We are excited to share each of the stories from our finalists in the Tell Us Your Engagement Story contest! Voting will take place on the official Facebook page for SOHO Event Rentals. Voting begins on Friday, February 19, 2021 at 12:00 pm CST and concludes February 26, 2021 at 11:59 pm CST. The contestant with the most likes at the conclusion of voting will be awarded our Grand Prize, the second most likes will be awarded our Runner Up Prize and the third most likes will be awarded our Honorable Mention Prize. Check out our previous blog for full details on the contest!
COUPLE: ABIGAIL + BRANDON
Engagement Date: 08.15.20
Wedding Date: 11.06.21
Their Story:
Our sweet friends and I were throwing my fiancé his birthday party. Brandon decided to go out for a boat ride before sunset. He let all of our friends know that he was going to propose on the boat! I was completely clueless! On the way back to the dock, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! I was in so much shock and then just broke down in tears! This was the happiest day of my life and I can’t wait to marry him in November of 2021!
COUPLE: AMBER + SAM
Engagement Date: 12.22.20
Wedding Date: 08.14.21
Their Story:
To start this story, Sam and I have been dating for a little over five years. During those five years, we've experienced a lot of life together -- the highest of joys and the lowest of pains.
I met Sam's family for the first time in December of 2015. They were the sweetest, most genuine family, and I pretty much knew instantly that I wanted to call them family one day too. One person in particular was his grandmother, BB.
To give you a little background on BB, she was the most spunky, high energy woman I have EVER met. At 75 years old, she was doing somersaults over the back of couches and walking into a room doing her impressive high kicks. At family get togethers, all the young kids would follow her around the house like a little line of ducks. She loved to dance and sing, and she was filled with so much life. If she hadn't have been a preschool teacher, I 100% believe she could have been in Hollywood. And the best part, BB loved her family. Seeing how much she adored Sam and how much Sam adored her was really special.
Around 2017, B.B. started losing her memory. It was getting harder for her to be on her own and she was slowly losing her little spark we all knew and loved. Come to find out, B.B. was diagnosed with dementia. The same awful disease my granddaddy died of when I was 6 years old. It's a scary and difficult thing to watch someone you love so much become someone you don't really know.
As her dementia progressed, visits with B.B. were very different. The one place we loved to take her, though, was a small park in Hoover, Alabama called Aldridge Gardens. There is a beautiful pond with a fountain and a pavilion over the water to have a picnic. You could watch the birds and walk through the open trails. It was so peaceful and quiet, and BB always enjoyed it. It was our little escape from reality.
In 2019, BB was called home to Jesus. Sam was by her side in the hospital, minutes before it happened.
Fast forward to 2020. Sam and I frequently discussed marriage and what our future plans were. We decided to wait until 2021 to make our next big move since 2020 was such a wild year. Little did I know, Sam had went through the entire ring process and was working behind the scenes. He got the ring in on Sunday night, December 20th. Both Sam and his family knew there was no way he was waiting a second longer to propose.
He called me on Tuesday and asked if I wanted to go look at Christmas lights with his three nieces (ages 2,5,7), his sister and brother-in-law. We had a small Christmas get together right afterwards, so I was looking forward to a very Christmasy night! He told me that the lights were at Aldridge Gardens, the park BB loved to go to. We hadn't been back in a long time, and I thought it would be beautiful to see our little park lit up in Christmas decorations.
I parked my car and started walking through the gate. I saw Sam in the distance, standing right by the water. I was confused why he was all the way over there, but rolled with it. Once I turned the corner, Sam looked so handsome. He was standing there all alone, hands in his pockets, looking right at me. It all hit me at once... he was about to propose.
He told me to walk closer and as we held onto to each other, we both started crying. It felt like the whole world stood still in that moment and we were the only two people to exists. It was that same peaceful feeling we got years before -- Our little park, our little escape. And I have no doubt Sam's guardian angel was smiling down on him with every word he spoke.
It was the sweetest day filled with the sweetest emotions. I couldn't have imaged a more perfect spot to say yes to my forever, the love of my life. I pray we live life as full as B.B. did and I will always thank her in my prayers for our little corner of the world, Aldridge Gardens.
