Catch up with The Story of Us Here:

Part One: We’re So Happy We Swiped Right

Part Two: Finger Photos and The Threatening of Joe’s Life

Part Three: 3.14 Day

Part Four: The Day(s) That Joe Proposed

Joe told me the entire time we dated that he was waiting till he was 30 to get married.

Ha. Ha. We’ve been married four years now and he’s only 28.

It was January. Joe was getting deployed in June – we had been dating two years at this point, and all I wanted was a little commitment before he left. Now I didn’t say that I needed a RING. Maybe just a promise that there’d be one in the future. Well. Joe apparently took this idea and ran with it.

The First Proposal

One day in February, Joe sat me down at his kitchen table. He looked at me and said “well, what if we just got married before I left?”

“Okay… what?!?!” I’m pretty sure were the words that came out of my mouth.

Joe said “well, yeah I mean I talked to my dad and got it all figured out so we could do it in April!” This was coming from the 22 year old man that *literally two weeks before* was still saying that he’s not getting married till he’s 30.

I laughed. I was shocked. And obviously I was like well, heck, let’s DO IT! If there’s one thing I love it’s spontaneity. And I have known I wanted to marry Joe pretty much since the day that we met, so it wasn’t a hard decision for me.

When I really think about it, that really was the proposal. That butterflies in my stomach, really-super-excited, proposal. It was hilarious and awesome and totally caught me off guard.

The Second Proposal

Joe did plan a real proposal when he got the ring a few days later. He tried to be sneaky, but I saw it coming from a mile away. Joe usually worked every weekday at 5am so we never did anything late on weeknights. He told me we were going to *Minneapolis* for an unknown reason at 7pm on a week night. We never go all the way into the city… especially on a week night…

But it was so sweet. The buildings lit up the sky, showing off the Minneapolis skyline. Lights danced off the water. We went down to Boom Island Park in Minneapolis. There is a really cute little lighthouse there, and that’s where Joe had planned on proposing, but here were people there that didn’t look like they were leaving any time soon. We had stood around looking down over the railing at the water, Joe waiting for this couple to leave. It was hilarious, only because I kind of knew what was happening.

Joe decided a bench away from other people was best. We sat on a little bench facing the skyline. Joe talked about our relationship and our life and our future. It was the sweetest talk that I’ll always remember. Then he got down on one knee, pulled out the ring, and asked me to be his wife. I was so happy. It was such an amazing night and even though it wasn’t a complete surprise, that didn’t ruin a single thing.

I will never forget that amazing feeling or that beautiful night.

Next, we’ll have to share about how we planned our wedding In two months 😉