Wedding Wednesday: My Sister Is Engaged!

Today's Wedding Wednesday is such an exciting one but it has nothing to do with our wedding... drumroll... My sister, Callie, is engaged!!!! You might have seen this on Instagram and we are just so thrilled and excited for her and Timmy. Today, she is taking over to share her engagement story with all of you. Take it away, Callie! 

So, I guess I’ll just start from the beginning. Tim and I have been dating since high school! We will have been dating for 7 years this August and even went to our senior prom together. We just bought a home this past May in Charlotte, NC.

Since we live together, Tim was racking his brain trying to think of a way to surprise me with a proposal. He really wanted to blindside me with it. We pretty much spend every day doing something together, so he knew I’d get suspicious with anything out of the ordinary. And if you know me, you know I love spoilers and ruining surprises. Every year I try to guess what Tim got me for Christmas and I also love to read the last chapter of a book before I start at the beginning. Luckily, I did not spoil this surprise.

Tim made plans to visit one of our high school friends in San Francisco with another friendto go to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open that weekend. He was supposed to leave for San Francisco on Thursday morning and since we just moved into a new house, I didn’t want to spend the weekend alone there just yet. So, my plan was to drive home (because I was bringing my cute pup home) on Wednesday after work and work from home the rest of the week in Pittsburgh.

All behind the scenes, Tim was rerouting his flight to take a detour to Pittsburgh. He decided the only way to surprise me was to come home and meet me there while he was supposed to be on the other side of the country. He’d had this trip book since early May and I even saw the physical U.S. Open tickets, so I had zero suspicion.

The day before I went home, Tim sent me flowers and called the nail salon that I had an appointment at later that day to prepay for my nails as a treat since he’d been working so much. But also to make sure my nails were done for the big day. Again, I wasn’t suspicious at all since I knew we wouldn’t be together that weekend.

Unfortunately, I caused Tim some panic because I kept telling him I didn’t want to drive home all that way on Wednesday and would rather do it on Thursday. He was so worried I might change days on him that he had to call my dad, who then called me to tell me my Grammie was really looking forward to dinner. Just throwing Grammie under the bus to get me home haha.

It all worked out and I make it home on Wednesday night. I woke up on Thursday morning to a Ring doorbell notification of Tim leaving for the airport. I was worried because he was running late (not realizing his flight to Pittsburgh was a little later than his original flight to San Francisco). Seeing him leave also reminded me to get him to send me his boarding pass. We always do this when one of us flies somewhere. He told me his Apple Wallet wouldn’t work and he just sent me the flight number in a text. Still, this didn’t raise any flags. He even kept his phone on airplane mode after he landed in Pittsburgh until the time he would have landed in San Francisco. 

My parent's big lie to get me to downtown Pittsburgh and all dressed up was that my Grammie (again, throwing sweet Grammie under the bus) wanted to take us all out to dinner since we’d all be in town together, my aunt and uncle (from Georgia) included.

Unbeknownst to me, Sydney’s flight home from Connecticut was delayed. They had her sitting on the tarmac for like 3 hours before taking off. She got home in a panic that she wouldn't make it and to make matters even worse her car barely had any gas in it. So typical Sydney fashion she still decides to drive her car that is on EMPTY all the way downtown in order to make it in time. I’m so glad she made it! She took the photos for us.

My parents and I were perusing the Arts Festival that Pittsburgh has every summer while we waited for her. It was a great ploy to get me down there because I absolutely love the Arts Fest. They have awesome vendors with all kinds of art as well as food trucks and performances.

Once Sydney and her fiancé finally showed up, we headed towards the point (where the three rivers meet) where there is a beautiful fountain right on the river. Sydney hands me her camera to take photos of her and her fiancé before we take family photos. Then, I feel a hand on my back and I look away from the camera's viewfinder and it’s Tim. It didn’t take me long to realize what he was doing there. He said a little speech, got down on one knee, and now I have a fiancé! It was so wonderful and so special to have both of our families there for it. He planned the most amazing and surprising proposal that I ever could have imagined and I’m so happy!

After cheering, lots of hugs, and actual family photos, we headed to the Union Standard with both our families in tow where we popped champagne and had a delicious dinner. Tim then told me that we were staying the night at the Fairmont in Pittsburgh where we enjoyed room service that morning! It was literally the best day of my life and I couldn’t be happier to be marrying Tim. We are leaving for Scotland in July, so we told ourselves no wedding planning until we get back!