Weddingbee Blog

Missed Part 1? Go catch up!

Once Mr. Cardigan joined me up at A&M, I got pretty antsy for a proposal. I know that sounds ridiculous—I was only 20 years old! But, at that point we had been together for over three years, been through several big changes, and already knew we were getting married eventually. So, I knew the proposal had to be coming at least relatively soon, and I was excited! Mr. C and I knew that we wouldn’t be actually getting married until after at least one of us (me) had graduated from college, so that meant I was probably going to be in for a long engagement.

I think Mr. C knew I was ready for a proposal, because about 4 months after he came up to College Station, he finally caved to my pleas for a puppy, and we adopted Cullen from the local animal shelter. It sounds silly, but taking that step really helped me get my brain off of the engagement. I feel like getting a dog together means that you’re taking your commitment to another level, and that eased my pre-engagement nerves!

But, um, the puppy trick only lasted so long.

By that summer, I was itching for a ring again, and I think Mr. Cardigan noticed, as much as I tried to hide it. We had talked about proposals several times before, and I let him know that it was extremely important to me to have a private proposal – I didn’t want anyone else around! Also, I told him that I didn’t care how “grand” the proposal was, but I wanted it to be a surprise. It had always been my dream to have him propose when I was least expecting it!

The end of the summer finally rolled around and it was time for Mr. Cardigan and I to go on our first ever vacation together – a cruise with my sister/MOH (who, from now on, will be referred to as Sister Cardy!) and her family! We had been looking forward to the cruise all summer, and quite frankly, I was excited to have a week away from stalking wedding websites and thinking about getting engaged. (I couldn’t help it! I had proposals on the brain!)

In the car, on the way to Galveston! We were sooo excited, and I had no idea what was coming!

We finally got to Galveston and were going through the cruise terminal, and that was the first time I noticed something was up. Mr. Cardigan is always a very sweet man, but he was being unusually nice to me. We each had packed a carry-on bag, and as we walked through the terminal, he was carrying mine and I was carrying his. We had traded bags because, naturally, mine was WAY heavier, and he was being sweet! However, we got about halfway to the cruise ship (and we still had a lot of waiting to go) when he suddenly took his bag from me and decided he would carry BOTH of them. I argued with him about it and told him he was being completely ridiculous, but he insisted. Little did I know, he had been freaking out the entire time because my ring was in his bag – the one I was carrying! He finally got so stressed out about it that he decided to carry them both.

Mr. C and my niece, on the bus being driven to the ship. See that bag in his lap? My ring’s in there!

We finally made it onto the ship, and we had an awesome first day. Lots of relaxing, swimming, and just generally being thrilled that we were on a cruise together. Mr. Cardigan seemed to be strangely obsessed with the fancy restaurant they had on the ship (it’s nicer than the actual dining room, and you have to pay to get into it) and he kept talking about wanting to go there. We looked up the menu, and it was NOT the sort of food that I like to eat (let’s just say I’m not a fan of escargot!) and I really wasn’t interested. I told him I would go if it meant that much to him, but I’d much rather eat dinner in the dining room with Sister Cardy and her family. He said that it wasn’t a big deal, and we could just stick to the regular dining room. He seemed a little disappointed, but I just chalked it up to being denied a fancy meal, and I figured once he realized how nice the dining room was, he’d get over it!

At dinner, just hours before the proposal!

We enjoyed a (wonderful) dinner, and then Sister Cardy and her family went back to their room to rest – we’d had a long day and her two small kids needed sleep! Mr. Cardigan and I decided that we’d do some exploring on the deck – the sun was just setting and we were finally getting into water that was more blue than brown.

Once we got up onto the deck, I noticed that Mr. C was acting strangely nervous and antsy. He seemed to be thinking about something else, and that’s when I thought something might be up. He led me over to one of the higher parts of the deck, and we found a nice spot to pause and look out at the ocean.

Where he proposed!

We had been standing there for a few moments, watching the sunset, when he mumbled to himself “there’s nothing bigger than a cruise ship!” I was confused, so I turned to ask him what he was talking about, and he was on one knee, pulling something out of his pocket.

Now… I have to be honest. After this moment, the memory gets a little blurry for me. I know he said some really sweet things, and I think that he ended with “Will you marry me?” but I’m not even sure of that. All I know is that I kept asking him if he was serious, and I was convinced that it was some sort of joke. I had tears streaming down my face, and I just kept saying, “Really? Are you sure? This is for real???”

He slipped the ring on my finger and I grabbed him into a fierce hug. At this point, I still hadn’t actually said yes, so he gently reminded me that he needed an actual answer. I said yes, and just like that, we were engaged!

We’re engaged!!! See those red eyes? Yeah, I had just finished bawling my eyes out.

It was the absolute perfect proposal, and it still gets me teary eyed just thinking about it. I got to spend the rest of the week in a newly engaged bliss, and it was wonderful. Sister Cardy even surprised us with a “happy engagement” cake the next night at dinner, which really confused our waiter. I don’t think he ever fully figured out what was going on!

Cutting our cake!

Tell me about your engagement! Did you want it to be private, like I did, or do you like public engagements?