Our Engagement Story

As you might have seen on my Instagram, Brent and I are ENGAGED!!

I debated whether or not I wanted to share such an intimate moment in our lives with everyone in the world here on my blog, but we talked about it and decided that y’all (my loyal friends and supporters who I appreciate so much!) are some of the people I wanted to share it with the most! Most of y’all have been there through me and Brent’s entire relationship, and I have been filled with so much gratitude hearing all your warm wishes when you heard the news.

So, that being said, here is our engagement story!

I’ll start by saying that Brent and I have known this was it pretty much since the beginning (I think I knew before he did). I like to say that I knew from the moment I saw him that there was something special about him. Just by looks alone, I was stopped in my tracks because he looked exactly like the person I had imagined I would marry since I was in middle school. There was this boy I had a crush on but never dated or anything, and I remember thinking that I had a feeling I would marry someone like him. Very tall, brown hair and brown eyes, and a kind smile. It’s random to include this but I know I never believed in love at first sight, but since I met Brent I definitely believe in something like that. Like, maybe “instinct” at first sight? Whatever it was, I was done, and after dating for a few months it was clear he was the one I had been waiting for.

I posted about this on my Instagram stories, but we actually met on Bumble! I was visiting Charleston on a road trip with my bestie deciding whether I wanted to move to Savannah or Charleston, and when we got to Charleston I hopped on Bumble to see what the boys were like in this cute coastal town, and I matched with Brent. We did a little small talk but weren’t able to meet because I was only in town for 2 days, but we kept talking for a whole month and a half until I visited Charleston again. The Inns (the luxury Airbnb company I started doing PR for) was having a launch party for their latest home and I was invited to attend, so Brent asked me to go on a date with him that night. We clicked like crazy, just like I knew we would, and decided to keep things going until I moved to Charleston. While we were apart we decided it was dumb to deny it, we wanted to make things official, so we did. We started dating exclusively even though we had only met once. Like I said, we both had a feeling right off.

So, after the most amazing year of my life, Brent decided it was time to make it really official and ask me to be his wife. Here’s how he did it!

About two weeks ago, Brent let me know that one of his friends from out of town was coming to visit for the Carolina football game the weekend of October 5. This was hardly far from course, we go to the games practically every weekend and his friends would come to town for them often, so I didn’t think anything of it. Brent mentioned we should get all his Charleston friends together for a nice dinner and maybe do drinks before, and I being the social planner I am suggested we go to a rooftop bar so we can also show them a pretty view. We decided to do drinks at the Vendue Rooftop. This place is special to me and Brent because it’s also where we had our first date, but we have gone back at least three times since then because it’s such a fun place, so when he suggested it I didn’t think anything of it.

The big day came, and y’all I had NO idea it was going to be that night. We had been talking about marriage since last December and had a rough timeline of when we thought it made sense for us, but he was being totally stealth! The weeks before he kept hinting that it would happen certain weekends in December, then January, then he said before February, then he mentioned doing it on a trip we are taking in March, so I thought I had a long time before the moment would happen.

I got all dressed up for dinner and drinks and we headed out the door. I remember asking him if he was dressed up enough because the restaurant we were going to is kinda nice, but he said since it was a tourist place he was dressed fine. (Later I found out that he purposefully did that because he knows I know he doesn’t like to dress up, so he was trying to throw me off even more by being casual). We drove downtown and pulled into the parking garage, and his friend called and said they were going to be about 45 minutes late for drinks, and asked us to hold a table for 10 people. He got off the phone and said he didn’t feel like holding a table for that many people during a busy time, which I totally went along with because The Vendue gets packed around sunset, so he suggested we walk by the water where we had our first kiss. Y’all, he seriously did not miss a beat! I totally went along with it!

For a second I thought he might have been up to something because it was a little oddly romantic for a random Friday night, so I glanced at his pockets but didn’t see anything so I shook that idea out of my head. I remember thinking “Hilary omg you would know if it was tonight stop getting ahead of yourself” haha! So we walked down to the water, past the famous Pineapple Fountain, and we stopped to look at the water. He had walked me down there on our first date because I was still a newbie tourist at the time and was excited to see the fountain. Plus, it’s a beautiful view of the harbor.

He put his arm around me and kept saying “so, you’re sure you want to spend your life with me, right?”. Which, for someone else might have been a clue, but that’s something we’ve been saying since we started talking about marriage almost a year ago, so I just thought he was being sentimental. He said a few more sweet things that I don’t remember exactly so I won’t butcher it, and then he reached in his pocket and took out the ring (he had kept it in his pocket looped around his chapstick because the ring box was too bulky and I would have seen!) and got down on one knee.

I immediately started crying! He asked me to marry him and slipped the ring on my finger. I was so shocked I forgot to say yes at first! I felt like my eyes were popping out of my head! He hugged me and that’s when I heard the clicking for the first time. Brent had reached out to my friend and regular photographer, Nicole, to hide and take photos while it happened and I didn’t know she was there until the very end! I had told my friends that while it would be nice to have photos of the moment, I wanted to leave it up to Brent if we got a photographer AND I did not want to pose for any photos after. This was a personal thing that meant a lot to me. My whole life seems to revolve around photos, and I didn’t want to spoil our moment by doing any kind of photoshoot after.

Brent literally thought of everything. He invited my friends and fam from Texas to be there (they couldn’t’ make it but obviously I understand it’s hard to come so far), he and my friends in Charleston orchestrated an elaborate scheme to make sure my manicure was fresh, he was so sneaky when he bought the ring I had no idea he had been shopping, and a couple months ago we made a special trip back to Texas so he could ask my dad’s permission (a MUST! I was so happy he honored me and my dad in that way). He and our friends also threw us a party afterwards (I’m so thankful to everyone who came, especially the out-of-towners!) and then we went to see our favorite band, The Midnight City Band! It was such a special night, and definitely beyond anything I could have imagined.

And as for the ring, he did so incredibly well!! He asked months ago for me to write down what I wanted because I didn’t want to shop with him, and he made my dream ring come to life with his own unique additions. For those of you wondering, it’s a pear shaped, rose cut diamond and he made sure it was conflict-free, which was so important to me. Rose cut diamonds are pretty hard to find, so I knew wherever he went the diamond would have to be brought in, and he chose mine from a bunch of different ones because of it’s perfect clarity and how the cuts hit the light. He is so proud of this thing, y’all, it’s so sweet!! I’m so excited to wear this beautiful ring for the rest of my life as a symbol of the promise we are making to one another with our engagement.

So, that’s our story! We are so excited to start wedding planning, we actually have already seen a venue and we hired our planner! Brent is way more of a planner than I am, and I’m not surprised at all that he’s anxious to get a date set ASAP. Stay tuned for lots of excitement headed your way.

Again, a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us, everyone who helped with our proposal night, and of course, everyone who has wished us well! We are so happy. I can’t wait to spend my life with this man!