I had known since about August 2007 that he was going to propose "soonish". However, I wasn't aware that Brian's plan was for October 07. I found out from him at the beginning of October that it would be before the end of the year, leaving a 3 month window (Oct, Nov, Dec) for me to try and figure out. Every weekend in October was filled with some sort of activity, leaving little chance for "us" time for him to pop the question. However, the last weekend in October became free after some plans to spend it at some mountain yurts with our best friends changed. Brian and I then decided to spend that Saturday hiking somewhere. I had gotten a really good report about a trail west of Boulder from a friend that I hadn't talked to for a few years. So we decided to spend the day hiking up to Isabelle Lake. I had an idea that he might propose that day, but I was trying really hard not to get excited for something that I didn't know much about.
When we woke up on Saturday morning, it was overcast and cold. We drove up to Ward and beyond to get to the trailhead. As soon as we drove above Ward and out of the valley, we literally drove above the clouds. The rest of the day was sunny with that beautiful Colorado blue sky. So we commenced to hike 5 miles up to Isabelle Lake, passing other beautiful lakes along the way. It was warm and the weather was absolutely perfect. We arrived at the lake around 1:10 pm. When we saw the lake, we were both awestruck. We didn't know what to expect. It was a gorgeous glacial lake surrounded by massive mountains dabbled with snow. The elevation was just under 11,000 ft., so the air was crisp and clean. The only sound was of the wind blowing and our breathing. I had to use a bush desperately, and when I came back, Brian was down by the lake behind a couple of rocks, trying to shield himself from the intense wind coming off the lake. I stepped over to him and suddenly got butterflies in my stomach. I knew he was going to propose. He said to me, "Wow, this is beautiful. This last year has been the best year of my life..." He reached into his coat and grabbed a small box. He then said, "And I want to make it permanent. I would be honored if you would be my wife. Would you marry me?" I started crying and laughing and crying some more. After I stopped shaking, I was able to say "YES!!" to him. We spent the next half hour sitting by Isabelle Lake, talking and dreaming, crying and laughing. It was the best hike of my life. It was a total "God" moment, and I am thanking Him everyday for the blessings He has given us, starting with the blessing of having Brian in my life! Brian had already booked our venue and date for May 30, 2008.
So with the proposal came the ring... and with the ring came the promise of getting a custom ring made to complete the solitaire he proposed with. When we had gone looking at rings, I had falled in LOVE with a $8k Tacori set. Absolutely stunning, and so was that price tag.... When Brian proposed, he did not have the money to purchase such a ring, so he bought the simplest ring he could, with the idea of having a custom wrap built around the ring, to resemble the Tacori.
We started visting jewelers to find out about custom. Long story short, no jewelers could have made anything to look like that, and we weren't satisfied with what we had found out. In the middle of that, Brian and I hit some bumps in our relationship that shook us almost to the brink of the end. We started doing some counselling, and quickly found out that we had MAJOR issues to work through: mostly trust, some communication, and lots of emotions. 58 days before our original wedding date, we decided to postpone and call off the wedding. We spent the next 6 months closely counselling with some church mentors.
It was the hardest thing to throw away all the hand made invitations, all the dreams and hopes and visions I had for our wedding... BUT, looking back now, I learned SO MUCH by going through that.
I have a passion for helping others through tough times, especially related to engagements, weddings, relationships, etc. I have had an experience that not many other people can vouch for.
In September 2008, we decided that we were stable enough to pursue booking a wedding date again. We finally booked May 14, 2009. And the planning started. Including getting my ring done.
In the midst of all the early wedding planning, I had found another ring at Fred Meyer that I really liked. We re-designed my final ring to include the elements of the Fred Meyer ring. We only had 2 options for custom work locally: Jared Jewelers, and Cooper&Cooper Jewelers. After much prayer and thought, we paid the deposit with Cooper&Cooper Jewelers to make my ring.
When the engagement part of the ring was done, we counted the stones in it... and there are 40 stones. 40: number of trials biblically. (40 days/40 nights, 40 years in the wilderness) Such a wonderful and true symbol.
Along with the many other wedding blessings God gave us, He also made financially possible having this ring made. We were able to pay for it with cash, and have no payments on it. It's officially and completely ours!
We started visting jewelers to find out about custom. Long story short, no jewelers could have made anything to look like that, and we weren't satisfied with what we had found out. In the middle of that, Brian and I hit some bumps in our relationship that shook us almost to the brink of the end. We started doing some counselling, and quickly found out that we had MAJOR issues to work through: mostly trust, some communication, and lots of emotions. 58 days before our original wedding date, we decided to postpone and call off the wedding. We spent the next 6 months closely counselling with some church mentors.
It was the hardest thing to throw away all the hand made invitations, all the dreams and hopes and visions I had for our wedding... BUT, looking back now, I learned SO MUCH by going through that.
I have a passion for helping others through tough times, especially related to engagements, weddings, relationships, etc. I have had an experience that not many other people can vouch for.
In September 2008, we decided that we were stable enough to pursue booking a wedding date again. We finally booked May 14, 2009. And the planning started. Including getting my ring done.
In the midst of all the early wedding planning, I had found another ring at Fred Meyer that I really liked. We re-designed my final ring to include the elements of the Fred Meyer ring. We only had 2 options for custom work locally: Jared Jewelers, and Cooper&Cooper Jewelers. After much prayer and thought, we paid the deposit with Cooper&Cooper Jewelers to make my ring.
When the engagement part of the ring was done, we counted the stones in it... and there are 40 stones. 40: number of trials biblically. (40 days/40 nights, 40 years in the wilderness) Such a wonderful and true symbol.
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