Seth’s Blog

There are certain days in your life that feel like they belong in a movie.. The day I proposed to my wife, Megan, was exactly one of those days.

We had already been ring shopping together as we knew we were wanting to get engaged soon. At that point, it was up to me on when to ask. We ended up going to Shane Co. for the engagement ring as we had both heard great things about them from many different people. I had officially purchased the ring on Wednesday, August 07, 2024 and we were well on our way to being an engaged couple!

When I was in high school, I had had it in my head that I wanted to be dating someone for no less than two years before proposing. Don’t ask me why I had that mindset. Granted, I never dated anyone for that long anyways. I’m certainly glad I didn’t wait that long with Megan (1 year, 9 months, 4 days). Either way, I appreciate you for being patient with me, Megan.

It started with a planned date night to Cooper’s Hawk Winery at the Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. I called one of my friends (a photographer friend) to explain that I thought I would propose that night and to ask if they were available to hide away until the moment happened. She told me she might be able to sneak away from her girl’s night out to take some photos. (I’m eternally grateful for her for doing that.)

So, with a photographer kind of lined up and everything else in order, I grabbed the ring, hid it away in my truck, and then headed to go pick up my girlfriend, hoping and wishing she wouldn’t be my girlfriend on our drive back home that night.

I did not plan out as much as I thought I would originally. We got to dinner and sat upstairs at the restaurant. It was kind of a bummer because our service was not very good. We had probably waited 10 minutes after sitting down for someone to stop to get our drink orders. But that aside, the rest of the night was amazing. We had ordered our food which was the perfect amount. We both made comments on how we were perfectly content with no leftovers.

After we had finished our food and wine, I asked Megan if she wouldn’t mind stopping by my truck for me to grab something. (This would have been easier to pull off with leftovers but we did not have any.) I believe I had told her that I had a card in there for her but she didn’t know what it said. (She loves cards.) We had walked to my truck (about a block away from the winery) and I had grabbed the card and sneakily grabbed the ring box and shoved it in my back pocket (this detail is funny for later).

I had mentioned wanting to go to McCormick & Schmick’s to get a Chocolate Bag (pictured below). Basically a molded dark chocolate “bag” filled with white chocolate mousse and fresh berries. (If you find yourself in Kansas City, I’d highly recommend trying one.) We both enjoyed it thoroughly and then, the end of the night was getting closer.

We had sat at the bar for dessert. It wasn’t very busy but we were kind of done being out. We were both tired after the amazing dinner and wine and it would have been a great time to go home. I had been texting my photographer friend a little bit that night to coordinate when Megan and I we’re going to be leaving the restaurant. I finally had to go “use the restroom” to call the photographer to tell her we we’re finally leaving and to be ready outside.

Before I get too far without bringing up the whole “putting the ring box in my back pocket”. I sat awkwardly hanging my left butt cheek off of the bar stool so I didn’t sit on the box. I told Megan that my butt was just itchy and that everything was fine. I’m pretty sure I fooled her which was perfect.

We had come outside of the restaurant and I had given her the letter to open. I had seen my photographer friend hiding behind one of the pillars outside which was perfect. I wanted Megan to open the letter closer to the stairs so that we weren’t super close to the building. I didn’t have a reason for doing this at the time but she didn’t question it. I truly think she was in the dark the entire time and that made this surprise even more special. When she finally opened the card it was a little dog on the front and then inside it was hand written by me, “Will you marry me? :)”.

At that point, there was a lot going on. Megan was crying, I couldn’t stop smiling, my friend was firing off a bunch of pictures. Everything just felt perfect.

When all the shock kind of wore off, Megan finally noticed that our friend was there taking photos. Our friend congratulated us and then went on her way. Thank you Aubrey!

Here are a few of the photos!

Just like that, what began an ordinary night turned into one of the most important moments of our lives.

Now, every time we think about Cooper’s Hawk or that delicious chocolate bag at McCormick & Schmick’s (we’ve had a few since then), we remember that night and how much fun we had and the ending result that left us excited to plan our wedding and our future. Here’s to my now wife and to our amazing journey together.

Proposal photos taken by Aubrey Erin Photography. https://www.aubreyerinphoto.com/