Our Engagement Story & What’s Next For Us

On February 15th, 2020, I said “NOOOOOOOOOO, WHAAAAAT” to my high school sweetheart. A little background on us – we started dating our senior year of high school when I was making pasta in the kitchen of his dad’s house at a party he threw for the soccer team that I absolutely didn’t even want to go to. I was dragged by Christin (who deserves all the credit), she was dating someone on the soccer team. We went away to the same college, spent some time apart and quickly found our way back to each other. The engagement story continues…

It’s been a running joke in our families for the last 3-4 years that we’ll be 65 before we get engaged (not even married!) Kevin’s a virgo – he has to over analyze everything and takes it real slow, ya know? *eye roll*

How He Asked – The Full Engagement Story

Kevin and I try to explore our little city on the weekends. One of the breweries in town had just dropped a new beer. If you saw my stories, it was the cute one with the sprinkles!!) He wanted to go try it early in the day because we had plans with Christin + friends later that night. We were meeting at a rooftop at the Public Hotel to take some pics of our visitors. After we got our little photoshoot in, we were going to grab a drink before dinner + a comedy show.

Once we got to the hotel, our group was running late and told us to just head up to the rooftop. Kevin and I looked at the menu for a few minutes and in true Jordan fashion, I said “well the sun is going down, let’s just go take a picture, I’m not waiting for them” ha. We went outside (it was the coldest, windiest day of the year) and I was trying to take a selfie. My hand is frozen and I’m literally eating my hair at this point. I was getting frustrated and just said “omg forget it!” and started walking back inside, when I heard a “wait”.

“WHAT, NO!”

I turned around to find Kevin ON THE FLOOR with a DIAMOND FREAKING RING. It was always a joke that I was going to say no with a dead serious face when he finally asked. I guess the subconscious in my mind wanted to say no. Instead, it came out as if I was a California valley girl. Yikes. 

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I have ZERO recollection of what he said and neither does he, but I do remember our friends Emily (@emilymathewsonphoto) and Tina busting down the door to take photos & videos after the engagement. Mind you – neither of them live in NY so this was already a huge surprise on top of the actual surprise.

After The Engagement

After the initial shock of the engagement, we headed over to the other side of the balcony to take pics, and I see our friends Allie and Leif walk through the door, they live in Michigan, surprise #3!

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We took pictures with them and then Kevin’s best friend Jason walked through the door (he had NO idea he was coming) and his face was priceless. Emily (aka wizardress of photography) took tons of photos and then we went to the bar to celebrate. Kevin surprised me and got us two nights at the hotel so we didn’t have to schlep back and forth into the city! We ate, drank and laughed all weekend long and I’m going to remember it forever.

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How He Chose The Engagement Ring

My style has definitely changed over the years and the stuff on my wedding Pinterest board then was for sure not what I wanted now. In the last couple years I started cleaning it up and adding things I would actually want on there. I knew I wanted something simple and timeless. I’m not really a huge fan of square or silver. I wanted it to be a stack-able engagement ring, I love that look. Planning on looking at Mejuri for sure. If you have any gold stackers you love, let me know in the comments!

Kevin’s family has a jeweler they’ve been going to for years, so this occasion was no exception. When we went home over the holiday, he ditched me to go pick it out. The diamond itself is from Israel which I think is the coolest thing ever. He is definitely influenced by my best friends, but ultimately chose this one on his own (so proud) and i’m OBSESSED with it.

What’s Next?

Everyone went from 0-100 with all of the wedding questions and to be completely honest, I have NO idea what we want. I’m so torn between having something super small and saving money with having it be a little bigger/fancier. You’d think from working in the industry for so long I’d know where to start but I am LOST, you guys. However, I have started pinning tons of decor things because that’s my favorite part of events (aside from the food). I’m excited about planning and want to enjoy every second of it! I can’t wait to bring you all along.

Two Things We’re Sure Of

1. We’re moving back to Florida in May (!!). We have loved being able to experience seasons, NYC and a completely different lifestyle but we’re ready to be close to family and the SUN!!!
2. We’re getting a puppy (non-negotiable of the engagement) *UPDATE* Here is our angel baby, Cashew!!

I can’t believe how many of you were so excited for us. Thank you so much for being part of our journey, I’ll continue to share milestones as we grow into married life!

Xo, Jord