COUPLE: DARLA + DOM
Engagement Date: 03.15.20
Wedding Date: 04.24.21
Their Story:
7 years ago, when Dom and I started discussing our future together the conversation came up about engagement and marriage. I told him I thought it would be nice to have my closest friends and family present for an engagement. Something to know about me is I am pretty indecisive and when put under pressure I tend to change my mind at least 10 times back and forth (imagine me planning this wedding). Therefore, when the conversation became more serious in the past 2 years I made sure not to mention any details about the engagement. I realized this is something we will cherish for the rest of our lives and he knows what would make us both happy.
Fast forward to March 2020. My now Matron of Honor was planning her wedding and had an event for us to attend the weekend of March 15. Dom and I moved to Nashville, TN a few years ago so we are about 6 hours from friends and family in Alabama. About a week and a half before we were set to drive down, my aunt reached out to me to ask if we wanted to come over for a crawfish boil Sunday when we were in town. Typically, I would not make plans on a Sunday before we drive back to Nashville (it makes for a very long day driving in so late) but, I would never turn down crawfish and extra time with family. We agree to the crawfish boil and think nothing of it again until we arrive in Alabama for the weekend. At dinner Friday night my mom mentions not having anything to wear on Sunday, I pause with a puzzled look and say, “It’s a crawfish boil, I am wearing a t-shirt and leggings”. Thankfully, my mom thinks quick on her feet and responds “Yes, but your aunt wants to take Easter pictures since you won’t be back in town”. Well that makes sense, so I also decided I needed to find something to wear!
Sunday rolls around and we are getting ready to go to my aunt’s house for lunch. My mom, (who is usually fashionably late to any event), comes and tells me goodbye and she’ll see me there. I tell Dom how confused I am as I figured we would all ride together. He shrugged it off as no big deal but at this point I decide I need to put some pep in my step because my family does NOT wait on you to eat! I hurry to get ready and out the door. We are a little over half way when my cousin calls to ask where in the world we were. This was actually because we were way ahead of schedule but, it makes me more anxious to get there so I tell Dom to speed up (he didn’t). We finally arrive and head inside, I notice no one was in the dining room eating which was odd since I fully assumed they would be eating without me especially after the call. I walk towards the back patio and notice some balloons, everyone is outside and my mom is holding her phone pointed directly at me. I ask Dom, “What is this?” and his response was “What do you think?” (the balloons included a giant engagement ring so yeah one could assume I knew). I kept going outside and look around the corner to notice all of my friends standing there (they had hidden their cars behind the shed so I had no clue). That is when it really hit me. I turned around to find Dom already down on one knee behind me. I was so in the moment I jumped when my cousin shot off a confetti popper. I said “Yes”, and we were able to have a mini engagement party to celebrate.
Dom not only remembered that I wanted our special day to include the ones closest to me, but he also pulled off the perfect surprise! He was somehow able to keep it all a secret despite having to get dressed up for “Easter pictures” (which turned out to be ENGAGEMENT pictures) and including my friends whom we were with all of Saturday night! It truly meant the world to me that he would go into such detail in planning the perfect engagement for us and it couldn’t have been a better way to start our journey to forever!
COUPLE: KASEY + KRYSTOFER
Engagement Date: 12.11.20
Wedding Date: 01.08.22
Their Story:
I would love to start this story with saying that I was never suspicious of anything, but then that just wouldn't be me! In the weeks leading up to our engagement night I had been working crazy hours and traveling quite a bit. Due to that I had decided that I wanted to do an all out date night! I absolutely love going out in downtown Mobile for literally everything that it offers so one night I got home and told Krystofer about the plans I was wanting to do. We would start the night out at one restaurant for appetizers, move on to another for entrees, another stop for desserts, grab a night cap somewhere, and then end our "tour of dauphin street" down at Mardi Gras park to see the Christmas tree. I was so excited for this and counting down the days. Here's where the suspicion comes in to play.. So one night while I'm expressing my excitement that we're just a week out, Krystofer suggests that we start our night at the Christmas tree instead of ending with it. He made valid reasons for the change so I didn't think too much about it, but the gears had started to turn. Fast forward a few more days, we're chilling getting ready for dinner, not talking about the date night and he mentions that he wants to get a bit more dressy for the occasion. I go into high alert at this point and prompt him for more information about what he was thinking of wearing, to which he responds that he is going to break out the khakis....here's where I entered full suspicion mode. Krystofer can definitely fall in to the category of a jeans person so this was an interesting choice. Moving on now, it's now date night! Looking back I can't believe he was able to keep his composure, once the day came I had dropped the majority of my suspicions with how relaxed he was acting. We get ready and head out. When we pulled up to our first stop, Mardi Gras Park, we park and begin walking up to the tree. I am totally distracted now as there were people spread out through the area and actually a photo shoot going on; very surprising. So we wait our turn and then finally get to enter in to the awesome tree light tunnel (pictures explain this better than words!) We walk through as we are getting ready to exit back out, he grabs my hand and when I turn around to find him down on one knee! Suspicions were all right but I still couldn't believe the moment. I was in so much disbelief in fact I apparently said "shut up!" before I was able to get out a "YES!" Again, pictures captured this moment all too perfect. While all this was going on, there was a photographer there snapping away at these classic moments; Krystofer had somehow timed it all just right to where there was a newspaper photographer down there doing a story! Wild! Somehow, there's still more too! Potentially the best part of the whole proposal moment was when I finally started to focus on things around me, our whole family came walking up to us, they had been watching from their cars across the park! Krystofer really outdid himself! I was and still am just so grateful for the amount of time and thought that he put in to making this night so perfect.
