DO proposal stories J E S S I C A + CO L E Lind s ay He rbst Photo g raphy Co l e and I met in high s cho o l , where we attended o ur fres hman ho meco ming dance to gether. We star ted dating at the end of s enio r year, af ter much anticipatio n o n my behal f. We then moved to Iowa City fo r co l l ege, and the rest is histo r y. We had al ways tal ked abo ut getting married, and I al ways as ked when it wo ul d be. Many years down the ro ad (f ive to be exact), we graduated fro m co l l ege. My parents treated us to a Mexico vacatio n to cel ebrate, and l ittl e did I know it wo ul d be the best vacatio n. The s eco nd mo rning we were there Co l e got up earl y. I tho ught he was go ing to the gym with my dad, s ince that had beco me his ro utine. Instead, I wo ke up to Co l e l eaving the ro o m dres s ed in nice cl othes . I got o ut of bed and notice a Po st-It o n the co unter that read, “Hurr y and co me downstairs .” At this po int my hear t was racing. I had a feel ing that s o mething was abo ut to happen, but af ter f ive years I to l d mys el f not to get my ho pes up. I rus hed downstairs in my dres s and hair fro m the night befo re, and s aw my s o o n-to -be f iance standing al o ne o n the beach. As yo u can g u e s s , I l ost it. I tu rn e d t h e corn e r a n d saw bot h my parents standing there —I l o st it even mo re . ‘ Wa s th is f in a l l y h a ppe ni n g? ” I a ske d myse lf. T he wo rds we s po ke I stil l can’t recal l , but I d o re m e m b e r a s k in g , “W ha t a re you doi ng? ” Cole re sponded, “I’m pro po s ing to yo u.” Af te r m a ny h u g s a n d te a rs of j oy, Cole a n d I go ba ck u p to o ur ro o m and I noticed mo re Po stI t s —o n th e s id e ta b l e , on t h e f ront door a nd on t he sli ding gl as s do o r to o ur patio . The o ne o n t h e p a tio d o o r re a d , “ Look ou t si de . “ Look i n g down , Cole had written, “Wil l Yo u Marr y Me” in the s an d .
MEG A N + A N D R E W Michael Liedtke Photo g raphy Our re la t i on ship star ted whil e we attended So uth Da kot a St a te Univers ity (SDSU). We met at the end of t he spri n g semester, s o we exchanged numbers and we n t our se parate ways fo r the s ummer. Af ter a l o ng sum m e r, we returned to SDSU fo r o ur s enio r year. In t he fa ll of our s enio r year, we made it of f icial and st a r te d da t i ng! Af ter abo ut a year of dating we knew we wa n te d to s pend the rest of o ur l ives to gether.
WH I T N E Y + D R E W L a D e D a Photo g raphy Af ter Drew and I star ted d at i n g , i t d i d n’t take l o ng to know we wan ted to s p en d o ur l ives to gether. Hav i n g met w h en we were s o yo ung, however, we h ad a l ot of l ife experiences and g row i n g u p to do befo re an engagem en t s eemed ri g h t . We s pent the nex t s even years b u i l d i n g a wo nder ful l ife to geth er. Aro u n d o u r s eventh annivers ar y, I was eag erl y wai t i n g and ho ping Drew wo ul d make i t of f i c i al . Unbeknownst to me, Drew h ad p u rc h as ed a ring in May 2 0 13 and i t s at h i d d en i n h i s des k fo r a co upl e of mo n t h s . In Ju l y 201 4 , Drew and I vis ited his s i ster i n Po r t l an d , Orego n. Drew decided to p ac k t h e ri n g . I l ater l earned he bro ug h t t h e ri n g w i t h o u t any s pecif ic pro po s al p l an , h o p i n g t h e per fect time and pl ace wo u l d p res en t its el f. On the s eco nd day of o u r t ri p , we drove al o ng the Orego n co ast l i n e t ak i n g i n breathtaking views , wal k i n g o n b eac h es , vis iting charming town s an d eat i n g del icio us fo o d. As the d ay wo u n d d ow n , we arrived at Cape Loo ko u t St ate Park , s o I s uggested we s it o n t h e b eac h an d watch the s uns et —a per fec t en d to w h at I tho ught was a day that co u l d n’t g et any better. Unknowingl y, I h ad j u st p res en ted Drew with the o ppo r tu n i t y h e h ad b een waiting fo r al l day! A s we s at to g et h er watching the s un s et over t h e Pac i f i c Ocean, Drew as ked me to marr y h i m.
Af te r gra dua ting, I embarked o n a new adventure work i ng for t he Nebras ka Game and Parks Com m i ssi on , and Megan was star ting her s eco nd year of pha rm a cy scho o l at SDSU. Here star ted the l o ng di st a n ce re la tio ns hip. Whil e away o n training, I wo ul d ra n dom ly se nd Megan l etters in the mail . She didn’t know this , but I knew thes e l et ters wo u l d o n e day le a d up to the mo st impo r tant questio n of my l ife. So with this in mind, I knew i t was t i me to g o bu y t he ri ng Megan had her hear t s et o n.
We we re a bout to cel ebrate a year-and-a-hal f to gether, s o we were go ing to s pend a weeken d away. T h e m orni n g befo re we l ef t, I to l d her I had to go to Menards to l o o k fo r s o methin g fo r my p aren t s . But re a lly, I went to s et up to po p the questio n. I to o k a bottl e of o ur favo rite wine, t wo w i n e g las s e s , a w h ite ros e an d t h e la st le t te r to a ne a rby st a te park . I s et ever ything up o n a high hil l overl o o king a val l ey of tre es , a p l ace w h ere we cou l d re tu r n to in the f u t ure to re m e m be r t h e m om e nt. Befo re we l ef t town, I to l d her we were go ing “bird watching.” Wh en we arri ved at t h e sp ot, s h e th ou g h t we we re i n t h e m i ddle of som e on e el s e’s thing, s o I knew s he didn’t expect what was co ming. When sh e s aw t h e l et ter h ad h e r n a m e on it, s he re a li ze d i t wa s for h e r. She re a d it al o ud and at the end of the l etter it s aid, “I have o ne mo re questi o n to as k yo u ”. . . an d s h e s a id ye s !
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