I shared our proposal video on my Instagram a few days ago on the anniversary of our engagement and I realized it would be a good idea to archive the details here on my blog that I posted on facebook years ago. I still can’t believe this was my proposal story because as you will see…it was epic. He went above and beyond to make this such a special day and I am so grateful for him! There is a video of the proposal below (shot on an iphone so pardon the skinny frame) so if you like ultra cheesy love stuff like that, enjoy 😉 I’m so grateful we have this to re-watch every year. Sutton watched it for the first time and all she could talk about was the kiss at the end, ha!

Alright, here’s my proposal story…

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February 25, 2011

Dwight and I had known each other for 2 years and had been dating for around 8 months at this time. We had begun having many conversations about our future and had both expressed our mutual desire to get married eventually. He had hinted that a proposal could be coming in the next few months but I honestly had no frame of reference as to when it would actually happen. February 25 was a Friday and I can remember debating wether or not I should wash my hair that morning. I opted not to (what a mistake) but luckily my friends had suggested we all go get our nails done the night before as a ‘girls night’ activity so at least I had that going for me!

I went to work that day and had lunch with my friend Courtney (who played a huge role in all of this) and I actually brought up Dwight proposing to me and how I thought it MIGHT happen in two weeks around my birthday when my parents were in town. I had a Young Life event that evening and was looking forward to that so needless to say, I had no idea of the events that were about to unfold.

I got back to work after lunch and my boss asked me to work on a “project” for her and came by my desk to see if I had finished it. Still looking down, I replied “not yet” and she asked “why not?” Somewhat startled, I looked up and saw Dwight standing there with a bouquet of blue hydrangeas.

“I love you, Blaire… we’re leaving now to go somewhere” he said.

I looked at my boss, totally perplexed by what was happening and asked if it really was ok if I left! She of course said yes and confessed that the “project” I was working on was only to keep me at my desk. I quickly packed up my things, still very confused and overwhelmed with the sudden change in my day.

Once we got outside the office building, he blindfolded me and asked me to guess where we were going and if I guessed correctly, there was a gift. After a few guesses (and having some clue of the direction we were driving) I half-jokingly said the airport. Much to my surprise, he confirmed that was in fact where we were going and that we would be flying out to Colorado in a little over an hour. I was in complete disbelief and was beginning to realize that this could be the beginning of a potential proposal since Colorado was the place we first met.

My prize for guessing the destination was a ski jacket and pants that I had recently tried on for another upcoming ski trip in March. So sweet of him to remember that I liked them. I called my mom and just kept repeating ‘you’re not going to believe whats happening right now’ over and over, not even realizing she definitely knew EXACTLY what was happening!

At the time I thought we were catching the red eye flight back that night (because we were not going to stay together as a dating couple)…but then again, there was still a LOT I had no clue was coming. We landed in Denver and drove up to the mountains to the picturesque town of Breckenridge. Dwight confirmed we would be having dinner at Lucha, the restaurant we first met at two years prior over $1.00 dollar tacos. He had reserved the same booth we sat in that day and I just KNEW that he was going to ask me there…despite the fact that getting engaged in a hole in the wall taco joint wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned for my proposal 😉 The booth was big enough for 12 people to sit at, so it was pretty funny just being the only 2 at this massive table. I should also note that I completely scorched my finger by grabbing a hot plate and spent the majority of the meal with my left hand submerged in ice water…oh the irony.

The check came and I excused myself to the bathroom because I figured if I was about to be proposed to, I should make sure I had a fresh coat of lipstick and check to see if I had any food in my teeth. Dwight met me outside the bathroom door and much to my disappointment, we left…without a proposal. This entire time he kept telling me the reason for this spontaneous trip was an early birthday gift for me, but I was sure that was just a cover up. Well, after we left the restaurant I was beginning to think my assumptions of getting engaged weren’t correct.

So we left the restaurant and he told me that we still had another hour before our next event and that his friend “Stephen” who was a youth minister at a church in Breckenridge was having a lock in with the youth group and wanted us to stop by. This was not out of character for Dwight to suggest something like this since he is such a people person and literally knows someone every.single.place we go. I of course said that was fine even though the thought of going to a lock in with a bunch of teenagers after the disappointment of not getting proposed to wasn’t exactly my idea of fun at the moment.

We pulled up to this beautiful log cabin style church, Agape Outpost, only for me to realize that there were literally ZERO cars in the parking lot. Not only were there no cars, but no lights were on and there were definitely no signs of any sort of lock-in taking place. My heart started beating so hard at this point because I was sure that what I THOUGHT was going to happen that night was ACTUALLY happening now.

We walked inside and into the sanctuary where all the lights were off except for the spotlight at the front of the church where there were two chairs with candles and rose petals covering the alter. Completely unable to say anything, he asked me to sit down and began to tell me how much he loved me. I don’t know when exactly I began to cry during this time but it was probably from the moment I sat down and I literally didn’t stop for the next hour, hah! There was a guitar next to the chair and he grabbed it and began to play me a song that is was meaningful to us (I Like To Be With Me When I’m With You by Drew Holcomb), but he had changed the words to make it more personal. Some parts were sweet and other parts were completely silly…but then again, that was a pretty good depiction of our relationship. (You can hear his version of the song as the background music in the proposal video).

After that, he read me the verse that we often exchanged to one another (Phil 1:3) and handed me this piece of paper with the words “The Alphabet of My Love” written across the top. He asked me to read it and this is when I couldn’t hold it together anymore..I was a crying mess! It went through every letter with a word or phrase that he felt represented me along with scripture. After I read those out loud (again, through LOTS of tears!), he told me that there was a letter missing. I looked at the paper and for the life of me, through my tear soaked eyeballs I could not on my own find the missing letter he was referring to!

“It’s W Blaire! There’s no W!” he jokingly said.

I’m sure he had planned for me to conveniently say “wait a second, there’s not W here!” which would have been a perfect transition into his proposal but I was such a mess he had to literally spell.it.out. to me.

After discovering the missing W, He handed me a final piece of paper with a large W on it with the word “Wife” after it. Proverbs 31 was written below it and as I looked up, he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife (among other wonderful things). I think my head could have nodded right off my neck with how enthusiacally I agreed!

We prayed, cried some more and just savored the moment until my friend Courtney and his brother Cam ran down to the front (they had been hiding in the back all along and had been the ones to set up everything) and celebrated with us. I completely fell to the ground when I realized they were there I was so surprised! We spent the next day skiing and soaking up being the newly engaged couple that we were (and yes, I shoved my ring in a ski glove…I was not going to take it off!)

When we flew home on Sunday, we were greeted in baggage claim by both of our families with posters and cheering. Another surprise! Of course everyone was ready to eat so we went to a restaurant only to find that all of my closest friends and family were there to celebrate with us and hear us share our story.

It was beyond anything I could have imagine and the LORD is fully faithful for bringing us together and orchestrating our story the way He did. A beautiful detail to this story that somehwhat brings it full circle is when I was 12 years old, I wrote a letter to my future husband while skiing with my family in Colorado. 10 years after writing that letter, I was proposed to by the man of my dreams in Colorado. He truly gave me the desire of my heart and I gave Dwight that letter on our wedding day.