Romantic Beach Engagement | Jackie+Dillon

We met in High School after a football game. All the students would usually head over to McDonald’s and figure out a plan now that the game was over.

Dillon happened to sit at the table next to my friends and I.

He leaned over and said “Your McChickens smell like heaven.”

And he has literally kept me laughing ever since!

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Dillon and I went to Golden Corral so I could eat all that I want lol!!

Afterwards, we headed to the riverfront. We ended up talking all night, while looking at the stars and the busy city across the way.

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Well, we love to eat. Let’s go ahead and get that one out of the way ????

But we absolutely love to travel and explore new places together.

Since we moved here to Hampton Roads last year, you can always find us soaking up the sun on the beach.

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I can’t really recall one specific time that I looked at him and just knew he was the one.

But all the moments he makes me laugh until my belly aches, when he cares for me so gently when I’m sick, his sweet words of encouragement when I’m feeling unmotivated, and the way he has always treated me like family from the moment I met him…

I just know that he is the other half of my soul and I don’t want to live without that.

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Oh boy, this is a good one!

Back in August, we traveled to Denver, Colorado to meet up with one of our friends from high school.

I had planned this trip with 4 of our closest friends for Dillon’s birthday – almost like a mini-reunion. We hadn’t all been together in a group like that since we were in high school (7 years ago).

The day before his birthday, August 9th, I had the entire day planned for us. But little did I know, Dillon had a plan of his own to propose to me that day – and all of our friends knew but me.

I had absolutely no idea, and Dillon held the ring in his pocket with him ALL DAY long.

First, we headed up to Mount Falcon, where we climbed all the way to the top the mountain to see an incredible view.

Dillon had planned to ask me to marry him once we got to the top, however I ruined that plan for him. As we are headed to the top, I was last in line due to being completely out of breath. As someone who considers myself moderately active, I felt like tears could burst out of my eyes because I was so tired. My hands were swollen, it was soooooo hot outside and I could have probably puked! Despite taking many breaks on the way up, Dillon was so sweet and caring making sure I was okay and staying back with me while I was taking my breaks. Since I was so miserable by the time we got to the top, Dillon decided this wasn’t the best time.

We got back to our Airbnb and started getting ready for the remainder of the day. I had told all of our friends that I wanted to take Dillon out to a late lunch/early dinner for his birthday, just the two of us. So they all left to have lunch on their own. Everyone, but my best friend Samantha who “fell asleep” and pretended to miss out on lunch with the others.

I really didn’t want to leave her at home by herself, so I asked her to come with us. She repeatedly told me no that she didn’t want to intrude on our date, but I insisted. Little did I know, Dillon and my best friend planned this all along. He wanted to proposed to me at the restaurant and have my best friend there to document the moment, but didn’t want to make it obvious. We get to the restaurant, and it’s a super cute place. Once we were seated, Samantha asked if I want to take pictures (I run a personal blog on my Instagram). I really wanted a picture to post that day and I couldn’t find the right lighting and colors to match my feed. The colors of the restaurant wouldn’t really go very well with the rest of my profile, but I agreed to try it anyway. She started taking pictures of me, and I complain about how much I hate  them (in a nice way lol!). Dillon tells me to keep trying different angles and he even suggests that we should take pictures together. He was totally going to propose right then and there, but I was STILL complaining about how I didn’t like the colors of the photo.

He, once again, decided that wasn’t the best time to propose.

After dinner, we met up with our other friends at a local Jazz bar. It was a really fun scene, and we arrived just in time for Happy Hour.

Dillon planned to get on stage at the Jazz bar and propose to me in front of the whole entire crowd.

I don’t know if you have ever been to a Jazz bar, but it’s a little classier than your typical live music scene.

Being as silly and goofy as Dillon is, he was cheering pretty loudly for the live band. We had eyes from the crowd on us, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t turning red with a little bit of embarrassment. His friends kept edging him on to get on the stage during the band’s break. I grabbed him by his shirt and whispered, “I swear if you get on that stage, we will leave this bar right now.”

He got the message, lol!!

We ended up going to this arcade bar down the street, and now I was really in my element. If we’re being honest, I’m a child at heart, so seeing all the arcade games…. I was in heaven!! We were having an awesome time playing the games, but I end up losing my friends completely. I do this often when I’ve had something to drink – I just get so excited and dash for what catches my eye. It’s almost like a funny game I like to play with my friends – who will find me first? My best friend ends up finding after a good 30-45 minutes of trying to look for me, and tells me that the rest of the gang has drinks waiting for us at the bar. I’m like, “Okay, cool. Let’s go.”

On the way to the bar, I see a game that I really wanted to play, so of course I go dashing for it and lose my friend. A little bit of time goes by, Dillon finds me next. He’s telling me about how he’s been looking for me and how much he really wants me to come hangout at the bar with the others, and I’m like “yeah, yeah. yeah. I’m coming! BUT I have to go to the bathroom first.” And he says “Okay, stay right here, I want Samantha (my bff) to go with you so you aren’t by yourself.”
Can we only guess what happened next? Of course I start going to the bathroom by myself and lose the group once again.

Samantha finally finds me after the bathroom, and locks in with my arm so that she can kindly guide me to the bar and not lose me this time.

I finally make it to the bar where my friends have been sitting, and we are all laughing about this little game I have played with them. Dillon asks if I want to take pictures with him, and I never say no to getting my picture taken. So my best friend is taking pictures of us, and Dillon is telling me how beautiful I am, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. He turns to me, and says, “Babe, I got you something.” And I say, “What?! What is it, babe?” He said one word – Dessert.

I twirl around in a circle, and with the utmost excitement, I’m like “OH MY GOSH! Where?” as I am looking everywhere.

He moves to the side to reveal a dessert plate sitting on the table. The words, “Will you marry me?” written in chocolate on the plate are right there in front of me, and I see he has now gotten on one knee.

TEARS. So many tears!

I couldn’t even get my life together and stop the tears before I mutters the words, “YES.. yes, I will!”

Finding out afterwards about all the funny trials throughout the day leading up to that moment was very amusing. We can both agree that I may have acted like a brat throughout the day, but we wouldn’t have had it go any other way.

I’m going to pick two because I can’t decide. One would be “Unity”. We have always had a team mindset – we are in this together, always.

Another one would be “Goofy”. We are both so incredibly silly, and keep each other laughing, even we are the only ones in the room that think it’s funny.

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We are looking forward to being surrounded by the people we love the most, celebrating our love together.

We couldn’t have made it here without our friends and family – our tribe. We can’t wait to share this special milestone with them.