Proposal story

Amanda’s story

He finally asked, and I said YES!
I knew Aaron and I would get married someday, it was just a matter of waiting for Aaron to get his act together and propose. And I waited. Then last May after Aaron got back from a guy’s trip to Vegas he told me he wanted to go look at rings…again. Yes, again. The summer before we had picked out a ring, but nothing ever came of it. So of course I was a little apprehensive at first, not wanting to get my hopes up again. Two months later, we headed to the Outer Banks for a romantic weekend. I was a little nervous, but super excited because I knew Aaron was going to propose (I will admit I snooped beforehand and found out he picked up the ring). By the second day of our trip, he still hadn’t asked, so I was getting a bit anxious. I knew something was up, since he let me watch wedding TV shows all morning (a sure sign your bf is about to pop the question). That night before we left for dinner, he gave me a single pink carnation and had a bouquet of sunflowers waiting in the car for me (a throwback to our first Valentines day). We had a wonderful dinner and then decided to go take a walk on the beach. If it was any other night, I would have refused to go walking on the beach at night (that’s when all the creatures come out), but I didn’t want to ruin Aaron’s plans. We drove to Jennette’s Pier, since it was well lighted so we could see where were walking. We went to the water’s edge and just talked about us and our trip. Super romantic. All of a sudden, Aaron drops to one knee and pulls out a ring box. He told me how much he needed me in his life and that he couldn’t wait any longer at the risk of losing me…cue crying. He opened the box and finally asked, and I said YES! I got my dream proposal on the beach.

Aaron’s story

She didn’t know it at the time, but it was an offhand comment Amanda made at Myrtle Beach that helped me to be sure I was ready to get married. Because of where we were, I decided that I would plant one knee in sand when I asked her. After going there once with some of her family, I let Amanda know I wanted to take a vacation in Nags Head, just the two of us. I snuck and bought the ring we had designed together, rented a little one-room cabin, and made a reservation for two at the nicest restaurant I could find. We were off.

After conveniently forgetting to pack some things, I headed up 158 to buy some replacements and came back to the house bearing a single carnation for Amanda. She smiled a half-knowing, half “what are you up to” smile and followed me out to the car. When she saw the bouquet of sunflowers sitting in the front seat, I could tell she remembered our first Valentine’s Day when I played the same trick. She had told me it was the date where she realized there was something there.

We went up to the restaurant, flowers in tow, and had some of the best food we’d ever eaten. On the drive back from the restaurant, some of the songs that have meant something to us magically happened to come up on the radio as we talked, and I stopped off at the pier near our cabin. We took a little walk up the pier, Amanda enjoying the moonlight and me trying to keep her from noticing the strange squarish bulge in my back pocket. Once we’d been up and down the pier, Manda was kind of tired, but I convinced her to come down to water with me. Our idle chat about our life together suddenly reminded me of our conversation at Myrtle Beach. I had always promised her I would let her know what made me change my tune about looking at rings and weddings and such. I let her get two or three steps ahead while telling her how our Myrtle Beach talk had affected me and then stopped and got down on one knee.

I choked out the last couple of words, did my best to make sure I opened the box the right way, and finally asked, “Amanda, will you marry me?” And through tears, she said yes.