Scott is going to write most of this because he did A LOT of behind the scenes planning, and honestly… I was so shocked when he proposed, i kind of blacked out. Hope you enjoy!

{Scott} It had been almost five weeks now since I bought the ring and still Marie hadn’t the slightest clue about it. We were getting ready to make our fifth annual trip to Madison for the candlelight tour of homes and our friends Chris and Haley Shaw were joining us this year.

A few weeks prior, I had told Chris about the proposal, but neither of us told Haley. I knew it would be in Madison, but I would have to determine the specific location once we arrived.

{Marie} Scott and I have been going up to the tour of homes since we first started dating. This year we went to the tour of homes on Saturday night, instead of Friday. So Saturday, we spent the day shopping in Athens and Madison. We went to one of my favorite vintage stores in Athens to try on dresses. Side note: I had told Scott that when he proposed I didn’t want to be in work out clothes with my hair in a pony tail. I wanted to look nice. I tried on and bought this great vintage dress that I was planning on wearing to a wedding the next weekend. Scott made such a big deal about how much he liked the dress, I thought maybe he would proposed the next weekend while we were both dressed up. But I quickly put that thought out of my mind and enjoyed the rest of my shopping.

{Scott} Saturday afternoon comes and we make it to Madison. We are early for the tour so the girls decide to run into a few shops. I start into planning mode with Chris and try to figure out when and where to do it. I knew the park downtown was very pretty and thought it would work nicely.

We catch up with the girls in a store and determine everyone needs a bathroom break. So I suggest that the information center in the park has public restrooms, so we make the trip.

Lo and behold as we pass the corner there are loads of people in the park! The tour registration tent is on one side, there was a group taking pictures for a formal, and people walking all over.{Marie} Plus, a couple sitting/kissing on the park bench near us. {Scott} Some people may like public proposals, but Marie and I are very private people and I knew that wouldn’t be special.

So we all use the restroom and come out one at a time and I’m the first one out. I climbed to the top of some stairs that overlooked the park and the James Madison Inn. {Marie} When I come out of the restroom, Scott is standing at the top of the stairs, almost surveying the landscape. I think I even asked him what he was doing. {Scott} As we’re all standing there, Haley says ‘Take a picture of Chris and I’. I looked at Chris and he looked back as if to say ‘This is it!’

Chris and Haley pose and I take great care to set the camera up, making sure focus is in check, the background is clear and pretty and take a few pictures. Now I suggest Marie and I have some pictures taken. We switch places and hand the camera to Haley, who is completely unaware of what is about to happen. Chris is frantically trying to get the camera back to catch the moments coming and Haley is determined she will take the pictures!

She snaps a few of us standing there and I turn to Marie {Marie} At first he just moves a little and I think, “Why is he moving, he is ruining the picture!” {Scott } and whisper in her ear ‘I love you’. {Marie} I know Scott and I have been dating for a while, but he told me he wasn’t going to say ‘I love you’ until he proposed. So even though I heard him say it, it didn’t click in my head. I was thinking, “Why is he saying that in front of Chris and Haley! It was suppose to be special.” And I look at him, and his eyes are a little watery and I think ” Oh, this is about to happen!”

{Scott} She looks back at me with a bit of a confused look in her face as I step to one knee and pull the ring from my pocket. It’s right about now that Haley sticks her head around the camera with a confused look and ‘What’s happening?’ comment, and Chris takes control of the camera.

‘Will you marry me?’ – ‘What?’ – ‘Will you marry me?’ – ‘Yes!’ She tells me to put the ring on, and as I stand to kiss her she says in her moment of confusion ‘I did say yes, didn’t I?’

Her confusion, surprise, and also the realization when she saw it was the ring she picked out five weeks ago that day. The moment couldn’t have been planned better.

{Marie} Make sure to check out our engagement night photos!

If you missed Part 1 about finally picking a ring you can read it here.

{Marie’s side of the story} So, I’ve finally picked a ring! Great! Right? Well, normally you would think that. Other than the designer was only there for one day and was leaving at 9:00 when the mall closed and wouldn’t be back in Albany for 4-6 months. And this isn’t a style band Kay’s carries in their store, it’s specific to the designer. And the special they are running is only for that day. Remember, Scott and I had just stopped by to look! Now, I don’t like to feel pressured into buying something and I wasn’t about to let them pressure Scott into buying a ring. Thats a big purchase! Plus, who really wants to be there when your boyfriend buys your engagement ring? Not me! But I talked with the sales associate, while Scott went with the other associate to talk about price. When they finally came back the associates were just looking at us like “What next?”. I told Scott I didn’t want to be there when he bought a ring, and that we came in just to look. And I thought it would be wise if we just left and talked about it. They would be there til 9:00 and I had to go into work, if he decided to get it that day he could do it when I went into work. But I didn’t want to make a decision without talking it over.

