Before you start reading about our proposal I wanted to mention that these photos are not from our actual proposal! We modeled for a proposal shoot for Cottage Hill magazine while we were engaged and absolutely love these photos so I had to share them since they fit so well 🙂 Our proposal story can also be found in their Captivating Issue. There are a few iPhone photos from our actual proposal at the bottom of this post! 

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Oh goodness, this day. The day we got engaged will forever be one of my favorite days of my life. Every time I think about it my heart swells with happiness and starts beating a little faster! 

On the morning of March 5, 2014, I woke up to Bobby standing over my bed gently shaking me. I was immediately confused (“how did he get into my house?!” was the first thought through my head) but also super happy to see him. He told me to put on some warm clothes because we were going on an adventure. If you know me, you know I’m pretty trusting (aka gullible) and didn’t think for a second that anything big was happening even though waking me up before sunrise to go on adventures was not a part of our normal routine. 

When we got to Bobby’s car he had hot chocolate and a blanket for me. 🙂 I still didn’t pick up on what was happening! I was just excited and happy to be on an adventure with my best friend. We lived in a little mountain town where we attended college and the Blue Ridge Parkway is a pretty popular place to go for hikes and amazing mountain views. I assumed that’s where we were heading and when we didn’t drive in that direction that’s when I got suspicious for the first time. I started thinking “What if he’s going to propose??” and quickly pushed that thought out of my head. I knew a proposal was in our future, but Bobby told me that it wouldn’t be happening until the summer because he couldn’t afford the ring quite yet. I didn’t want to be disappointed so I told myself to stop thinking about that and just enjoy the morning he had planned with no expectations.

We reached our destination of Howard’s Knob, a lookout that has an amazing view of all of the town of Boone with a stunning backdrop of the mountains. We walked into the park and out onto the rocks. Before we left the car Bobby had me hand him his Bible so as we walked in my heart was beating crazy fast because that was really when I knew what was happening!! We sat on the blanket together and Bobby started talking about different memories we had around campus and our relationship. Then he opened his Bible and began to read out of Proverbs 31 verses that he said reminded him of me. He started crying as he read and of course I started crying and after he finished he had me close my eyes and got off of the rock. I may have peeked and saw him down on one knee in front of me! When he had me open my eyes there he was before me asking me to be his wife. I screamed “Yes!!!”, didn’t even see the ring, and hugged him and kissed him and cried and laughed. Then I saw the ring and got happy all over again! 🙂 It was gorgeous. We turned around and looked out over the mountains to see the most beautiful sunrise. In the trees in front of us a dove appeared, a symbol of God’s promise. It was crazy!! We never see doves in Boone! I will never, ever forget that unbelievably perfect moment.  

We enjoyed the blissful moments right after you get engaged for a little while as the sun came up. As we left and were climbing out Bobby ripped his pants! It always brings a smile to my face thinking about that hilarious part of the story! We called our families and friends and sent a mass text to everyone we knew telling them the exciting news. I couldn’t stop staring at my ring! One of our favorite things about our proposal was that since it happened in the morning we had the whole day to enjoy it together!! I certainly have a soft spot for morning proposals because of that 🙂

Photography by Perry Vaile | Styling and Creative Direction by Kaitlin Holland | as seen in Cottage Hill Magazine  

Our actual proposal in March of 2014!