So, if you haven't heard already, I am engaged! I will be getting married to the love of my life, Isaac Kandel, on February 26, 2022 (exactly 6 days from now, by the way)!
I have been meaning to write our proposal story as a blog post, but life has been a lot lately (planning a wedding in only a few weeks is a task, let me tell you). Here it is though! Our proposal story :)
Isaac and I had been planning to get married in July 2022 for awhile. I always dreamed of an outside wedding at my grandparents' house in front of the pond in their backyard with the reception under a big, white tent. Not exactly a winter wedding aesthetic, putting it lightly.
Well, on January 28, 2022, Isaac and I were sitting in my house, looked at each other, and just casually were like, "What if we didn't get married in the summer?" And that was all it took.
The next day, we talked to both of our parents and asked for their permission to move the wedding up. Up to February 26, 2022. They were shocked, but they were supportive. And from that moment on, wedding planning began.
We started telling people to keep the 26th open because there would most likely be a wedding taking place that day. We also had to explain to many people that no, we were not engaged yet, but we would be "soon" in Isaac's words (I wasn't sure if his definition of "soon" lined up with mine haha).
The thing is, a few things needed to fall into place for this wedding to happen. We had to find an affordable place to live in a very short time, Isaac was looking for a new job, and our finances had to be in order, but we both believed wholeheartedly that if God wanted us to get married now, He would open the doors that needed to be opened for that to happen. Within days, Isaac found a new job, things began to fall into place for us financially, and with the help of my mom, we found a cute, little white house for rent that was affordable right here in Seymour, close to both of our families.
In the meantime, my mom was working as hard as she could to make my dream wedding happen on such a short notice, and her efforts have absolutely not gone unnoticed.
Well, back to the proposal, Isaac and I started dating on October 4, 2021, and since then, we have always been intentional to make the 4th of each month a priority to do something fun and special together. Since we decided to move our wedding up at the end of January & February 4th was coming up on a Friday that week, I was about certain that would be the day we got engaged.
The 4th came, no proposal. The 5th came, no proposal. To be completely transparent, I was really disappointed. I wondered when it would come, would we end up having a week long engagement?
I bought a specific dress to wear when I got engaged, and on the 6th, Isaac and I were trying out a new church together. He told me to wear my proposal dress to church so he could see it and then coordinate for when we did get engaged. I was like, "Babe, no, that is not what this dress is for, I can't wear it until we get engaged." He was very persistent about telling me to wear it to church, and I was very persistent about telling him I would not wear it to church.
The morning of, I decided to go ahead and put the dress on just on the off chance he was trying to trick me and the proposal was that day.
We went to church, ate lunch with his family, and then, he dropped me off at my house. I was so confused. Why did he have me put this dress on? We had plans to go out to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner that night, but he was immediately dropping me off at home afterwards to talk about wedding stuff with my mom. I didn't understand, and it was now twenty days until the wedding & I genuinely believed we were not getting engaged that day either.
We went to Longhorn and ate steaks and laughed and had a good time, but when dinner ended, he was like, "I have to meet someone in Sevierville real quick and then I'll take you home to meet with your mom." I was devastated and even texted my mom about how sad I was we weren't getting engaged today.
We pulled into downtown Sevierville and parked. Then, we walked into Seasons 101. I knew then and there what was about to happen, and I got all quiet but giddy.
See, my dream proposal for as long as I can remember has been to get engaged on a rooftop somewhere, and Seasons 101 has a very nice rooftop.
We walked in, and Isaac said he had a reservation for Kandel. I got more nervous and more excited the more steps we took. We were led onto an elevator, and we all stood awkwardly because each person in that elevator knew what was about to happen and didn't want to spoil anything.
We got off the elevator, and Isaac said, "I thought we could check this out and see if it would be a good place to get engaged." I rolled my eyes a little at his cute attempt to try to keep the surprise alive. We turned the corner, and there stood a photographer with a little area on the roof decorated with a bouquet and a white sash.
From this point on, Isaac and I neither one know exactly what all was said or how it all happened because we were both so shocked and excited. I know he got on one knee and asked me to marry him with my mamaw's ring that was given to her by my papaw, and I know that I stood frozen in silence for a couple seconds after the question out of shock. I finally realized I needed to respond, so I slowly nodded my head yes and then said yes.
He put the ring on my finger, and then we kissed & then hugged for a little bit. Then, he gave me the bouquet and the sash to put on, and we took some photos together.
It was just absolutely perfect. The sunset was perfect. Everything just worked out. In that moment, it didn't matter to me at all that we hadn't gotten engaged the 4th or the 5th because this moment, our moment, was perfect and exactly how it was supposed to be.
Then, Isaac drove me to a surprise engagement party where family and friends waited to congratulate and celebrate with us. It was the second best day of my life so far (the best was when I was saved, nothing can beat Jesus).
So, that is our proposal story. It's not exactly conventional. As someone at Longhorn asked us, "Don't you have to be engaged to be getting married?" Well, as we have now learned, not exactly. I wouldn't change how anything has happened for us because it got us here, and here is a great place to be.
I always said I would never have a winter wedding or an inside wedding. Those were the two things I would never compromise on. I always said I wouldn't even consider getting engaged to someone unless we had been dating for at least a year. I said I would be engaged for six months.
Now, I am having an indoor, winter wedding. I got engaged after four months of dating. I am getting married after being engaged for twenty days. God has used all of this to show me that I can try to plan my life, but ultimately, it rests in His hands. He can do in four months and twenty days what I thought needed at least a year and six months.
Falling in love changed my perspective completely. I would rather be married to Isaac and get to live life with him as soon as possible rather than have that big, outdoor wedding I always dreamed of. Love shifts things. It shows you what really matters. And what ultimately matters to me is who I'm marrying, and who I'm marrying is exactly who God intends for me to be with. He has confirmed that in more ways than one, and we are excited to step into this new season He has for us in marriage! 6 days y'all!
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" Ephesians 3:20 KJV.
Photos: Gabrielle Sullivan (@indefinitelymore on Instagram)
Event Planning: Emerald Cut Events (@emerald.cut.events on Instagram)
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