I met Janet several years ago through my sister-in-law, Angie. I love Janet. She is such a fun person to be around. Janet has met her Prince Charming and in October Ken asked Janet to marry him. She emailed me right away to ask if I could take their engagement pictures. I was already planning a session in Franklin in a few weeks, and we were both thinking downtown Franklin so it worked out perfectly. I was thrilled that we were able to get together for this fun session. I had only met Ken once before, but I knew with Janet we were going to have fun.
This may be a little longer than my normal preview, but I have many shots I wanted to share. While we were together that afternoon, Janet shared with me the story of her proposal. I am a romantic (and am married to one), so I always love a good romantic story. I thought I would also share it with you!
I've dreamed of getting engaged, and married, for as long as I can remember. I'm a romantic at heart. My dreams have ranged from simple-being asked over a quiet dinner in a really nice restaurant-to exotic-being on a trip with my girlfriends when HE shows up and whisks me away to a secluded beach and begs me to be his forever. Now, honestly, I've never really had the man to put into the storyline. It was just a dream, something I really thought might never happen. God doesn't promise us a mate, but he does promise He will take care of us forever-husband or not. And then, I met Ken. Ken is just as big a romantic as I am. He's also a planner just like me. I've loved that about him from our very first date. He always has a plan.
So, Ken says that I gave him many, many scenarios for how I would or would not like to get engaged. I never did this intentionally, but I talk a lot. Whenever he met my married friends, he heard their story from me along with my evaluation of whether I would like that particular proposal or not. Well, he listens very carefully!
On Thursday, October 1, I was sitting in my office at school. The secretary called and asked me to come to the office. In the year that I have been there, this has happened two other times. Each time resulted in me bringing a gorgeous bouquet of flowers back to my office. So, I was a little suspicious. I walked into the office and sure enough, there was a gorgeous vase of flowers! The attached card read, "Happy Birthday Weekend! Pack a bag for 3 days and 2 nights and be at my place after school tomorrow." I was so excited! I squealed!
Ken has been telling me for months that he would plan my birthday, but I was getting skeptical since I hadn't been told of any plans. That evening, Ken told me what to pack. My only clues were that I should pack for 10-15 degrees cooler and that we would be driving. I ran thru all the places I could think of-north, east. I really wasn't sure. I kept telling myself not to get too excited-it was my birthday. That didn't necessarily mean we were getting engaged. Oh, but I was so hopeful!
So, after very little sleep Thursday night and a long work day Friday, our trip was about to begin. We started driving east. Ken kept asking if I knew where we were going. I said no. He finally said we had dinner reservations in Knoxville with friends. Oh, I was a little deflated. Dinner with friends did not exactly translate into romantic weekend, neither did a football game. I became convinced that was what we were doing. After dinner, Ken said we had to get to the hotel. We got in the car, and I was preparing myself for a nice little Hilton downtown. We kept driving. I thought, we must be going to the mountains. We passed all those exits.
Finally, again, he asked where I thought we were going. I guessed Asheville. He asked what was there-the Biltmore. Where do you think we are staying? The Biltmore-I said. You've got to be kidding, way too expensive! Well, we finally arrived in Asheville, and we pulled right up to the security gate at the Biltmore. Really, we're staying here, at the Inn? Big grin!
I felt like I had arrived in Cinderella's Castle. I have traveled a lot, but I have never stayed anywhere quite so nice. It was gorgeous. Ken told me what all we would be doing while there-touring the house and the winery and maybe a few other things. Needless to say, I was so excited!
We got up the next morning, and we prepared to go to the house on our tour. It was so fun! Ken went downstairs to find me coffee and danish for breakfast while I got ready. Once I finally was ready, we took the shuttle to the house to start our audio tour. I so enjoyed hearing all the history that surrounds that house. We left on the shuttle after taking tons of pictures and headed to the winery. We took a very quick tour of the winery because Ken said we really needed to hurry. He had arranged a picnic lunch for us. He had to jump off the shuttle at the hotel and grab our basket. We rode back to the house. We got off at the gate and walked to the top of the hill that overlooks the house. There stands a statue of Diana-goddess of the hunt and keeper of love at the Biltmore.
We spread out our lunch. Ken got me shrimp and grits. We prayed and blessed our meal. Just as I was about to take a bite of food, he said, "I'm sorry. This would be the perfect time to propose. It is beautiful here and we are having so much fun. But, your ring isn't ready. I thought about just bringing the setting but that didn't sound good." I was CRUSHED. I was trying to keep in mind that this was a really nice birthday weekend. But, oh, how I wanted to get engaged. I didn't think I could eat. I thought I might cry.
I was doing a lot of talking to myself and a lot of praying. Meanwhile, Ken was taking a bite of his sandwich. He said, will you hand me the salt? I found a box that was labeled salt in the basket. I opened it and inside was a ring box! I squealed. He smiled and got on his knees-Baby, will you marry me? Yes, yes, yes!!
Don't you just love a good romantic story? Janet and Ken, I am so happy for you, and I know you are going to live happily ever after!
