Big Life Update!

I’m straying away from my typical theater blog post this month for a more personal one because I have a BIG life update… I got ENGAGED! 

Alex and I met at Palm Beach Atlantic University five years ago and we have been inseperable ever since! This past month we got the chance of a lifetime. We were offered a free stay at an oceanfront house in O’ahu, Hawaii in exchange of dog sitting. This also included a free car, paddle boards and snorkel gear! All we had to do was buy our tickets to Hawaii, so that’s exactly what we did!

Now, Alex and I have been dating for five years and I knew an engagement would be coming soon… but I truly did not know when. When we found out we were going to be in Hawaii for 12 days… I thought this would be a NO BRAINER! But, I didn’t want to get my hopes up because Hawaii was really short notice.

When I was seven years old, my family and I got a Make-A-Wish trip to Hawaii and we stayed at the beautiful Kahala Resort. I remember that trip like it was yesterday… I fell in love with Hawaii then. Our hotel had dolphins in the pool, a golf course with volcanoes behind it and the most stunning sunsets you had ever seen. I spent my days playing in the sand watching as couples got married on a peninsula that went out into the ocean. I must’ve seen seven weddings happen during my time at the Kahala, but I’ll always remember how they released white doves into the sky after every wedding.

I’ve told this story to Alex many times before, but I was determined in taking him to the Kahala Resort.

Now, I started noticing little hints here and there that Alex might be planning a proposal. For example, he encouraged me to get my nails done before we left and offered to pay for them. Then when a photographer I had booked bailed on us in Hawaii, he quickly found a new photographer to meet with us… that was most definitely the biggest sign.

We even had a consultation phone call with the new photographer and that’s when I knew he DEFINETLY was planning a proposal. The photoshoot date we picked was March 9th, so in my head I marked March 9th as our proposal day. I was so excited that when Alex left the room, I started jumping up and down! I tried to keep my cool because I didn’t want him to know that I was catching on to what he was planning… but I guess I didn’t do a great job, more to come on that later.

We still had an entire week before the photoshoot, so I focused on being present and enjoying the moment because, HELLO, we were in Hawaii. Then I found a resort pass for the Kahala Resort that gave us access to enjoy the hotel for a full day!

The Kahala Resort was exactly how I remembered it! The dolphins were in the pool, the beach was stunning and the peninsula was even more beautiful than I had remembered. This was our first “real” beach day because the weather had not been great for the first few days we had been there. Alex and I were so excited to relax by the pool, drink some mai tais, and enjoy the Hawaiian sun. We spent the entire day at the pool, beach, drinking… repeat. Then it was time for sunset!

I had been prepping Alex all day for how beautiful the sunset would be at the Kahala! So we changed and went out to the peninsula to enjoy the beautiful Hawaiian views. We were having so much fun taking pictures and I was truly in the moment. Then Alex told me to turn around for a picture and when I turned back around there he was… on his knee… with a ring… asking me to marry him.

March 5, 2023

I was in total SHOCK that I didn’t say a word. Poor Alex was still there, nervous as can be, waiting for an answer and all I can say is, “Is this real?!?” Again, I was speechless (in the best way possible)! Then he asks me again and I said, “YES!!” He took me by surprise because in my head, I thought that he was proposing on March 9th so I didn’t even imagine a scenario he would propose before, but I’m so happy that he did. I loved that it was just a moment between us and it was our perfect timing.

Five minutes later, Alex and I are just enjoying the moment when a guy comes up to us and says, “You guys look really nice with the palm trees in the background. Can I take your picture and send it to you?” Then I tell him that we just got engaged and he offers to take some pictures for us for FREE! We recreated our moment, but it was still very surreal because we must’ve been engaged for 5 minutes, so the photos still captured us fresh in the moment. It was our lucky day!

Since Alex spontaneously decided to propose to me that day, he didn’t have a photographer set up. The fact that this guy, who turned out to be a wedding photographer, just happened to approach us is fate! This was a full circle moment for me because Alex proposed to me on the peninsula that I watched all the weddings happen when I was a little girl. It is such a special place in my heart and now it means even more.

And yes, we still went to our photoshoot and used that as a chance to take our engagement photos. We drove two hours to Makua Beach… and let me tell you… it was worth it. Check out some of our photos below!

For now, Alex and I are enjoying being engaged and want to take our time planning the wedding. We are so excited for this new chapter in our lives and I am so happy to share this special moment with you all!

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