Who Do Ya Love Wednesday - Guest Blogger #3 Lauren

Today I am introducing you to experience someone who almost feels like an "old friend" to me. Again, like the other girls I've featured, I met sweet Lauren through the SITS Girls challenge several months ago. I fell in love with her after reading a very personal post on her page shortly thereafter. Then she and I were paired up for the Pretty Blogger Swap and I was able to get to know her a little bit better. She is quite the inspirational person - both in her relationship with God, her marriage and her fabulous ideas!

If you love home decor/makeover talk or if you need some inspiration to make your house look like Pottery Barn, then Lauren is your girl! Please visit her over at Our Hiding Place.

Thank you Nikki for allowing me to guest post….I was so excited to read about your engagement and realized that I’ve actually never shared my own engagement story! And it’s a pretty great one :)

It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving. A simple Sunday planned…church with my boyfriend, followed by some lunch, then back to his house to spend some time together as I finished up my nursing school studies for the upcoming week. I was looking forward to the upcoming long weekend for sure.

As usual, I was procrastinating getting ready for the day. My nickname wasn’t “Last minute Lauren” for nothing…as I slowly got dressed, applied makeup and fixed my hair I glanced down at my left hand ring finger and though to myself, when will the time come? I loved my boyfriend so dearly, and was anxiously awaiting spending the rest of my life with him. We knew we were going to get married eventually, and I was getting impatient.

During the 40-minute ride to church where I would be meeting my love, I decided to rock out to some old school Madonna. Because, how can your day go wrong when you start the morning with “Like a Prayer?” Singing away to music that was way too many decibels loud, I couldn’t hear my phone ringing. I finally decided to check it somewhere in-between “Vogue” and “Express Yourself” and I saw that he had called 17 times. Yes, 17 times.

P: “WHERE ARE YOU?”
Me: “Just got off the exit, I’ll be there in like 2 minutes! Really? 17 times?”
P: “I’m just making sure you’re coming…”
Me: “Okay, relax over there. I’m right down the street, geez.”

We finally get settled in for service, and one of the greeters begins to go through the church announcements. Everyone congratulated the couple that had exchanged marriage vows last weekend as I lightly nudged him in the rib and whispered, “See? Everyone except us!” He just looks away with a smile, a usual response.

Our pastor begins his sermon, a message on faith. We near the end of the service, and he says he has a favor to ask of one of us present today. He calls my love up to the stage nonchalantly, which I thought nothing of – it’s not completely out of the norm for our Pastor to ask for volunteers during his message. I laughed under my breath and thought, Oh boy, what is he going to have him do now? He asks my love to act out an example of faith. What? How the heck is he going to do that?

P stammers…as though he is thinking of what to do. Then he asks Josh, our sound guy, for some assistance. At that point, the lights dim low and a picture of my love and me pops up on the projector screen on stage. I laughed, not really sure what to make of the situation. Another picture flashes, Brad Paisley’s “Wrapped Around Her Finger” playing in the background (we are huge country music fans). Wait, what?

I look around and suddenly notice how FULL the room is. Like, people-standing-because-there-were-no-seats-available full. And how many cameras are pointed at me. And how everyone is smiling with these really goofy grins. I look back to the screen, more pictures….and then it cuts out. Technical malfunction I later find out. Completely confused, I stare at P and realize what’s happening. No…..no he is not. No he didn’t. In front of everyone….oh my….He calls me up on stage, and starts saying wonderful things that at this point I can’t remember, and neither does he…Oh my god, oh my god…His knee drops…OH MY GOD….and out pops the most beautiful ring I’ve ever laid eyes on as he asks for my hand in marriage. With my heart pounding out of my chest and my hands shaking uncontrollably, I somehow managed out a “YES!” as the entire church erupted in applause. Turns out, the house was packed that day for a VERY special reason.

Apparently everyone had known about the proposal weeks in advance! To this day I will never understand how it didn’t leak out. And not just our church….our families, my friends from nursing school, friends from high school, I’m talking EVERYONE IN MY LIFE knew. Which made it hilarious to tell people because their immediate response would be, “I knew! I’ve known for weeks!” I was most surprised that my now husband chose to propose in such a public way. I am grateful to have shared that special moment with my church family and it will forever be remembered inside of those four walls.

So whatcha think? Creative right? Here’s my bling…..

We are coming up on three years of marriage in October and couldn’t be happier.

Nikki, I wish you and your fiancé all the happiness in the world and I pray you two have an incredibly fun time planning and then experiencing the most amazing day of your lives together <3

Isn't she great?? What a sweet picture of her and her hubby on their special day! Her bling is very similar to mine except her middle stone is round and mine is square. Hop on over and check our Lauren at Our Hiding Place!

If you missed my engagement story, find it here. Also, if you missed the first 2 guest bloggers, Brie and Taylor you can find their posts by clicking on their names. Thank you all for making Who Do Ya Love Wednesday a hit! 3 more to go!