COUPLE: KAYLA + ETHAN
Engagement Date: 12.11.20
Wedding Date: 11.5.22
Their Story:
I met Ethan when I was 14 years old he moved in next door I knew his family previously through the school I went to but I never met him. I went to play Pokémon go with his brother and he tagged along. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him for the first time. He stole my number out his brothers phone and he became my best friend and hasn’t left my side since. I’m 19 now and he’s 21. I was his first girlfriend, first kiss and so on. We moved into our home two years ago. We’ve been inseparable since I was 14 years old. We now have a 7 month old daughter named Skylar Jade Farr.
COUPLE: KAYLA + CALEB
Engagement Date: 01.10.21
Wedding Date: 10.23.21
Their Story:
We were on vacation with my whole family in West Windsor, Vermont. This was my boyfriends first time flying on a plane, seeing snow, skiing, etc! That morning, we went to a Ski Rental near our Airbnb and skied till the afternoon. He kept falling, but finally got the hang of it haha!! When we got back to the Airbnb, he asked if I wanted to go on a hike, so of course I said yes. I made up some hot cocoa before, and then we went exploring just the two of us. We were talking about all the animal prints in the snow, and what they could be (I chose dinosaur prints). We got to a stopping point, and he held my freezing hands and told me how much he loved me, how appreciative he was for me, and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and continue to grow together. He got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him which I of course said yes!! I have been hoping to marry this man for the past couple years so I was ecstatic! We then walked back to the Airbnb where my family was waiting (they didn’t know if he proposed or not). I hid the ring in my pocket, and waited until dinner time to give a toast about us getting engaged. They were all super excited & we celebrated for the rest of the night.
COUPLE: MADISON + JASON
Engagement Date: 12.30.20
Wedding Date: 04.23.22
Their Story:
We planned a trip for Gatlinburg, TN with my family and Jason's mom. Unfortunately, due to COVID Jason's mom wasn’t going to be able to make it down for Christmas and our annual Christmas vacation trip. We were both bummed but to our surprise (so I thought), Jason's mom showed up to dinner in Gatlinburg. After dinner, we rode up a ski lift to a place called Anakessta where we hiked what felt like a mile on a swinging bridge with the wind howling. Before Jason got down on one knee, he asked everyone “Are you ready” haha. In that moment, I knew it was happening and I answered the easiest question of my life, YES! I jokingly told him after he proposed, that I’m making him write his own vows and he has to ask the audience if they are ready lol.
COUPLE: MARY KATHERINE + HARVARD
Engagement Date: 04.12.20
Wedding Date: 11.06.21
Their Story:
We met at my good friend’s wedding in Alys Beach, so my now fiancé Harvard planned this huge proposal in Alys Beach. He hired a photographer, hired hair and make up for me, and our parents got rental houses to surprise me after he proposed on the green. He put in so much effort to make this happen with months of planning and inviting friends. However, this was in the midst of Covid and DeSantis put a rental ban the weekend before! It was scheduled for April 4th, 2020. His parents ordered over 100 cups with that date and location saying "they are engaged." Since the rentals were canceled he couldn't wait any longer and proposed at my apartment (I literally had wet hair and was in my pajamas). It truly was the sweetest most organic moment. Now we have 100 cups with the wrong date and place, but it’s something we will laugh about forever. At the end of the day the wedding is what matters, not the proposal!
We hope you enjoyed these stories as much as we have! Head on over to our Facebook page to vote for your favorite.
Til next time.
Cheers!