He Asked...And I Said Yes :)

Click here to see a beautiful slideshow (with video) of the proposal :) It’s been a week since James proposed to me :) ….and when I see the ring on my finger and the beautiful pictures...I’m still in disbelief! Wow! I’m engaged!!
Anyway, here’s the story of how James proposed :) So....I’m here in California visiting James for a total of 10 days. We had been talking about getting married for awhile....and we even started wedding planning! James had planned on proposing sooner (he said at CFW...oh my goodness so happy it didn’t happen then...) but found out he didn’t have enough money to get the ring yet. So I thought in my mind that he would probably propose when I visited him in California in July, or when he visits NJ in August (since by then he’ll get enough paychecks to pay for the ring).

So for my first weekend here in California, James planned out everything we were going to do. Friday we were going to go to San Francisco...Fisherman’s Wharf, Union Square, and then a beach around sunset time. Saturday we were going to go to Napa Valley, do some wine tasting, ride some bikes. I thought typical organized James...making such detailed plans, figuring out all the restaurants we were going to go eat at. But when I saw that we were going to a beach around sunset time on Friday, I started wondering to myself...hmm maybe he might try to propose then?

So we had a wonderful day on Friday...eating seafood at Fisherman’s Wharf, touring San Francisco, walking through Chinatown, and eating a delicious dinner (I had maybe the best fish I’ve had ever at Bluestem Brasserie). During the day I was thinking about whether this was the big day...would I get engaged? But James was being super nonchalant about everything...it was a pretty special, but typical day out traveling and walking around. I was getting really tired and actually started getting a little sad....I was thinking....when is he going to do it? I even thought to myself: “if he doesn’t propose by the end of the summer, I’m going to ask him what’s going on!” (This might sound weird to you, but we had already set a date for the wedding and all that so I was starting to get a little anxious. I didn’t want to do any more wedding planning without getting engaged!). While we were eating dinner, I remember asking James if he was too tired to go to the beach (he seemed super tired), but he said “Eh, we’re already here. Might as well go.” Who knew he was just saying that nonchalantly on purpose!!

So after dinner we get on the car, and we drive to a beach called Baker Beach. The first thing I notice is wow....this place is BEAUTIFUL. The mountains are overlooking the ocean, and the sun is totally visible over the water. The Golden Gate Bridge looked so close too. I was really amazed by the scenery...I couldn’t wait to get down on the sand and feel the water. When we got to the beach, James had to go to the bathroom (as usual) and wanted to get a coat (just being prepared for the cool California nights)....at least I thought (in fact he was going to get the coat with his ring and text the people who had helped him set up the proposal!). When we got down into the beach, we started walking to the right side...but James said let’s go over there (motioning left). I thought: “There’s more people there. Oh well. Doesn’t matter to me.”

So we walk maybe like 15 feet, and I see this fancy set-up with a blanket on the sand, and LOTS of roses, some champagne or something. And I’m thinking to myself “What crazy over-spending boyfriend took his girlfriend out on a date to the beach? How elaborate!” and I actually told James “What is this?” in kind of a annoyed kind of way...I guess I was just imagining some super PDA type of couple who just need to tone down the romance a little. But when I said that to James, he smiled at me. And instantly I knew....Oh my goodness. This was all for me. I couldn’t believe it.

As we walked closer, I saw the most beautfiul set-up I had ever seen. There were at least a dozen light purple roses stuck into the sand surrounding a soft blanket, which had our initials monogrammed onto it. There were a few Christian books placed neatly on the corners of the blanket, including the Bible, which had been opened and had a beautiful bouquet of roses and some other white flowers in it. Off to the side there was a wooden bench with a bottle of pink sparkling wine and two really pretty glasses. There was also two wooden stakes with flower seed packets (empty) hanging from them, a really pretty touch.

When I saw all this....I was in disbelief. Totally blown away. All this was for me?? I couldn’t believe it. How did he set this up or find someone to set it up? We had been in San Francisco all day! I knew this could only mean one thing...James was going to propose. AHHHHH :) I started taking pictures on my camera... I wanted to capture this beautiful, romantic set-up. But James told me to put the camera down and turn around.

He started reading Proverbs 31 to me...which talks about the Wife of Noble Character. I looked up, and I saw three people...two were photographers and one was taking a video (though at the time I couldn’t tell if the video person was just a random person taking a video). This made me a little nervous and I just clung onto James and kept smiling. I don’t even remember what he read....all I remember was that Proverbs 31 didn’t sound super familiar to me.

After he finished reading, James told me to reach into a large flower pot, and open a small white box with a reddish ribbon. The big flower pot said “The Lee Family, est. July 20, 2012” (but I wouldn’t notice that until later). Inside the flower pot were rose petals, and a small white box. I thought to myself...why would James make me open the ring myself? Isn’t he going to get down on one knee? But I slowly opened the box, expecting to see the ring. Instead inside was a piece of paper...and I opened it. It read “I can’t wait to grow together in friendship, in love, in Christ, forever. Love, James”. :) It was really sweet.

Then, James told me to stand up. Ahhhh this was going to be the moment! He started getting down on one knee...and I think I was still kind of in shock...I was just smiling and really happy and excited. Then HE ASKED! “Iris, will you marry me?”. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he asked...I couldn’t tell if he was crying or just really nervous. His face was kind of flushed and his lips were trembling. It was so cute to see him that nervous/emotional...but I just wanted to put him at ease! I think I quickly said “Yes” and leaned over to give him a hug. We stayed in the hug for a little while longer, and then we got up. We were both smiling a lot.

We met the photographers/planner lady and they were all really sweet and congratulated us. They also said the ring was beautiful....and they were right! I didn’t really get a good look at it, but it was beautiful and so shiny in the sun :) For the next hour or so, we took pictures along the beach. The scenery was beautiful, and the pictures turned out amazing. It was so much fun taking pictures, and it felt really easy and natural. The whole time we were just really happy and laughing a lot, and my favorite part was when the photographer told us to just go play in the water and she would take candid shots because I got to kick a lot of water on James and make him wet without getting in trouble :)

After that, we packed up, and started calling our family and close friends, and texting everyone we wanted to find out first. Then we went on Facebook....and it was crazy. So many notifications. But we both feel truly blessed to have the love and support of so many people.

Overall, I still cannot believe all this happened. Our engagement was way, way, way beyond my imagination and it was more beautiful than anything I had imagined or dreamed of (and yes, I did dream of James proposing to me...but most of the time it was a really weird dream. Like one time he proposed to me at someone else’s wedding, and another time there was a black diamond on the ring and I made him return it). The pictures/video and the slideshow have made me cry almost every time I watch it. I cannot believe that I have the privilege and blessing to marry James Lee. It is an amazing experience, and I feel so, so blessed. There is nothing James or I have done to deserve all this, but it’s only by God’s grace that we have this amazing opportunity to spend the rest of our lives together. Some people may be surprised cause we’re young (and we are!) but I cannot wait to be with James forever :)

For James' perspective on this whole thing, read his blog post by clicking here!