Wedding Wednesday: Engagement Story

Originally posted at ksayerphotography but adapted for this blog!

Your ears are filled with the sound of birds chirping,

your lungs are filled with the clean air with the scent of pine, 

there's nothing but trees around you.

That's what it was like when we walked into the Kisatchie National Forest, off Camp Claiborne in Forest Hill LA.

There were trees as far as the eye could see and my photos don't do it justice to how gorgeous it was. We were in the forest in the late afternoon and there wasn't a sound but birds chirping. 
 

In total, the Kisatchie National Forest covers over 600, 000 acres across seven different Louisiana parishes.

It's filled with gorgeous long-leaf pine forests with camping facilities and 400 miles of trails for hiking and ATV riding. In different areas you can also go swimming, boating and fishing. 
 

That day we had plans to go out for lunch with his mum, her husband and my mum but Jesse told me that we'd be going "somewhere pretty" once we got back so that I could "take photos" (I'm lucky to have a fiance who understands my photography-inclined brain).

 We finished with lunch and got back to the house and waited til it got a little cooler before we left. I asked Jesse where we were going and the conversation went a little like so; 

Kristy: So, where are you taking me?
Jesse: To the forest
Kristy: The florist? Oh.. who are we getting flowers for? Wait... did you say florist or forest?
Jesse: Forest.
Kristy: Oh.. haha, I thought I hadn't seen any florists around

In case it wasn't obvious, when I was born I was pure blonde. While my hair colour has changed, at times my brain doesn't know that. 

 Once it got a little cooler, Jesse told me to change my shoes (and thus my outfit - pretty dress and sneakers? no thank you) and while I was talking to my mum, he came out with a backpack and started putting water bottles in it - because it was "hot out" and then I had "somewhere to put my camera". But there was something else in the bag and it wasn't trail mix. 
 

 We drove through the forest to find somewhere we could get out and walk through the forest. We stopped the car and walked out into the trees. I took photos for a little while before turning around and Jesse was on one knee asking me to marry him. I said yes (about 310 times!) and finally I had my pretty little ring on my finger!
 

 Oh I know, major PDA.
 

Did I know? I suppose you can say I was hoping. We'd had the ring since the Thursday, but Jesse had asked my Mum whether he should take it in his carry-on on the plane back to Sydney or if it was fine in his suitcase and that threw me off. 

Actually, I heard it and thought.. WHAT?! He's going to make me wait that long!? That reaction sounds totally selfish, but if you've read how we found the ring - you'll understand.

So what do you do when you're 10, 000 miles away from friends and family but you still want them to know the news?! You do the modern thing and post it on facebook, of course!

My friends and family woke up to the news and we were flooded with emails, comments and messages.

So tell me, If you're engaged/married - what was your proposal like?
If you're not - what would your dream proposal be?Would you like a big song and dance, or something more romantic and intimate? 

Find out more about us here!

Wedding Wednesday: "The ring"

The search for "The Ring" started way back in December 2011, while Jesse was in Sydney. We looked at a dozen jewelry stores with no success, so we made the decision that once I got to Louisiana we'd look again at the jewelry stores there.

The first week I was in Louisiana, the search began. We looked at every jewelry store we could and as I have teensy tiny fingers, all of the rings just looked odd or ridiculously large. I started to wonder if we'd ever find a ring that didn't look like I'd stolen my Great Aunt Beatrice's hideously gaudy costume jewelry. I need something that was petite and feminine and I wanted something that looked almost vintage in appearance. 

The first weekend we headed off to Mississippi to visit his grandmother and hadn't had a chance to look any further. In the car on the way back we decided we'd have another look at the mall once we got back. I'd decided, at this point, that I was feeling lucky and Jesse agreed with me (or so he said!). We got back to his Mom's house, left my Mum and the groceries and were off to start the search once more.

Once we got to the mall, we only had an hour until it closed so we decided if we found something we found something but if we ran out of time, sobeit! 

We walked into the jewelry store and I told the salesperson we were "just looking". Little did I know that just a few seconds later I spotted "the ring" and started hovering around the display case. I started pointing it out to Jesse saying "oooooooooohh, that's preeeetttyy" and the sales guy soon caught on to my odd behaviour. He made his way around the counter and asked if I wanted to try it on - Ummm... is the Pope Catholic?!?!

 

I tried it on and the second I did I knew that I'd found it. Just to make sure, I tried on two other rings. Those rings were off in a second and "the ring" was straight back on. 

I only had one week before I left Louisiana to go back home so the store had it sent out as a 'rush order' to get it re-sized. We were told they would do everything they could to get it in before I left, but they couldn't make any promises. We then waited patiently for them to call to say it was in the store. 

Thankfully when we were on our way back from Lafayette on the Thursday, we got a call saying the ring was in the store and we could pick it up whenever we wanted. We got back to his Mom's house, dropped off groceries and my mum (I see a habit forming here, haha) and we were back in the car to pick up the ring. 

It fit perfectly and was even prettier than I remembered, but I wasn't allowed to have it just yet! It went back in the box because Jesse wanted to propose officially. That didn't mean I wasn't teased with it though! Jesse found it quite amusing knowing I so desperately wanted it on my finger when he showed it to his family and my mum. I didn't find it so amusing!

He started asking whether he would take the ring in his carry-on or in his suitcase on the way back to Sydney and I started to wonder whether he really was going to wait or not. But clearly he did not, next week I'll tell you all about how he proposed!

Yes, I chose my engagement ring because Jesse wanted me to have something that I loved seeing as I'd be wearing it for the rest of my life. I couldn't be more thankful for that as I'm really particular about jewellery and now I have a ring that I ADORE and never ever want to take off my finger.

Ladies, if you're engaged/married - who picked your ring? 

If you haven't gotten to that stage yet, would you want to choose?