It’s so exciting. . instead of writing about shooting someone’s engagements or wedding. I am writing about my own. 🙂 I feel like I have been dreaming of this moment for years and have been dreaming about sharing it with Nick for many, many months. God has given me such a great gift in him. I am blessed.
On wednesday, Nick had a special date planned for me for Christmas. It started snowing the night before and by Wednesday morning it was dusted with a thick layer of snow. The only clue I got was that I needed to dress up. I had been shopping the week before and had gotten a great black dress from Express and some cute tights and leather boots. Nick told me that we were gonna be outside so I should dress as warm as I could.
Nick showed up at my house and we headed towards dinner. Before he left he gave me an envelope that had our reservations for dinner in it. We were going to go to Fogo De Chao. However, as we kept driving, the roads were just getting worse. It took us almost two hours to get to Downtown Denver. We had to skip our dinner and Nick told me that he had planned to go on a Sleigh Ride through downtown to our next little adventure. Instead, we just headed straight to what he had planned. As we were pulling into the Denver Performing Arts Complex, Nick gave me the tickets of the show. As I read “the Nutcracker” I started to cry. I was a dancer for eleven years and I had never seen the Colorado Ballet’s Nutcracker before. I miss dancing so much and I have always dreamt of being surprised by going to the Colorado Ballet’s Nutcracker. He looked at me and said “Merry Christmas, honey”.
Before we went into the show, we grabbed some snacks (aka cookies and brownies) from the bar in the theater. We were both starving. We weren’t technically allowed to bring any “treats” in with us so we hid them in our jackets. When the show began, we tried to quietly sneak bites of our make shift dinner without being caught.
The show was amazing. The dancers incredible! I watched wide eyed like a little child, in awe of the beauty and wonder that glowed from the stage. The choreography was a little different from the original Nutcracker but it was all so gorgeous and it made me miss dancing so much!
Nick told me that my mom had a Christmas surprise for us after the show. He told me he had to call a number she gave him. I suspected that it was probably a a limo. Sure enough, there was a limo waiting for us outside the theater. When we climbed in , there was dinner spread out on the seats for us to enjoy as we rode around and looked at the lights downtown. I kept asking him if he planned this or knew anything about it and he kept denying it saying he had no clue. I hoped in my mind that he had planned it all out . . . it was so romantic.
We drove around for a little while looking at lights and talking to Ben, the limo driver. Nick suggested we go to this open area with lakes and bridges and walkways that we had gone to when we had first began dating. It was where I was going to tell him that I loved him but I chickened out. He said that I could redo it and tell him I love him again. I was like. . “no that is so far away. . we shouldn’t make him drive all that way”. So Nick asked Ben and Ben was like “well. . you have me for a couple of hours. . yeah. . . I think we can do that”. So we started driving south. Nick told Ben that he had to have the big “Can I marry your daughter?” talk with my dad this weekend and said he was nervous. (He had told me that he chickened out a couple of times before).
We pulled up to the park and it was gorgeous. It was a winter wonderland. Big snow flakes were falling and the trees were all white and the ground had a fresh blanket of snow on it with no foot prints. It was the perfect winter scene. So gorgeous! We walked over to the first bridge. There are big lakes that have little rivers connecting them all and the water was still trickling, but there was ice on the surface. Nick said he had to run back to the limo. I was perfectly happy waiting and looking around at the river and the trees and just taking in the beauty of the winter around me. He came back and said that he had forgotten his gloves in my car (He really ran back because the ring fell out of his pocket onto the seat of the limo).
We started walking around the park and we came to a place were the sidewalk was shoveled. I (being totally clueless) was like “hey. . thats neat. Someone shoveled.” There was a lamp post by a big evergreen and so I said, “okay you ready”. . . preparing to redo my botched I love you. He said, “Wait till the bridge”. I liked the bridges so I was like. . “okay”. As we got closer to the bridge, there were little luminaries set along the side walk. Nick said, “Huh. . thats weird” acting like he had no idea why they were there. . . for some reason I believed him.
We got to the middle of the bridge. . It was all shoveled and there were candles along the sides of the bridge. It was softly snowing and the water was making water like noises (it was gorgeous). He said, ” Okay. . Do it.” So I said, “I love you!” and kissed him. After we kissed, he said, “I love you too” as he got down on one knee. He said, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” I, at first, thought he was joking because he had a few fake outs for me leading up to this point where he would get down on one knee and then start tying his shoe or something. When he took my glove off and pulled the ring out, I realized he was serious. Instantly, My heart started beating and my knees got weak and I probably looked completely shocked. I said, “Oh my gosh! Yes!!!” I took off my purity ring as he slipped on the engagement ring. He stood up and we kissed and hugged and kissed again. I just kept saying “Oh my gosh we are engaged! Oh my gosh you’re my fiance!! Oh my gosh!!” (the photographer in me even said “this would be a great time for a camera!”)
We started walking back to where the limo was (it was cold). On our way back, there is a big pavilion and as we approached it Nick said, “i think some people are here to see you.” I was thinking it was just gonna be my family (mom, dad, bro and sis) but tons of people poured out of the pavilion. My mom and Dad were there (my dad was supposed to be flying, he’s a flight attendant). Winn (bro) and Lindye (sis-in-law) were there too (they are from California and flew in early). My best friend and her husband were there and so were a bunch of our friends from work and Jesse Nick’s best friend was there also.
I hugged everyone and then proceeded to jump up and down with my best friend Anna as we both repeated that I was engaged. My mom grabbed Jesse and Anna’s husband Britt to join us as we jumped in excitement.
Everyone then went to Rock Bottom Brewery and had desserts and smiled and laughed and had fun.
Nick and I got to ride to Loveland in the limo by ourselves and just enjoyed being engaged. It was such a magical night and it was such a perfect ending.
I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with this amazing man. I am the luckiest!!!
-the future mrs. grace combs-
us in front of the limo after we got engaged
The ring
Us at rock bottom after the engagement