So the associates wrote everything down and we went to Publix. (Cue breakdown in the meat department of how we were only looking and now there was this ring I wanted and loved, but we weren’t planning on making a purchase and I wasn’t even planning on finding something I like and things were just going too fast. I told you-dramatic). So we leave Publix and head back to Scott’s house. He goes and lays down on the couch and starts to watch tv. I tell him I’m heading to work that I should be an hour or so. I leave and he’s still on the couch- not moving a muscle.

I head to work and for some reason get done with what I have to do in 30 minutes. As I’m leaving I call Scott and he is at Adams house getting the propane tank so we can grill out. I think “There is NO way he had time to go to the mall, get the ring, and get to Adams house.” So I’m a little disappointed, but put it out of my mind. My mom even asked me later, “Do you think he went back to get it?” and I tell her I don’t see how, there is no way he could have had enough time.

{Scott’s side of the story} Now that Marie has left for work I jump up off the couch and hop in my car to drive to the mall. I walk into Kay’s and immediately everyone is elated that I came back for the ring. I made the purchase and said I will have to come back later to pick it up, seeing as how Marie would be with me for the rest of the day. So after about ten minutes everything is done and I’m ready to leave, so I get back in the car and drive to Adam’s house to get my propane tank.

Just as I am setting the tank in the trunk of my car, my phone rings and it’s Marie. She finished work much quicker than expected and asks “Whatcha doing?”. This worked out better than I could have planned, I didn’t even have to cook up a lie to hide going to the mall! We meet back up at the house to start dinner. Throughout that night and over the next few weeks Marie would bring up questions about the ring but I would just brush it off as best as I could. Keep in mind I bought the ring on November 2nd, five weeks before I was going to propose.

Check back for how Scott proposed!

“It’s beautiful, and don’t take this the wrong way, but it looks older, like something my grandmother would wear”. That’s what our friend and wedding photographer, Kim, told me when she looked at my ring. I just laughed, because that’s probably my favorite description of my ring that I have heard so far. I find it amusing because that’s the look we were going for!

A while back, thanks to Southern Weddings, I came across Trumpet & Horn. Trumpet & Horn is passionate about finding exquisite vintage engagement rings that have been loved and passed on throughout multiple generations. I started following them on Instagram and periodically looked at their website, but past that, they didn’t really cross my mind.

Fast forward a few months and Scott and I begin to look at rings. Scott keeps telling me within the next year we will be engaged, but at this point he has no clue what type of ring I want. I love the look of a round diamond solitaire with diamonds around the band, but I have never tried one on. So we spend a day going to each jeweler at the mall trying to find the ring I created in my mind, to no avail. Plus every ring I tried on, did nothing for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I still love the look of a round solitaire, but it didn’t look right on my finger. So we left, knowing what I didn’t like, but still not what I did like. (Cue the female breakdown driving home, because how am I suppose to get engaged without a ring and he’s just going to have to pick one and I might not like it and I’ll be stuck with a ring I don’t like for the rest of my life! Dramatic, I know.)

Trumpet & Horn puts new jewelry on their website each Tuesday. So I was looking through their pages of rings and found this beauty – The Riverview. It’s an emerald cut center stone with baguettes on the outside.

Now remember, T&H looks for rare estate jewelry, so each piece has a story. This ring is from the Modern era jewelry (mostly from the 1950’s) which reflected post-war prosperity and economic growth by featuring an abundance of gemstones set in flashy, dramatic designs, with a focus on diamonds, diamonds, and more diamonds. I loved it! The only problem… it’s $21,500! (cue the let down music, that’s a downpayment on a house! or if you’re looking at HUD homes, it’s half a house!) I pinned the ring to Pinterest anyway and looked at it from time to time.

Scott and I were running errands one Saturday and I asked him if we could stop by the mall so I could look at emerald cut rings, because I liked the picture but may not like an emerald cut on my hand. We head to Kay’s Jewelers and as we round the corner we see A LOT of people in the store. They had a designer there who was making custom pieces. Knowing we weren’t in the buying market, we slipped in the side to just look. A sales rep came out and I told him I wanted to look at and try on an emerald cut diamond. Well of course he took us to one of the associates for the designer who was in town. She placed the emerald cut up to my finger and I loved the way it looked, but it was a loose diamond, I still hadn’t tried anything on. So finally I showed her the picture on my phone of the Riverview ring and said, this is what I’m looking for, but we can’t spend their asking price. She took my phone, studied the picture and said “ We can do that, we have that exact same band and the designer only made 30 of them this year so it will be unique”. She got the band, put the diamond in it, placed it on my finger and I turned to Scott and said “I love it”. We tried on a couple other bands with it, but none of them were right!

So now I have found my the ring I love, only problem…The jeweler is only in town for that day!! Stay tuned for part 2 of how Scott actually bought the ring!