple who has dated for 9 years, it's understandable that we got asked these questions, but for me, I wanted to get married when we knew we could get married. But weddings can be expensive, and we weren't ready financially. We were also both working on finishing our Master's degrees and trying to get stable jobs. That was the priority. I didn't want to be one of those couples who got engaged, and stayed engaged. I didn't see the point in hurrying to get engaged if we didn't know when we could get married, you know? I didn't need a ring to prove our love, or to lock us down. We were happy and in love, that's all that mattered to us. A ring wouldn't have changed anything between us, or made our love feel more secure. We knew we would get married, it was just a matter of time.

After finally completing our Master's degrees, getting a stable job and working for a few years to save money, and my boyfriend finally securing his future with his acceptance to medical school this spring, we finally felt like it was the right time to start really considering a wedding! I didn't know when my boyfriend would propose, but I had a feeling it would happen sometime this summer. I finally became that little girl who dreams about her wedding. The pinterest wedding board obsession had begun! :)
On May 25,2014, the day of our 9th year anniversary, he got down on one knee and asked if I would make him the happiest man alive by committing to spending the rest of our lives together :) It was one of our happiest moments! That day, I didn't know what the plans were for our anniversary, and I usually knew, so I found that a bit strange. All he said was for me to get in the car and we started driving! My curiosity was going crazy! I didn't know where we were going, but the closer we got to our destination, I realized we were going to the same park where we had our very first date 9 years earlier. My heart smiled :) When he took out the big picnic basket from the car, I smiled even wider because 9 years earlier our first date was also a picnic date!

The weather couldn't have been better that afternoon, the location was so memorable and romantic. We ate, we laughed, we reminisced.

At one point during the picnic, I learned that unbeknownst to me, he had created 9 collages, each displaying some of our most fond pictures from each year we have been dating. He hid these and brought them to the park earlier that day. Once we had our picnic area set up, he placed the 9 boards in a circle surrounding our picnic blanket and started reminiscing on all of our most fond memories. After reflecting on all the great times, as well as all the challenging times we had overcome, he presented me with a 10th collage, but with a picture of the ring in the middle, surrounded by the words, "What's Next?" My heart jumped for joy at this moment and my eyes tried so hard to hold back the tears. At this point, he asked that we go for a small walk.

Then, he got super nervous and I knew what was about to happen. He dropped to one knee and asked me the question every girl dreams of hearing!! "Will you marry me?" I started crying as I was filled with so much happiness. We both wanted this so much for a long time, but we had to be patient for so long. Realizing that it was finally happening brought on so much emotions for both of us! Of course, without hesitation, I said YES!!! He was happy :)

It was at that point, where I saw a familiar face come from behind a tree. It was his friend who I knew very well. I realized that his friend had been hiding and capturing the proposal on camera!! A couple years ago, I had mentioned to my boyfriend that it would be so cool if someone captured that moment in pictures whenever it happened. I never thought it would actually happen. I couldn't believe he had remembered this after all that time! But I was so happy he did!! Now we have that spectacular and happiest moment of our lives documented so we can look back at the pictures and remember those emotions and that moment forever! I'm so grateful to the photographer who took such amazing photos and hid so well behind the trees! sneaky and talented! I was also so impressed to learn that my boyfriend got another friend to sit in the park for one hour before we arrived that day, to save that particular spot where we would have our picnic. It was a picture perfect location, so I see why he wanted that particular spot :) So thankful to our friend and his patience waiting that day.

I'm so grateful for my fiance coming into my life. I'm so excited for our future together and can't wait to spend our lives together as husband and wife!
always and forever
♥ Nieszka