I’ll be the first to say that the best marriage proposals don’t always have to be perfect, or even necessarily a surprise. I had recently moved to the Twin Cities with my then-boyfriend, Aaron, to begin my career. Aaron and I had been dating for four years and had already discussed getting married so I was expecting a wedding proposal not long after moving in together. I knew Aaron was going to pop the question, so I sent him pictures of engagement rings that I liked to give him ideas. I also told him which wedding proposal ideas I didn’t want him to use: not in front of a bunch of people, not by putting the ring into a glass of champagne, not at a sporting event, etc.  Knowing he now had sufficient instructions, it was all a matter of when he would decide to ask.

The location. Perfect, right?

A wedding proposal from the man of my dreams.

Saturday, October 19, 2013 started off like any normal day. I spent the morning catching up with a friend and the afternoon shopping for furniture. After a few hours of shopping, Aaron suggested we go for a walk at our favorite park, Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis. Despite the dreary weather, I agreed. We walked along the creek for a while; just enjoying each other’s company, but I began to notice Aaron was a bit fidgety. When we came to a place along the creek near a bridge, he suggested we walk out onto an outcrop of rocks in the creek. As we were standing there, looking at the bridge and the sky it began to rain. Aaron suddenly started fumbling with something in his pocket and I realized what he was about to do! I became embarrassed and nervous and said something like, “Wait, what are you doing?! There are people across the creek over there!"  But my shock didn’t stop him from getting down on one knee and pulling out the ring! Poetically, the sun came out from behind the clouds and the rain continued to fall as I said, “Yes!”

The best marriage proposals only need two people madly in love.

Even though I knew it was coming, it was an exciting moment for us! I couldn’t wait to make our engagement announcement and tell all of our family and friends. We continued our walk through the park hand-in-hand. Of course, every few steps I would lift up my hand to admire the glittering gem, which caught the sunlight beautifully.

My man and my ring.

A little rain never hurt an engagement announcement.

Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating that day. The sunshine quickly went away and it began to rain harder than before. Then the rain turned to hail! We ducked under a tree and laughed at our luck.  Once the rain let up, we each pulled out our phones to snap a “newly engaged” photo for our engagement announcement.  Wouldn’t you know it, both our phones were dead, so we had to wait until we were warm and dry back at our apartment for the smartphone photo-shoot. Despite the rain and hail, despite knowing that it was coming, despite both of our phones dying, at the end of the day I was engaged to the man of my dreams and I can’t wait to begin our life together.

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