I had planned on sharing about our DIY vinyl plank floors this week, but the trim isn’t back up yet! So, I thought I’d share a little bit more about us. You have probably read About Us, and you have also probably read about How We Met. If not, go do that first! It’s a great story, if I do say so myself. But today, I want to share our proposal story!

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The Proposal

James and I had been dating for just over 4 years. I knew the proposal was on the horizon. You don’t just date someone on the other side of the planet and not talk about the long term plan. We knew we wanted to get married. We’d looked at rings together several times and we had a very good idea of when we wanted to get married. And immigration is a BEAST. We had to have a game plan. So, like I said, I knew it was coming.

James and I were living in Auckland, and I was in my last year of college. The last year of college was supposed to be a bit easier then the first few, but not for me! I was stressed. I had clients, students to mentor, and a full class load. I had told James “I’m totally free this weekend! I don’t have much homework, and I can do whatever! Next weekend though, I have to be at the hospital until Friday evening then I have a huge project due that I’ll need to work on next weekend.”

Totally giving him the go-ahead to plan whatever he needed to plan THIS weekend *hint*hint* and letting him know that the next weekend, it was going to be difficult for me to get away. “Ok“, he said.

So I got a manicure, and cleared my schedule. But of course, the weekend came and went, we probably went hiking or something. And nothing. Not going to lie, I was so disappointed! But like I told James, I had a huge week ahead of me so I had to knuckle down and get through the week. So, I calmed down. And told myself to let James do his thing!

Sure enough, James later that week James says, “Lets go to the lake this weekend”.

“The Lake” being Lake Rotoiti, in Rotorua. I remember staring at him for a second, like, seriously!? This weekend? I have so much study to do!

But a weekend at the lake was always welcome, and I wasn’t a stranger to studying there. And by this time, thankfully, I had really let go of any preconceived ideas of James’ potential proposal.

So, late Friday night we took off toward the lake. My manicure had chipped off, by the way.

Saturday Morning

I can’t remember much of what we did between breakfast and lunch. I’m pretty sure I was studying pediatric dysphagia. James said he was going to go on the quad, or four-wheeler. Nothing unusual for him.

As I studied, I painted my nails. Nothing unusual for me.

James came back after his quad, and said “Do you want to go on the quad with me?”

I literally had just put a second coat of pain on my nails, and was in the middle of studying. “Sure, can we go in a bit?”

“No, let’s go now.”

I remember James was already half way up the hill to the parked quad before I had even left my seat.

So, off we went.

James said, “Do you want to drive?”

“I don’t know if I remember how?!”

James had taught me before, but it had been awhile. He ran me through the gears, then hoped on the back and let me drive for a bit.

After a few minutes, he said “okay stop here”.

He hopped off the bike, handed me a note and his phone. The timer was going on his phone for 10 minutes.

I was pretty sure I knew what was happening by this time, and it was the longest 10 minutes of my life!

The note said to:

1) Wait on quad for 10 minutes

2) Drive quad 150m to power lines

3) Park quad by power the posts on left

4) Put quad in neutral, turn key off, pull key out (lol I appreciate this detail)

5) Walk 10m along grassy bank then swing a left

The only problem was I wasnt sure what 150m looked like! I remember trying desperately to follow the directions and I when I hopped off the quad, there was no James in sight. I wasn’t exactly sure if I had followed the directions well.

At this point, we were at a place James family deemed “look out point” because we were up high on a hill overlooking Lake Rotoiti.

I started yelling “James!!” and running around in circles, I think quite literally.

Finally I turned left down the bank, toward the view overlooking the lake.

And then I saw him.

He was in a SUIT.

First, I can count on one hand how many times I had seen James in a suit. Second, he was definitely not wearing a suit when we left!

James had cleared a patch in the long grass, and laid down fresh pine branches to create a rug effect. He also had hydrangeas – my favorite flowers, and a bottle of white wine.

Then, he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. He said some sweet, sweet words that melted me, and asked me to be his wife.

I said YES! And he slipped the most beautiful, sparkly, diamond ring on my finger.

We sat on the pine branches and had a glass of wine, overlooking the lake.

A little behind the scenes: James had stashed his suit AND THE RING in a nearby tree! That’s why he was in such a rush to get me on the quad and up to the look out point.

And, yes, even though I knew a proposal was coming, I was surprised. It was the middle of the day! I kind of thought that if a proposal was going to happen that weekend, it would be at sunset on the dock or something like that. I was so happy that James proposed at lunch time, though! We had the rest of the day to celebrate! We hung out in the sun by the lake all day, played games and finished that bottle of wine! At the end of the day, we didn’t want to go to sleep. 

I launched into full wedding planning mode. James had never even been to a wedding before – ours was going to be his first! But thats another story.

We had our engagement photos taken by our friends, Daniel and Chloe, from twokiwisgoroaming.com!

Book Recommendations 

If you are recently engaged or married, I have some book recommendations for you! Click on the title to be directed to Amazon!

1. What It’s Like to be Marred to Me? And Other Dangerous Questions by Linda Dillow – This book is written for the new wife. I read it slowly because there was so much practical advice and information. It definitely is challenging in the best way. It’s one that I have kept on the bookshelf to re-read again, and I always recommend it to new brides.

2. The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller – I really loved this book. It was heavy, and challenging with lots of good things to “chew on”. It is written for both men and women. Personally, I think it is written for the mature Christian.

3. Saving Your Marriage Before it Starts by Les and Leslie Parrot – This book is good for newly engaged and married. The first part of the book looks at how your different views and values can impact your marriage. Then it dives into some really great communication advice which has been so good for us. Make sure you pair it with the workbook for men and workbook for women.

4. Devotions for a Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas – Short, weekly devotionals to read together. I have heard his book Sacred Marriage is good, too, but I haven’t read it.

5. The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary Chapman – Have you heard about the 5 Love Languages? If not, get this book! It’s so good! It explains how people have different love languages, and they may feel loved differently than you do. Take the test and find out your love language! My number one is Words of Affirmation, and James is Acts of Service. We also both share Quality Time as our runner-up. Seriously, read the book!

Our proposal story is one of my favorites. James totally nailed it, and it was better than I have imagined. Tell me, did you know a proposal was coming or were you totally surprised? What are some of your favorite relationship books? What’s your love language?

Adventure On,

*This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for some of the links in this post- at no cost to you. See our Disclaimer page for details*