Maddie Gets Married: The Proposal

I am so excited to kick off this engagement series with my current favorite topic of conversation – my own proposal!

As the Marketing & PR Manager for Rebecca Rose Events and newly engaged bride-to-be, I have the unique position of seeing the full RRE bride experience from all angles. During an earlier content brainstorming session, I’d mentioned to the team that I’d like to show a more in-depth look at a couple’s experience working with RRE - the initial meetings, creative session, really the entire process from start to finish. Fast forward a few weeks to my own engagement, and the team was more than happy to suggest I be the bride we follow during this exciting season, making sure I receive the full RRE bridal experience. Needless to say, I was more than happy to oblige and am thrilled to share my engagement with you all!

I’ll start with a quick background on how Nate and I met. Funny enough, we are both originally from Atlanta, but our families each made their way to Raleigh, where we ended up at the same middle and high school together. To date, we’ve known each other a total of 17 years, but our story didn’t really start until after college. I was visiting Raleigh from D.C., where I was living at the time, when we ran into each other downtown and exchanged phone numbers. It wasn’t until the summer of 2018 that we started dating seriously, and this past May we had the talk. He said, and I quote, “I love you. I want to marry you. And we’re old, so let’s go!” From there, I knew the proposal was coming most likely before the end of the year but wasn’t entirely sure of his timeline (just ask my poor friends and family who had to hear me speculate weekend after weekend on when he would be popping the question!). But, of course, the day finally came when I least expected it.

We had just wrapped up our very first Artful Wedding Production Workshop in Winston-Salem and followed that with a two-day RRE team retreat. On Saturday, November 9, the last day of our retreat, we pull into the studio’s parking lot at Reynolda Village, when I get a text from Nate saying, “Hey, babe, I made plans for us today! Call me before you leave Winston.” For the mostof you who don’t know us, making plans generally falls in my department, so when I saw that text, I started to cry. Followed immediately by the panicked thought – “I can’t believe I didn’t shower this morning!” Meanwhile, I walk into our final two-hour strategy session completely useless and distracted, and the poor team – who, little did I know, knew he was proposing that day – tried to throw me off by convincing me he’d bought me a puppy!

After the meeting, I call Nate, but he said he was having a hard time hearing me and to try calling him back. As I’m walking towards my car, he pops out of his and says, “Or we could just talk in person.” I literally dropped to the ground, completely surprised to see him there, and knew then it was officially not a puppy!

We had some down time until we needed to be at our next stop and popped into Bobby Boy Bakeshop for an almond milk latte and a failed attempt at a quick snack before the day’s festivities (in all of our excitement, we only managed to eat half of a croissant between the two of us - a shock to anyone who’s seen this guy throw back a Cookout tray in a few bites). This was such a sweet time to, first, let myself *cool it* because I was all sorts of hyped up at this point and, second, to just enjoy the day together. We’re big on coffee dates and try to have them at least once a week, so this was the perfect time to get to sit with each other and catch up on the past week while knowing that this huge thing was about to happen.

From there, we had a 49-minute drive to our next destination. I know this, because Nate’s the best person in the entire world and made a playlist that lasted exactly the 49-minute drive with all of our favorite songs we’ve shared together over the years. It was such a fun and thoughtful distraction to calm our nerves en route! Our end destination was still a surprise, and as we arrive, he looks at me and says, “We’re going on a hot air balloon.” I just about lost it all over again. To give you a quick backstory, on our second date, I convinced Nate to take me to a hot air balloon festival over Memorial Day weekend. I’d never been to one and was *so* excited. Unfortunately, the winds were too strong, and they never even brought out the balloons. Instead, they proceeded to line up all of the baskets and perform a “fire show”. So, we lovingly refer to that little excursion as the “hot fire basket festival”. We’d been anxious to redeem ourselves on the hot air balloon front ever since, and, needless to say, he certainly did just that!

He proposed just before we took off, and I was absolutely floating – and not just because we were 1,100 feet in the air! The whole experience was a dream – so much so, I didn’t even have time to notice we were that far off the ground in a *wicker basket*. From showing up in Winston, to the hot air balloon ride, to our closest friends and family celebrating us back in Raleigh that night, the whole day was one thoughtful surprise after another and more than I could have ever imagined. For someone who doesn’t care to plan anything, he did a pretty dang good job! And the best part is, I get to marry my best friend!

If you want to see more pictures of the most magical day, head to my Instagram, @mc_dubya.

I can’t wait to keep you up-to-date on all of the exciting steps in our engagement process over the coming weeks! Be on the lookout for my blog post next week on the first steps we took once we got engaged.

Want to read more of the Maddie Gets Married Series? Follow along:

Week 1: The Proposal

Week 2: Engaged, Now What?

Week 3: Preparing for Our Creative Session

Week 4: My Biggest Takeaway from Our Creative Session

Week 5: Why We Chose Our Photographer

Week 6: When Decisions Get Hard

Week 7: Nate’s First Visit to the Merrimon-Wynne House

Week 8: Save the Date!

Week 9: How to Handle Late RSVP’s & A Free Guide to Creating Your Guest List

Week 10: The Event Design Process

Week 11: Surprises and Challenges from Our Design Meeting