I haven’t really shared any personal stories on the blog before, but today marks one year since Jason and I got engaged in New York City. It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around that. AN ENTIRE YEAR. He has been my fiancé for twelve months. And only if we’re really lucky, we’ll hopefully get another fifty years together.

I will never forget that trip or that day. I had always wanted to experience New York at Christmas time. So when the Google Flight alert pinged that flight prices had dropped, we agreed we were going to go for it. We quickly booked our flights and secured a hotel for a short three-day vacation before Christmas. In the background, I didn’t know that Jason had purchased an engagement ring and was planning to propose on our trip.

We had so much fun running around New York and checking out the city all decked out for the holidays. The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, the popup shops in Bryant Park, the window displays on 5^th Avenue, and everything in between. We’re both big foodies, so every restaurant, coffee shop, and ice cream place were all very carefully selected. We still talk about Grimaldi’s pizza. And The Best Bagel in Midtown. I have always loved NYC, but there was a new level of magic in December.

At around 11:15PM on Tuesday night after a full fun day, Jason led me into a quiet plaza at the corner of 6^th Avenue and 49^th Street. The little plaza was filled with stone benches and big trees strung with white twinkly Christmas lights. It was just us in that little plaza and somehow in the middle of the busy city it was suddenly very quiet. He began telling me how much he loved me and how the trip to New York had given him the perfect opportunity to do something he had been wanting to do for awhile. Things after that were a little bit of a blur. I think asked several times “Are you doing what I think you’re doing!?” and “Is this really happening?”. When he asked me to marry him, I said yes with a lot of tears and I was shaking when he put the ring on my finger. It was absolutely perfect. Before we left the plaza, I remembered to take one photo of us as a newly engaged couple. I love that photo and honestly I love that our engagement was so private, just us two.

This past year has had its challenges, but it’s been full of so many blessings. Sometimes I have to pinch myself that this is real life. I’m marrying my best friend, we’re going on two years in our beautiful home, and we added Brinkley to our family. I can’t wait until we are officially married in April!

Earlier on the day we got engaged, we were fortunate to have my sweet friend Niki Marie take some photos of us in Central Park. So not only do we have amazing photos from the day we got engaged, but we also have beautiful photos from our summer engagement session in Downtown Detroit. I truly cherish all of these photos that she captured and I’m beyond excited for her to photograph our wedding! Below are a few photos of us by Niki and the rest are unedited iPhone shots I took during our trip.

Cheers to all of my fellow brides getting married next year – 2018 is going to be one for the books! 🙂