Surprise Engagment Party

My BFF and I got engaged on an early Sunday morning. To be completely honest, it was not a huge shocker to me. But he did totally and completely get me later on that day. I was under the impression that we were simply paying a visit to my grandparents to tell them the good news. Little did I know that while I leisurely made my family play a game of "Apples to Apples" at my parents, a whole crew of people were gathering at my grandparents for a surprise dinner party. Needless to say, I was SHOCKED. I simply had no idea that anything else was happening that day. I mean, come on, the day was already fabulous enough with some new bling on my finger. But to top it off with a party where both our families and friends gathered to celebrate, made a perfect ending to a perfect day.

My mom and sisters did a lot of the decorating and made it delightfully pretty and marvelous.

A mason jar illuminated with a floating candle.

A vase of hydrangea's filled with lemon and cucumber slices.

Hand picked bouquet from the garden.

Location, Location, Location

Location is most likely the element that many newly engaged couples seek out first. As venues usually book a year or two in advance, it's vital to really get talking about what the both of you envision. For my BFF* and I, we were pretty much hands down sets on having an outdoor wedding.

Seeing as neither of us have a large enough backyard to land a tent in, our options were rather limited. Luckily my grandparents live on an estate and the owner willingly obliged to letting us have our wedding there! Talk about being totally blessed. So now that the location is nailed down, the other large items can be slowly checked off the "I do" list.
*BFF = Boy Friend Forever ;)

This is a view of the driveway looking down toward the road.

A view of the wide open flat space for the tent.
Plus there are plenty of mature trees.

A beautiful wood fence, oh the creative potential available!

A lovely lone willow. The plans we have for that tree!