How We Met and Our Engagement Story

Brian:

I had been back in the Richmond area for a few months and attending WEPC. One Sunday I struck up a conversation in Sunday school with a girl I'd talked to a little the previous week, and found out we had quite a bit in common. We had similar families, grew up in very small towns, and even had a few friends from high school in common. On the way into the service she asked if I'd like to sit with her friends and since I was there alone I took her up on it. At the end of church I turned to her and, saying something about it feeling inappropriate to ask someone out in church, promptly did so.

Megan:

After returning to Richmond, I began looking for a church, and a coworker invited me to visit her church. The Sunday School was an informal discussion format with a small-group time that allowed shy people (like me) to feel comfortable talking. I met Brian during one of the social times because I thought I recognized him from another place. The following Sunday, Brian and I talked longer. It felt like an "it's a small world" moment as we continued to talk about our similar backgrounds until the music began for the church service. I wanted to sit with my coworkers, but I didn't want to be late for church. We weren't finished talking, so I asked if he wanted to join us, and he agreed. After church, I needed to leave early, but before I left, Brian asked me out. It was a surprise (a nice one, of course), and I agreed.

The Proposal

Brian: I had the ring for about 3 weeks but was waiting for the right moment to propose, which proved to be challenging. Talk about something burning a hole in your pocket... On June 17th, I left work early to go buy flowers. This is not something I'm bad at (at least in my opinion), but I was relatively unable to do much of anything and had to have quite a bit of help picking something out this time. When I got to Megan's house I presented the flowers which got the desired comments (and a hug!). Megan: When he showed up at the door with the beautiful flowers, I wondered if the flowers were to celebrate the end of the school year (it was the last day of school) or for something more (like I suspected, but had no proof to back it up). Brian: We'd planned earlier in the week to go to a sushi place for dinner and I suggested a walk afterwards on our way out the door. I think I did a decent job of staying calm during dinner. I was probably a little more talkative than normal but that was about it. After dinner we went to Deep Run park where we'd taken multiple walks around the ponds before. I had been planning to propose in the Gazebo by the lower pond but upon arrival there was already a couple in it. I assumed that they'd leave after a while, and having planned to actually walk for a few minutes we started following the trails around. Megan: It seemed like a normal walk as we chatted about our days, made jokes and were silly as usual. Brian dropped a few hints that made me wonder but I didn't want to assume. Brian: As we walked I caught myself fiddling with the ring box in my pocket, forgetting a couple times that it snapped closed, and flinching every time I heard it. Nearly an hour later the couple was STILL in the gazebo, I'd made numerous comments about them needing to leave because "I wanted to see whats in there". Probably a small tip off. Megan: We'd never stopped at the gazebo before, so after several comments about it I suggested that maybe we should just go to my townhouse. Brian: I requested one more lap, and having spotted an alternative spot by the pond I led Megan to the edge of it, took a knee, and asked her to marry me. The first word out of her mouth was "Yes", followed by "Oh my gosh" for the next 5 or 10 minutes. Megan: Every girl has her "moment". The gazebo may not have been free, but that didn't change the wonder of my moment. It was perfect.