How It All Began: The Story of Us <3

I am a blushing bride-to-be, and I guess you could say our story started like many others: Boy swipes right on girl, girl swipes right on boy, they meet and fall in love. Before I share all the details of my wedding planning (which do not fear, I will be sharing my DIYs and all the mushy details of our wedding that I have planned so far, except for sharing THE dress of course!), I wanted to take a moment to share the story of us and our proposal. Now, this isn't a short story, so bear with me, but sometimes when I think back to it all, it is almost hard to believe that this is my life, and that it actually happened the way it did!

I'll give a little back story first. I met Ethan the summer of 2015 on, you guessed it, the dating app Tinder. When I saw him, I thought "wow, he's cute, and he lives in Minneapolis?? How cool!" I was still living in my little home town in North Dakota, so the Cities seemed so glamorous to me. We actually ended up matching, and soon began talking every day. Fast forward a little bit (I'll skip over some bits) but we ended up moving into a ritzy little apartment in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. It was such a dream, and I often think back to that time and miss that little apartment sometimes. While living there, we also got two little bengal kittens that have since grown up into our mini leopards that rule the house as their own!

We really didn't stay in that apartment for long, though, because one day while looking at houses for no particular reason, we stumbled upon the cutest little cottage in the suburbs. We decided to go and look at it, just for fun, since it was close to Ethan's and my new jobs. It really was a whirlwind of a weekend, because right after we toured the little house on Friday, Ethan got approved for a mortgage, and we put in an offer on the house! If you would have asked us if we were going to be buying a house earlier that week, we probably would have laughed. But, the sellers accepted our offer and BOOM, we bought a house.

I will fast forward again to this past summer from there, and this is really where I get into the good parts. We had been together for four years, and the summer was just coming to an end. It was the Friday of Labor Day weekend, and Ethan's brother Zach was in town staying with us. The guys went off to run some errands, and my best friend Ava and I got ready and headed downtown to wait for the boys until they would meet us for dinner. We had time to kill, because Ethan had said they were running late, so we decided to get Izzy's ice cream and then walk around Gold Medal park. As we were walking with our ice cream, Ava asked me what the big blue, weirdly shaped building was. I told her it was the Guthrie Theater, and suggested we go in there because there are some cool spots to view the city from. We went up the stairs, and headed out onto the observation deck called the Endless Bridge. It was a beautiful day, and from the bridge we could see the Mississippi river. There were lots of people sitting out on the bridge, but it really was gorgeous outside, so I didn't think too much about it. I started to walk down the stairs, when all of the sudden, I heard the song "Speechless" by Dan + Shay start to play. It still didn't register in my brain, and all I thought was "Ooh, I like this song!". That's when I saw Ethan, and I was caught so off guard because I knew what was about to happen that I tripped and fell down the stairs. Totally fine but a little embarrassed, I stumbled up to meet him as he took my hands in his. He got down on one knee after giving a beautiful speech that made us both tear up, and I said yes. This was the first surprise of many though, because after he put the ring on my finger, both of our parents stepped out from their hiding spots to join us.

He Proposed!

We all went out to dinner afterwards, because getting proposed to sure works up an appetite. There, Ethan handed me a card for our 4 year dating anniversary. I felt a little guilty because I hadn't gotten him anything, and opened the card. Inside said: As a token of my love and as a celebration for our 4 years together, I have four surprises for you. You will find out what they are as we go. For the first surprise, you need to pack your bags because we have a 9AM flight tomorrow morning. My jaw hit the floor, and as we said our goodbyes to our parents and headed back home, I was filled with excitement and anticipation for the next morning. We packed our bags, and went to bed, although I hardly slept a wink since I was just too excited.

The next morning, when we arrived at the airport, I printed my ticket and saw our destination was Las Vegas, Nevada. Anyone who knows me knows I love Las Vegas, so I couldn't wait until our plane landed and we stepped into the dry desert heat. Ethan, Zach, and I boarded our plane, and set off for adventure.

When we landed, Ethan flagged down a limo, and we all climbed in to head to our hotel. The hotel that we stayed in my was second surprise of the trip. Ethan and I had always wanted to stay at the Bellagio because it looked so fancy, and as our limo drove through the strip, it ended up pulling up to the big facade of the Bellagio. We went in and headed to our room. The room was beautiful, and looked out directly over the fountains below.

Once we settled into our room, we decided to head out on the town. My third surprise would happen this evening. I love dancing and going to performances, and one of my favorite performers are the Jabbawockeez, a hip hop dance group. Ethan had gotten us center seats in the front row for the Saturday night performance. It was so much fun, and it was so cool to be so close to the performers. It was an amazing performance and seemed to be over in the blink of an eye because we were having so much fun. When it was over, we left the theater and ended up getting into the Omnia night club for free to see the DJ Zedd. It was a night to remember, and I wasn't sure anything could top it.

It turned out that something could top that night, though, because on Sunday morning, Ethan hurried us out of our hotel to catch a shuttle bus that was going to take us to my final surprise. It was a short ride, and we pulled up to a big building that looked like some type of aircraft carrier. We got out, and that's when I learned that we were going to take a helicopter into the Grand Canyon for a picnic. It was unreal. I'm not really sure how to put this experience into words. It felt like I was in a dream, or a movie, and after about a 2 hour flight, we touched down in the canyon. Champagne was popped, and we celebrated our proposal together in style down in the scenic canyons. I still am in shock by how beautiful everything was down there. Once we finished with our picnic and explored a little bit longer, it was time to return to the city. I will never forget that flight to and from the Grand Canyon.

This trip came to an end way too quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to board the plane back home. It was Monday, and my new school year would start the next day on Tuesday, bringing me back into reality after living in a dream for the last few days. When I tell this story, it brings me back to that wonderful weekend where our lives took a turn in a new, exciting direction. I cannot wait to marry Ethan.

-Carley <3

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