Antonia Christianson Events: An Engagement Story: Conor and Taylor

I mentioned yesterday on social media outlets that we absolutely adore getting new clients. I love the idea that so many couples have chosen myself and Team ACE to plan, coordinate and design their weddings. It tugs at my heart strings every time. I love working with these clients throughout one of the most exciting times of their lives, and I love sharing them with you.

It's funny...each time I share one of these engagement stories, I contact the client to find out a bit more about their story. What makes them tick. How they fell in love. You know, the mushy stuff. But I don't usually share word for word as that's not my style. However, this time when I emailed the client, our groom wrote back. And I love what he had to say about how they met:

We met through a series of common acquaintances. I was at a party at a fellow rugby player's house one Saturday afternoon. Yes, a party in the afternoon. Taylor was hanging out with her friend two doors down. Being the well-lubricated, social butterfly that I am, I decided our man-party needed a feminine presence... and not the usual type that hung out with the rugby team. Maybe I should capitalize feminine. I invited them to come over, but they declined due to it being "movie day."

This is probably as good a time as any to describe my wardrobe selection that day. I woke up that morning and decided that it was a good "sweater vest and jeans" sort of day. Later, I realized that was a bad idea as it got hotter. Not wanting to miss a minute of the action, I quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and fashioned myself a brand new pair of jean shorts (jorts). Back to the story.

In my opinion, there is no movie, or series of movies that could come anywhere near as much fun as hanging out with the rugby team. Not to mention it was a beautiful day and our parties rarely ever took place exclusively Inside. My determination getting the better of me, I walked with Taylor and her friend to the house and managed to talk them into coming over. Though I could tell immediately Taylor was impressed by my style and fashion sense. I was of course drawn to Taylor because she's... Taylor. Have you met her? She's so alluring. And I was smitten.

The party itself was uneventful. In the weeks after we exchanged texts and Facebook messages. It wasn't until we hung out at the pool a few weeks later that we really started seeing each other. From then on, we were inseparable.

(I knew I was going to love them from the start, both are CNU alumni and she's a former CNU cheerleader...just like me! It was meant to be)

First, Conor shared a few images of the moment he proposed to Taylor:

How I asked her to marry me:

As much as I wanted to bring back the sweater vest and jorts for this occasion, I resisted. Instead I planned an extravagant public display of love and bad singing. We met in Port Warwick and frequented Port Warwick Square while I was living in the area. Taylor's dad has a work out studio (cue shameless plug for Brian Cole & Associates) in the square. The brick gazebo in the middle of the square seemed like the perfect place to stage a surprise engagement.

Just like the "how we met" story, I need to cut away for some background. Taylor had been nannying for a family with 3 kids, or nuggets as she calls them. She was, and still is, very much in love with them! Back to the big plan.

The scheme was to have the family come visit from Williamsburg so Larry (the dad) could work out with Taylor's dad. Larry would then call Taylor and ask her to watch the kids while he was busy... and would you look at that, that big grassy area near the brick gazebo is the perfect place to take the kids! I would be standing on the steps of the gazebo, guitar in hand ready to sing either "Then" by Brad Paisley or "God gave me you" by Blake Shelton. Side note: those were the ONLY two songs playing on my iPod for weeks so I could learn every single syllable. Wow. What a great idea! It all changed the second I got the ring.

All it took was having the ring in my hand to know that there was NO way I was waiting for this plan to come together. Plus, I was still a terrible guitar player. I was standing in our kitchen with the ring in my hand when our little dachshund Riley came prancing along (we got Riley together as a Christmas present to each other). I picked Riley up, attached the ring to her collar, and joined Taylor on the back porch. Ah, but not before setting up my iPhone on the counter to record the whole thing through the glass door.

I sat down across from Taylor and put Riley on my lap. I was very much ok with letting this drag out a little because even though I was sure Taylor would say yes, it was still a HUGE deal! I pet Riley for a minute before she crawled over to Taylor's lap. I did my best not to crack a smile at her unknowingly petting the ring wielding wiener dog. I took a few screen shots of the event and made it my Facebook cover photo. I'll attached it to this email so you can get an idea of what went on. The only thing you can't tell from the photos is that she forgot to say yes!