So excited for Annabelle & Alex and their big day at 501 Union in Brooklyn! Check out their sweet engagement story below!
Planning our engagement was a long time coming. I knew I wanted to make sure three things happened: 1) that it was in New York, 2) our friends and family were there and 3) I wanted to surprise her (Belles isn’t a fan of big surprises, nor am I).
After picking a date (March 16th) and getting our friends and family a heads up, I realized so many people knew it was happening and it was the huge secret to have to keep from her. Every time we went out with friends I prayed that no one would let anything slip. Though I will applaud her friends for creating an elaborate St. Patrick’s Day game plan the weekend before just to throw her off. It worked.
I was wrecked with nerves the week of. So much so I was thrilled to spend two days away for work just so I could guarantee I wouldn’t let any plans slip out. All of our friends and family made it in town sneakily with only one close call—one of our friends got an AirBNB in our building, ensuing panic from me the night before…
We had plans on Friday the 16th to go have dinner with James (her brother) and his now-fiancee Katherine in Dumbo. I suggested that we should go down a little early so that I could get a photo of the iconic shot of the Manhattan Bridge down Washington St—still somehow keeping her in the dark of what’s really happening.
Once we got the photo, we took a walk along the East River towards the restaurant. The boardwalk was fairly empty and the sun was starting to set. Then I got down on one knee and asked her if she’d marry me—or I think I did, I kind of blacked out so I’m not 100% sure what I said, but she said yes!
Afterwards we walked to Hotel 1 by the Brooklyn Bridge for dinner. I told her it was just us going to dinner, but that were going to meet up with people afterwards for drinks. To my surprise, when I asked if she wanted to know who we were meeting, she said she wanted it to stay a surprise. I was not expecting that! She said at the time she thought it was only going to be a small group of family.
After dinner, I ordered an uber—still not telling her where we were going or who we were meeting. We pulled up to an old date spot of ours called Loosie Rouge. We walked through the crowded bar, through the kitchen in the back and out to the patio. When we walked out, about 40 of our friends and family were all waiting to welcome us! I remember being surprised at how many people were there, so I can’t image what she was thinking at the time.
We spent the rest of the night (and weekend) celebrating with friends and family in the most amazing way. It was, by far, the happiest day of my life.