Featured Bride, Ashley V.

Wedding Location: Minnetonka, MN | Wedding Date: August 24,2012

Featured Bride, Ashley V. shares the super-cute story of how she and her fiancé, Cole, became engaged.

Ashley + Cole

Romantic marriage proposal ideas from real brides!

Here at Wedding Shoppe, Inc., we hear a good number of engagement stories (surprising, right?!), and our newest featured bride, Ashley V. has been kind enough to add the story of how her fiancé, Cole, popped the question to our collection of romantic engagement stories. Every time we hear one of our Wedding Shoppe, Inc. featured brides' engagement stories, we swear it's one of the best marriage proposals ever! Ashley and Cole's story is no different, and we are lucky enough to be able to add their engagement story to our collection, filled with the best marriage proposals ever. (And if you are looking for cute marriage proposal ideas, their unique story might give you some inspiration!)

Marriage Proposals: Ashley + Cole's engagement story.

Happy New Year everyone! (Can you believe it's already almost February 2012?) I am excited to share my wedding planning experiences with you all! First, I will tell you how my fiancé, Cole, and I met and got engaged, and I will give you a brief summary of the 6 years and 4 months in between.

Romantic proposals: How it all started.

We were both freshman at Gustavus in the fall of 2005, and Cole lived on the floor below me in the dorms. He had classes with a couple of my friends, and was always up on our floor, hanging out. Now, it would be easy to say that from there, we met, started hanging out, and the rest is history, but that is definitely not the case. Cole vividly recalls when he got up the nerve to ask me out on a date that year. I don’t quite remember this as well, but here is what he told me: he came up to my room, knocked on my door, and asked if I would like to go have dinner with him. My response was “Sure! I’ll ask some of the girls if they want to go.” He then replied, “and, I’ll ask Kevin.” Let’s just say, he wasn’t asking me out on a group date, but that’s what it turned into. Most of freshmen year was spent hanging out in groups. Sophomore year started that way, but then we started hanging out one-on-one. In my book, we were still just friends, though. Junior year brought a few firsts to our relationship: we had our first official date and our first kiss. However, we started off the school year agreeing that we would never date… followed by 3 months of not speaking to each other. Finally, in the spring, I came to my senses, and decided that we would never be "just friends". I knew that if I wanted him in my life, I would need to allow our relationship to be more. We spent a lot more time together that next summer, and kept in touch in every way possible. We also sent many letters back and forth. Some were love letters, and some were not love letters. Finally, on December 1, 2008, Cole asked me to officially be his girlfriend. I said YES! [caption id="attachment_13495" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Cole and I at a wedding - Spring 2009[/caption] [caption id="attachment_13500" align="aligncenter" width="320"] At Lumberjack days in 2010[/caption] [caption id="attachment_13499" align="aligncenter" width="320"] Downtown St. Paul – Summer 2011 [/caption]

That's not pumpkin guts!

Flash forward to October 21, 2011. Our plan was to meet that evening to carve pumpkins and have dinner. I got home from class, and Cole was already at my house. I was about to head out for a haircut appointment; but first, Cole wanted me to pick out the design for the pumpkin I was going to carve later. I did that, and then went to my appointment. When I got home, Cole had two pumpkins on the kitchen table with the designs drawn on and the tops cut off. He said his parents had asked us to meet for dinner, so we were going to carve the pumpkins before dinner. He asked me to carve the “guts” out of his pumpkin. After cleaning his out, I went to mine. Cole then started videotaping me, but I didn’t think much of it. I reached into my pumpkin, and pulled out a handful of stuff. The second time I reached in, I felt a small box. At that point, Cole got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Without any hesitation, I said "YES!". [caption id="attachment_13496" align="aligncenter" width="320"] The box I found in my pumpkin[/caption] [caption id="attachment_13497" align="aligncenter" width="240"] So excited about my ring![/caption] [caption id="attachment_13498" align="aligncenter" width="320"] We're engaged!!![/caption] We are now in full wedding planning mode for our August 24, 2012 wedding. I hope you enjoy our story as we plan our wedding and our future life together!

~~~

Thanks for adding your story to our lovely collection of real-life romantic proposals, Ashley! I bet everyone reading it agrees that it's one of the cutest marriage proposal ideas ever! (You lucky lady, you!) We can't wait to hear more of your wedding planning journey!

Read a Few More of the Best Marriage Proposals Ever: Romantic Proposals: From “Hi” to “Will You Marry Me?” Real-Life Engagement Stories: It Was Written in the Stars Romantic Marriage Proposals and Engagement Photo Poses {New Featured Bride, Alaura K.}