Remembering....our engagement!

On Saturday, May 22, 2010, my best friend Jay met my dad at a local restaurant and asked him a very important question.  My dad's reply was "what does Amy say?"...not really.  That's what my grandfather said to him when he asked if he could marry my mother.  Dad told Jay that as long as he treated me right and took care of me, and he thought he would, that it was okay with him.

While my dad was enjoying his Sante Fe salad with my future fiance, my friend Valerie was distracting me with some shoe shopping.  Of course I knew what was going on and so I was a ball of nervous excitement.  As soon as I came back to the house, I found a dozen red roses and Jay told me to get dressed that we were going to dinner.  (It was like 2:30 in the afternoon)  I don't think that either of us stopped smiling as we got in the truck and began driving.  I talked the entire trip.  Every time I said "Jay, where are we going?" I think Jay giggled harder...which made me giggle harder.  We FINALLY stopped on the Natchez Trace at the cypress swamp that we had ridden Jay's bike to on our second date. 

It was beautiful!  We stopped and Jay helped me out of the truck and we started walking...I think I was asking obnoxiously "why are we here, baby?" and "what are we doing?" just to make him laugh.  We were both so nervous.  We walked about halfway across the bridge and Jay pulled me in to hug him.  And that's when I felt the box.  I stepped back as Jay got down on one knee and told me that he loved me, that I was his best friend and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.  Jay fumbled with the little box as he asked "Will you marry me?"  I think I said yes.  I either said yes AS I grabbed the ring, or I shook my head yes a million times.  I couldn't believe it.  I mean, this man had told me the second week that I knew him that he was going to marry me....and it had never scared me away.  This was something that we had waited on since we met.  He was the one for me.  I was the one for him.  And that's all that there was to that.  The ring has its' own story:

My engagement ring is from the Mississippi Heritage Collection at Juniker's.  This is the ring that I have wanted since I saw it in Mississippi Magazine when I was about 13 years old.  The MS Heritage Collection consists of jewelry that is designed after places and landmarks throughout the state of Mississippi.  My ring is called the "Meadville", which is my hometown and where my family still lives.  Jay said that he shopped at several different stores but that none of the others were as perfect for me.  :)  He did so well.

I actually began writing this post in order to display some of our awesome engagement pictures...I didn't mean for it to turn in to a whole story-telling event!  So, without further ado, here are some of our AMAZING engagement pictures done by Sharon Coker Photography.  (The "paint pictures" were all Sharon's idea.  She told us to bring old jeans and a t-shirt...we were clueless that we were about to get to have a paint war.  It was THE most fun.)

 

These next are a couple of our favorites, although they are a little more scandalous!  We wanted some on Jay's bike and they turned out very well:

This last one was so much fun.  Anyone who knows me knows that I CANNOT JUMP.  Thankfully, Sharon Coker photoshops very skillfully.  Jay, on the other hand, LEAPS like a frog.  This was our best one.  Thank you Sharon. :) 

Here are two unedited fun pics from the paint war:

Once again, Sharon Coker, our amazing photographer and friend, really captured Jay and me as we are.  I would recommend her to anyone wanting original, beautiful photographs for any event...I would only suggest to them that June is NOT a good month for outside photographs.  Whew, it was HOT!!

(Jay- "I'm a model.")