If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that Chad and I have been together for quite a few years now and have gone on a real journey together (see Love and Long Distance if you want to get up to speed). You’ll also know that in July last year, smack bang in the middle of COVID life, on my birthday, we got engaged! It’s been a while since then but I’ve still wanted to share our story here in greater detail. If you’re interested in finding out all the inside info on our engagement, keep reading.
I’ll get straight into it with the most frequently asked question I get around our engagement… Did I know Chad was going to propose when he did? The short answer is yes. The detailed answer is yes and no. It was something we had been chatting about for quite a while and I knew he was in the process of having the ring designed. We had also discussed a timeline as to when we would like to be engaged by which, in typical Chad fashion, meant we landed up getting engaged right at the end of that timeline. So yes, I did have my suspicions that my birthday might be thee day but I obviously couldn’t know for sure.
Linked to that question is another question I get asked a lot. Did I know Chad was going to propose when he did… because if it was a surprise, how did you look so dressed up and done up for the occasion? Firstly, to everyone who asked/said this – thank you! Glad you liked my look. Secondly, it was my birthday. I always go OTT with my Birthdays, in terms of my make-up, nails, outfit, you name it. Added to the fact that it was during lockdown where we hadn’t been able to properly go out or do much in months, I was not about to let this opportunity to dress up and feel like myself again pass me by. Thirdly, have you met me? I’m unintentionally overdressed for a trip to buy groceries, of course I would be dressed up for a Birthday dinner/night away at a villa.
Now to set the scene of the night itself. Chad had booked a villa in Clifton beach for us to stay at on the weekend of my birthday. With lockdown restrictions not allowing us to buy drinks and the restaurants all closing at 10pm, there wasn’t a whole lot we would have been able to do to celebrate. He had told me to get dressed up and be ready for a nice dinner on the balcony overlooking the sunset, and that the rest of the evening would be left up to him. I’m quite involved in all our plans and what we get up to, so he had to tell me at least that much otherwise I would have gone crazy, I don’t want to be THAT surprised for anything.
When the 30th of July finally rolled around, it was honestly one of the most beautiful evenings ever. Not a breath of wind (big deal for Cape Town) and none of the winter chill that can be expected for that time of year. As requested, I got dressed up for the occasion upstairs, and when I was allowed to, came downstairs to see everything set up for a romantic dinner watching the sunset. I have to mention that Chad ordered my favourite pasta, which we ate together, and overall, added to my happiness of the evening. I definitely felt nervous and a bit jittery throughout dinner as I could sense something was up. Chad is not a very serious person and for a fun, light-hearted evening, such as my birthday, our conversations were unusually serious. “Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?”, “What do you think our lives will look like this time next year?” And so on and so on.
I’ll fast forward a bit so as to keep some mushy moments private/not bore you all, but in a nutshell, after dinner we took some pictures, slow danced and after some special words were shared, he got down on one knee and proposed! Yasss! With the sun setting behind us and the view of Clifton as our backdrop, it’s pretty hard to think how he could have pulled off that moment any better. And that says a lot because people who know me know that I have unrealistically high expectations of everything. The rest of the evening passed in a blur of champagne, laughs, kisses and lots of photos. Chad had organised for my friend Tegan, who takes most of my blog photos, to be at the villa right after he had proposed, so the pictures you see here are us minutes after getting engaged. He knew I would want good footage of the occasion, so again, he hit the nail on the head.
My parents, my brother and his fiancé, and Chad’s mom all showed up shortly after the proposal as well, which just made the evening that much more special. Especially that Chad was able to have his mom share in the moment with us, as she had managed to somehow get a trip down to Cape Town from Durban and surprise me too. At this stage of lockdown, travel was not allowed so I think she had pulled some strings in arranging a ‘work trip’ in order to be there. Again, everything was just so thought out and special.
The next evening my parents hosted a little dinner party at their house for my immediate family and Chad and I, and we carried on the engagement celebrations. Originally I had wanted to keep the news off social media for a few days just to be fully present in the moment and enjoy it between us, but once we started calling friends and sharing the news with people individually, it was getting out online as well and it felt silly to try and get people to not post about it or be excited with us. We landed up sharing the news on social media that evening of the dinner party and then it basically turned into an evening of FaceTimes and voice notes back and forth between friends and family.
After a weekend of spa visits, brunches, lunches and dinners, and a whole lot of happiness, it was only on the Monday when life seemed to calm down and it really sunk in that we were engaged! We’ve gone on such a journey together, and I can honestly say that at times neither of us thought we would be in each other’s future. It feels so surreal to know for certain now that we will have a life together and that everything we’ve been through was all worth it. It all happened the way it was meant to, in order to make us the people we are today.
I know this post is very delayed and so at this point we already have a wedding date, a venue, a bridal party etc etc, but I still plan on sharing more wedding content as I go. Thank you to everyone for your support during this exciting season. We’re so happy and so excited for the future. Getting married always used to feel like such an adult thing to do, something that was so scary and something I didn’t know when I’d ever be ready for. But one day I just was, and life without Chad just didn’t make sense. Miss Kay is going to be a Mrs errrybody!
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