For those of you who haven't heard... I'm engaged! Yay! I proposed to Grady last Friday night and it was probably one of the most memorable moments of my life. It took a lot of planning to make the night just perfect, but in the end I couldn't have imagined it to be any better. It was absolutely amazing.
My friend Amber hosted a Christmas party... or at least that's what we told poor Grady, hee hee. I've been lying for weeks about the party! As far as he was concerned, it was a Christmas party and everyone was bringing their instruments to "Jam" but really the whole thing was a cover, because I was going to sing a song called "Marry Me" to Grady, infront of everyone. We had to call it a "Jam" party so that Grady didn't get suspicious about me showing up with my guitar and microphone!
Amber wanted to decorate for the party using my zebra fetish because this was our engagment party... and we all know how much I love zebra print, but again, we had to concoct a big lie so that Grady wouldn't wonder why she was stealing my zebra fetish. Afterall, I pretty much OWN zebra print now :) Thanks Amber (and Beth) for making the decorations extra special. I looooved them!
When we arrived at the party, I thought for sure Grady would wonder why it was all OUR friends there and not Amber's (since it was suppose to be her party) but thank god he's a typical male and again was totally oblivious! I just gave him a lame story about how Amber was trying to steal all my friends and he fell for it. Ha.
At 8:30, everyone headed outside to the back deck (which is where the proposal took place) and Grady still had no idea, but EVERYONE else did! I made up a story about how Amber was making me start off the "Jam Night" by being the first singer of the night...
I sang the first song to try and warm my voice up and get rid of some nerves (which in the end didn't help a bit). Once the first song was over, I then called Grady up to sit beside me and I told him I had been working on a song that I wanted to dedicate to him. He still had no idea what was going on, hee hee.
Look at his face in the picture below... he kept looking out to the crowd to see if he could figure out what the heck was going on!
Rick and Jan and Darren (thank you guys) accompanied me on guitar and harmonica for the song ("Marry Me") and it wasn't until I was about half way through the song that Grady had any clue what was going on. He told me afterwards that it didn't hit him until the girls joined me with their Marry Me signs.... awwhh.... (I think that was my favorite part)...
Aren't they cute? Look at Keiryn's face (left)... she's so in love with Grady! At this point I changed the lyrics and started to sing "Marry Us" meaning "me and the girls" because we're a package deal!
After the song was over... we walked over to Grady and I asked, "Who loves Grady?" and the girls and I all yelled in unison "MMMMMEEEEEEEEE!"
....and then Keiryn presented him with the ring
...and then Kienna asked him if he would Marry Us...
And he said YES!!
I put the ring on his finger and then he stood up and hugged me soooooo tight that I can actually remember it hurting my boobs. Ouch. But it was a really, really good hug.
....and he wouldn't let go... but mostly I think it's because he was crying like a baby and he didn't want anyone to see :)
This picture is when he was saying, "Is this for real? Am I dreaming?"
"No Grady. You're not dreaming.
I want to spend the rest of my life with you!"
When the shock wore off, he then went on to say that we're all a bunch of liars! Ha ha. He's right, we are. I told so many lies in the last two weeks that I thought he might not want to marry me once he found out how good of a liar I am! It was all in good fun though. I wanted so badly to surprise him and knock his socks off, and I think I did just that.
It was the most magical evening of my life. We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful friends and family that could share in this with us. I will never forget it. Thank you everyone for making it so special! Big thanks to Amber, Darren, Beth, Rick and Jan. I couldn't have pulled it off without you. And thank you to everyone who shared in it with us.
I LOVE YOU GRADY!
Photos by Natalie Santano - Thank you Natalie!
