It has been over three weeks already and most everyone has found out and heard the story. But for those interested to learn more of the event we wanted to write a quick little story.........
I had been shopping around for a ring since the end of April and it just took time to finally find something I was really happy with (I got a lot of help from a friend of Ashley's that works in the jewelry industry so she steered me straight, thanks Molly!) Once I decided on the ring I wanted I had to wait over 5 weeks to have it made and shipped to Fayetteville. I got the ring on a Thursday night and knew as soon as I inspected it that it was 'the one' for 'THE one'. I had no idea to go about proposing but I didn't want to sit around for too long so I started thinking...
Originally I was thinking I would take Ash on a weekend getaway...but that is too obvious and I figured we would want to be near some friends and family to celebrate. So then I started thinking of taking her to the highest lookout point in Fayetteville called, Mt. Sequoyah. But after driving past on two separate occasions and seeing it jam packed with people I knew it would not be private enough. So Friday afternoon rolls around I still have no idea what to do. I'm starting to think I will have to wait another week. Then her mom texts me and says, 'I know!! Bells Gable Chapel! Google it'. So I did. Long story short it is a beautiful chapel in west Fayetteville that was handbuilt by a husband for his wife. It used to be open to the public but now is only available upon request by the proprietors.
Ashley's mom gave me the man's name to call and I did. He told me to come by after work to see if the chapel was something I would be interested in using. You will need to look at the photos below but all I can say is that the chapel is a little slice of heaven and architecture in NWA. It was the perfect place. The gentleman said when I brought Ashley back that he would look for my car and close the gate behind us.
So Ashley thinks that Friday night we will just be going out to dinner and relaxing. She had heard of Bells Gable before so I decided to play dumb while she was getting ready (for dinner). I told her a friend lived near this little church where he and his wife wanted to baptize their son....how it was a cool little handbuilt church that looked like it was ripped out of England and put in Fayetteville. I continued to play dumb with Ashley and asked her if she knew what my friend was talking about. She said, 'Yeah, Bells Gable'. And I said, 'Is it really that neat?' And she said, 'Yeah, it is really really pretty'. So I said, 'well let's just drive past so I can see it before dinner'...........
On the way out to the chapel I continued to play dumb by asking Ash if she knew how to get there. We eventually found our way and to our surprise (wink wink) the gate to the property was open! We pulled in and saw a pretty little chapel...
Always trying to be adventurous I said, 'I wonder if the chapel is unlocked...maybe we can look inside'. To which Ash said, 'I think we might be trespassing'. I said, 'let's try to go in'. Fortunately, Ashley played along and walked up to the door with me. When I opened the door (which just so happened to be at dusk with the sunset coming through the stain glass windows) we saw all the candles lit. This is the point where Ash started to get a little suspicious. We walked inside and I played dumb for a few seconds longer until we were up front near the altar.
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BTW, these pictures were taken a week later when we revisited so they don't capture all the beauty...but most of it.
At this point in the story there is a small gap because we were both so excited and nervous and happy that I forget some of the stuff I said (what I do remember having said will be just our memories). But at the end of it all I asked her to marry me. She said YES! And then I remembered I hadn't shown her a ring. And she loved it! And we are both super happy.
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The above photo was the only pic we thought to take that evening.
So that is the story or how two lovebirds got engaged. We loved the chapel so much that we decided to have our wedding there as well (details to follow).
We hope you enjoyed the story and we are thankful for all of you and your support.
This super sweet love story blog post coincidentally is being written on our 3 year anniversary. It was three years ago tonight that I met a beautiful little southern belle named Ashley. And she met a tall, handsome (her word, I was thinking brute was a better descriptive) fella from Ohio.
Looking forward to seeing all of you when the wedding bells ring! If not sooner!
