A little over five years ago, I went on a blind date with a girl I met on Match.com and since then my life hasn’t ever been the same. I say a blind date, but we had spoken on the phone, texted back and forth and seen each other’s photos ahead our first date. We were 25 years old, lived 60 minutes from each other (Martha in Philadelphia and I lived in Reading) and generally didn’t know where we wanted to be living or what we really wanted to be doing with our lives.

Through the course of our now three-year relationship we have gone through a lot of growing pains (including over a year apart) and wonderful moments that have easily brought us so much closer as a couple.

After living together for six months, Martha’s mother had come to visit us and participate in a 15k running race. It was during this visit that I asked her for the blessing to marry Martha.

After I had been saving for over a year for a ring, I found out that the diamond from her maternal grandmother’s ring was to be used in the engagement ring, except it had to make it’s way from Boston to West Chester, Pennsylvania. It was a few weeks later that Martha was home to watch her mom run the Boston Marathon and as I was soon to graduate from college. Martha’s Aunt, who was holding on to the diamond, wrapped it up in a graduation gift for me, and gave it to Martha to transport it back to Pennsylvania (unknowingly). Martha gave me the gift, but since I knew what was inside, I had to open it when she was not around. A few weeks later I got the diamond set and began planning the proposal.

I knew Martha wanted a proposal on the beach (after picking up on all the hints she left me) and I waited until both her younger brother and older sister were at their shore (the family beach house in Harvey Cedars, NJ). I had to figure out a way to get Martha to the beach and just asking her to go for a walk was not going to convince her to go to the beach in nice attire. I hired a family friend photographer that would be able to take some portraits of Martha’s family and used this as an excuse to get Martha to the beach.

I then set up a fake dinner reservation for 6:15 pm that would ensure Martha would be dressed up for my surprise proposal. As time got closer, Martha thought she and I were going out to dinner and that we were just going to take a few family photos on the beach with her other family members before dinner. She was not too pleased as she thought we would be late for dinner. That’s when I completely surprised her and popped the question, and she said yes!

I’ve been asked multiple times about what I said and I really focused on two ideas. The first part of the proposal was telling her what she meant to and the second part was just telling her how much I love her.

So, while I am already married to an amazing woman, I thought it would be fun to share a little about our journey. 

Here are some photos of us… enjoy!

 

***All photos taken by Kelsey Regan Photography. Check out her awesome work at kelseyreganphotography.com/blog***