Let me start by saying Christmas time is my absolute favorite time of year. My fiancé and I make a point to travel to Nashville at least once during every holiday season to see the lights and decorations. My fiancé and I went to Nashville, Tennessee with another couple for the weekend. Saturday morning, we got up and got ready to go to ICE and Christmas shopping at Opry Mills; little did I know there was more planned for that day. We went to ICE first and then to the mall. About 5 o’clock Saturday, December 10th I was standing in line at Bath and Body Works, when my fiancé says to me, “We have a reservation and we need to get going.” I had no clue where he could have made a reservation. I started asking all kinds of questions and his response stayed the same, “You’ll see when we get there”.
All four of us headed to the parking lot to drop off our packages. Then they proceeded to walk to the Opry Land Hotel, with me following and asking questions the entire time. We finally reached the front of the hotel and I found out we were taking a carriage ride. I cannot even begin to describe my excitement, due to the countless times I had asked my fiancé to take me on a carriage ride in Downtown Nashville and never gotten the chance. This far exceeded my expectations, due to it being Christmas time and all the lights lit up at the Opryland Hotel. We climbed in the carriage and settled in for the ride. We got about half way through the lights and the ride, when the carriage driver pulls over in a well-lit area and announced it would be a good place to take pictures. The other couple we were with, pulled out a bag and said before we took the picture, they had a prop for me to put on for the pictures. They were videoing it and I mentioned in the video I was scared to open it, because I thought it was a joke. I didn’t think too much about it, I just went along with it. I reached into the bag and pulled out an ornament that was shaped like a ring box propped open with a fake ring and the banner across the box said Rebecca and John and under the ring said “2016”.
I held it in my hand just staring at it, not really knowing if it was a joke or if I was about to say YES to the love of my life. When I finally found the words to say, it came out something like “Are you kidding me? Are you freaking kidding me? My fiancé then proceeded to get down on one knee in the carriage and tell me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. My response “Absolutely”. However, I don’t remember the rest of the carriage ride because all I could focus on was my ring.
My ring is GOREGOUS and I couldn’t have imagined wearing any other ring. I catch myself staring at it quite a lot, sometimes when I’m in the middle of my work day and sometimes driving down the road. Still 8 months later, it takes my breath away. We had talked about several ring choices and styles but this ring has far exceeded my expectations, just as my fiancé has.
Being engaged really didn’t sink in at first. I had a ring on my finger which was SUPER exciting but emotionally, it didn’t set in right away. He proposed in December and it didn’t set in until May. I started wedding planning and that’s when it hit me. From time to time, it stills feels unreal when I mention something about my “fiancé” but all in all, nothing has ever felt more right. Being engaged to the love of my life is the most amazing feeling ever. There is only one feeling that can top being engaged, and that’s becoming a Vowell.
