August 3, 2013.
This will be a day that I will always remember. Unbeknownst to me a lot of planning had gone into this specific day. Chase had been scheming for months about the perfect proposal, and I, of course, I had no idea about anything. Seeing as yesterday marks three years from this moment I thought it would be fun to take a walk down memory lane and write everything down, before too many years pass by and the little details get fuzzy.
To give you some background, Chase had just recently graduated from Clemson University and had taken his first job and I was about to start my senior year at Clemson. It was an exciting time, but also hard because we were starting a long distance relationship. We start having conversations about marriage, but Chase had me convinced that engagement was a far off season.
The first week of August my whole family was vacationing at Fripp Island, a place both Chase and my family have been going for as long as we can remember. We joked that we could've been babies playing together on the beach back in the day. Chase had come down from Columbia to visit with my family before he had to return to work.
I remember him asking me on a "date" because we had been dating long-distance for the past three months and he wanted some time with just the two of us. Of course, I was so excited, but he said it's a surprise so I had no idea what to expect until that evening. Looking back on this whole ordeal, there are a few red flags that should've set me off to ruin the surprise (like my cousin offering to paint my nails, and my family being over the top nice to me) but I just was completely oblivious.
So at 6 pm I was told to meet him at the dock and we proceeded to hop on the boat and ride out to Prichard island where we had been many times before. Chase was kinda quiet most of the ride and I figured he was just tired or out of it, but now I know he was so stinking nervous. After we parked the boat we got off and walked along a boardwalk that used to be a dock. By this point I could kind of tell something was weird with Chase he starting to get really nervous and wasn't making a lot of sense. But then he smiled at me, kissed me, and all of a sudden before I knew what happened he was down on one knee. My heart was racing, I was trying to figure out what was going on and figure out if I was dreaming or this was really happening. To be honest the words that I'm sure were so thoughtful and well spoken that Chase put together are complete blur in my mind. All I could see was a man of my dreams on one knee holding the most beautiful ring I'd ever seen, promising me forever. I didn't even have time to cry (which is uncharacteristic of me.) I was just in shock. An overwhelming sense of joy and peace filled my heart and I knew God had to be smiling down, and that He had this moment planned for us from the start.
After I somewhat scrambled up the word "yes of course" he picked me up and hugged me and out of the sand dunes came our sweet friends Jessi and Braden. They had been taking pictures the whole time, which I could never be more thankful for. Just when I thought it couldn't get any sweeter, all four of us hopped back on the boat so excited just taking it all in when we pull back up to the dock and all of our family and friends are there to greet us with big cheers and the popping of champagne. It was such an unforgettable night, celebrating each other and the promise of the future with our closest a friends and family. Here are a few images from that day courtesy of Jessi Nichols Photography and Emily Bolt Photography !! I will forever treasure these images, so thankful for both of you!
Click here if you would like to read more about our first date, our love story, or my thoughts on our first year of marriage.