THE Story!

Okay, I’ve now been engaged for just over a week (hooray!) It’s time to tell THE story.

About 2 months ago, Ryan told me that he would be taking me away for a few days, he wouldn’t tell me where, just when.  All I knew is that I was going to be swept away for a few days in January and boy, was I excited! That alone had me swooning, if only I had known what was to come.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, he decided to spill the beans on where we were going. He’s like me in this regard, when I am too excited about a gift or surprise for someone I usually cannot keep it in! So he did way better than me by waiting over a month. I found out we were going to New York City, one of my favorite places in the world. I was SO excited, my first thoughts of course, “what will I wear?!?!” NYC is a fashionable place, hard to keep up in full winter gear. Anyways, it was finally time to go on our not-so-surprise trip anymore. I was so excited, I couldn’t wait. Just to get away from the day to day, spend some quality time with my favorite guy and explore the city that never sleeps.

We were all packed, I dragged my suitcase into work that day, all of my friends were swearing up and down they thought I was getting engaged. I just wasn’t buying it, my family and his, were completely throwing me off. He wasn’t acting weird; I just wasn’t convinced it was my time quite yet. I’ve seen girls completely ruin trips because they’re so obsessed with the thought it might be about to happen at every special event. So I just went with the intention of having a super fun time and enjoying my favorite place. We had been there almost 3 days, walked all over the city, had amazing food (including a cupcake a day…so delicious), done a little shopping (obviously) and we were about to do the thing I was most excited about- skating at Rockefeller Centre.

I was a competitive figure skater for 16 years; it was my biggest love for a large portion of my life. I love going on little skating dates, being that it is still one of my favorite things, I jump at the chance to share it with others. Skating at Rockefeller Centre has always been on my bucket list, how could it not be? It’s 2 of my favorite things combined. So the fact that Ryan had brought me to NYC to check something off of my bucket list made him something of a super hero in my mind.

We got to Rockefeller at around 5pm Saturday night, we skated around holding hands, I was taking it all in, willing myself not to forget a minute of something I had so hugely built up in my mind…I was not disappointed in the least. Close to the end of the session I mentioned to Ryan that I wanted to get our photo taken in front of the gold fountain, just a little memory of what was already one of the best trips ever in my mind. He agreed and said he would grab one of the rink guys to take it. We put all of our stuff down and got ready for the photo shoot. By this time, most of the other skaters were exiting the rink, I thought the rink guy would be rushing us, one picture and he would be ushering us off the ice, I was praying that my hair looked ok (haha). But, the complete opposite happened, this guy was like the paparazzi, telling us to centre ourselves, make sure our eyes were open, taking what felt like a hundred pictures. He was trying to stall, what I didn’t know is that he was waiting for our song to come on. My little event planning prince charming had set this whole thing up. Our song, Soul Sister, by Train, was supposed to come on while Ryan was purposing. When I heard the first few notes of the song I looked around and thought “this is strange, no one is on the ice anymore, why did they turn the music back on.” When I turned around to smile at Ryan because it was our song, he was getting down on one knee. I could have passed out. I have been dreaming about what this moment would be like for a solid 20 years. As a lover of the Disney princesses, which graduated into any romantic comedy, I have been thinking about my “moment” for a long time. And let me tell you, it was way more amazing then I could have fathomed. There he was, down on one knee, saying the loveliest things, in the middle of New York City on a rink I’ve always wanted to be on. A rink, that was surrounded with hundreds, or what felt like hundreds of people. It started to snow a little bit and I was smiling and laughing, completely in awe of what was happening. I was getting married; I was going to have a husband. Of course, I was overjoyed when hearing the end of his little speech, “so Jess, will you marry me?” “YES YES YES!!!!” There was a ton of hugging, lots of kissing and cheers and whistles all over the place. All to our wonderful song in the background. I can’t help but grin from ear to ear while writing this out.

After skating we headed back to the hotel, called our family and friends, and then headed over to the Waldorf Astoria, where he had made reservations at their steakhouse. We had an amazing dinner, where it was just us, no cell phones, just him and I, at table 42. And it was perfect.

Ryan knew me well enough to know that I had been a lover of rom-com’s and secretly thought I lived in one for years. He wanted to give me something to remember, well folks, he did good. He did better than good, he did fantastic. I couldn’t have planned something more detailed and perfectly tailored to me, if I tried. Clearly I am marrying the right man.

I hope this story was what I made it to be, I know I am obviously going to be the most excited and shocked by it. But, I hope you all enjoyed a little piece of my fairytale.

The journey of wedding planning begins!