I get the privilege to see couples on their special wedding day all year long.  It’s such a blessing to be such an intimate part of such a special day.  But there is always a proposal that opens the door to this wonderful day that I don’t get to often see.  It always leads me to wonder what it was that made him buy the ring.  How did he decide to go? Who did he go with?  How did he pick the ring?  Well finally I was given the honor to be witness to this part of the journey.  My little brother Nate asked me to come along when he went to get started looking for rings for his girlfriend Amanda.  I emailed a good friend of mine, Michelle Fowler.  I’ve known her and her Husband Tyler for over 10 years.  Michelle is my go to gal for anything jewelry!  She works at Timothy Patrick Jewlers in downtown Santa Rosa so we stopped by one afternoon.  I really wanted Nate to be the one to do all the picking.  I just wanted to be there for support and to help show him a few styles I thought Amanda would like.  Right away when I thought of Amanda I thought of a delicate ring with antiquing that was elegent and understated.  Michelle showed Nate some rings with antiquing and a few other styles.  She mentioned to him that Timothy can make pretty much anything custom and she showed him a few things he had done with some vine looking bands.  Instantly he asked her if he’d be able to make the band a dahlia leading up to the center stone.  Amanda’s Mother was named Dahlia and she passed away and is still a very important person in her life.  HELLO! Instant tears!  It was PERFECT!  The rest is history!  Nate is an amazing artist so him and Timothy were a match made in heaven!  Nate worked with Timothy and Michelle to custom design the most beautiful engagement ring I’ve ever seen!  With such meaning and love all wrapped into one amazing ring!

After the ring was finished he decided he was going to pop the question.  I don’t know all the details…. cuz Nate is a guy so I got the “guys” version of the story… much less detailed for my taste.  But basically they went hiking at their normal spot and they climbed the same oak tree they usually do.  Nate picked out a spot and started carving into the trunk.  He was filled with nerves and he was affraid she would see what he was doing before he was done so he hurried through it and he brought her back down to the spot he was at.  He pulled out the ring and she about fell out of the tree, literally!!

For their engagement session we returned to the park where he asked her to marry him!  I think it was the perfect place for their engagement session!  The carving was still in the tree but much harder to read by now.

I have known Nate forever, although we call each other brother and sister, we are actually just really close friends.  Our Mother’s are best friends and we have all been extremely close since the beginning of time! Since Nate’s Mom was pregnant with our other “brother” Adam.  I think I was 3 or 4 and Nate was 1 or 2.  I have met nearly every Woman Nate has ever dated (the ones he was brave enough to bring to meet me) and NONE have EVER come close to making him smile the way Amanda does.  I’ve never seen him look at another Woman the way he looks at Amanda.  It’s such a gift to see him so happy!  I am so happy for them!!!  here are just a few photos from tonight’s engagement session.  There are many many more to come!