Due to really silly circumstances, with which we will not bore you, we actually started planning our wedding prior to a proposal of any kind.

Our friend Melissa had volunteered for some time to throw us an engagement party so that we could properly kick off the celebrations leading up to our wedding. About the time that the invitations went out, Matt started being really sneaky, but I didn’t notice because I was in the midst of wedding preparations – the blinders were completely on. I did notice that he was going outside to talk on his phone a lot more, but thought he might be talking to headhunters or other people about potential jobs.

Even when we arrived at the engagement party, I started working the room separately from Matt (as he had so wisely instructed me), making sure that everyone was properly introduced to everyone else, as this was the first time that most of the ceremony participants would be together. When he’d confirmed that most of the party guests had arrived, Matt gathered everyone for what I thought was going to be a mass-update on his job search. Matt launched into his job-search update (as I had expected), but the next thing I know, he’s down on one knee asking me to marry him with my mother bouncing up and down like a Mexican jumping bean right over his right shoulder. Knowing our financial situation, my first question was “How?!” (Thanks to the First National Bank of Grandma) and then “Are you kidding me?” (No!) at which point Matt said that he still hadn’t gotten an answer. “YES! Of course, yes!” was my reply, at which point he is so excited he tried to put the ring on the wrong hand. I kissed him and was immediately swarmed by my mom, his mom, my cousin, and our female friends. The guys wisely stayed back from all the ooohing and ahhing and tears. It was so incredible and perfect! And it saved us from needing to tell the story to everyone individually – they were there to witness for themselves.