Kerri & Justin

When it happened

How we got engaged

As you all know, this engagement has been in the works for quite some time. My ring was created by melting down my grandparents' wedding rings, so it has extra special meaning to me. I was present at the jewelry store for the discussion of the design of the ring, and the jeweler accidentally told Justin in front of me that it would be ready in two weeks. Let the countdown begin!

Well, two weeks comes and goes and no ring! Towards the end of the third week, I started quizzing Justin about it. Afterall, this man did have my grandparents' jewelry! Justin responded with "Oh yea...I talked to him the other day, he didn't write down your ring size and needed to know it." Seriously?!? So I asked "Why didn't he call you two weeks ago and ask? He had your number!" Now I'm wondering if they had even started making the ring or if Justin was trying to throw me off!

Another week goes by and on the morning of June 4th, a Saturday, I started to ask Justin if he just didn't want to get married. I mean, the ring is obviously ready by now, but he hasn't even picked it up and looked as though he had no intention of doing so in the near future. He said, "of course I want to marry you, we'll go pick up the ring this afternoon okay?" Well, the afternoon came and went and the jewelry store closes at 4pm, so no ring...again!

Justin asked if I wanted to go out for dinner around 6pm and I didn't really want to, but we agreed to drive down the beach to see if anything caught our eye. Well, nothing did and we ended up at the Don Cesar. We usually go there for drinks with friends. You can stop at the bar, grab a drink, and walk right out onto the beach! We stopped at the bar this particular evening and were about to walk away to walk down the beach when a complete stranger from Canada started talking to us about EVERYTHING! From weddings, to politics, and even the weather! Two hours later and a little tipsy, we finally made it out the door! 

Justin wanted to walk down to a condo we had seen that had units for sale, so we did. We stopped at some tikki style tables and were looking at the stars and commenting what a pretty evening it was when Justin showed me the time on his phone (12:12am) and said "make a wish." (technically, this is supposed to be at times like 1:11, 2:22, etc,) When I opened my eyes he was down on one knee and said "So, you wanna marry me or what?" He said the plan was to ask at 11:11pm, but we couldn't get away from the stranger at the bar. Ha ha ha. Of course I said yes!

Turns out, he had left work early the day before to pick up the ring. He even went to my parents' house to show them and ask my dad for permission!