Went out for a normal girls day with friend Briana to get our nails done, she tells me on the way home she has to stop at the park her fiancé works at to drop off something to him he needed. Once arriving and getting out, Autumn comes out with my daughter and some family members along with a photographer and tells me this is my Mother’s Day present, a surprise photo shoot with my mom, Emelyn and I. Little did I know it wasn’t just a photo shoot I would turn around after taking a photo with my daughter to find her on one knee. She made it so special!

Well, first things first. After I bought the ring, I had to get it resized to fit Kayla’s finger. The second I got it back I contacted Kayla’s mom and asked her if I could come over to discuss something with her. So I took the ring, I sat her and her girlfriend Shannon down, spilled out my heart, and asked them if I could have their blessing to marry Kayla. Thankfully, they said yes. I knew I was going to need help planning a surprise way to ask Kayla to marry me. So a few months before hand I contacted her best friend Briana. We decided the best way to do it was a “Surprise Mother’s Day Photo Shoot” featuring her, her mother, and Emelyn and at some point during the photo shoot I would pull out the ring and ask her. I also contacted Kayla’s friend Sadie, and asked her if she would care to come over and get Emelyn’s hair done and dress her up while I get ready since I have no idea how to do a little girl’s hair or how to match her clothes and shoes.

Lucky for us, Briana’s fiancés mom is a photographer, and a damn good one at that. So Briana contacted her, asked her if she was available for the day we had discussed, she was, and so we started getting all the little details in place. I contacted Adam’s mom a couple weeks later to go over a few details and send her my gratitude for doing us such an honor. Another thing we had going for us is that Adam works at the Metro Parks down in West Chester where him and Briana live. Adam worked it out for us to open up a cabin and have the park available that day for the photo shoot.

So as the weeks pass and the day approaches, me and Briana come up with a little scheme. We came up with the idea to have Briana text Kayla and I, and ask if we were up for doing a day out on the town with Briana. (Emelyn too of course). The day Briana asked about was obviously the day I was planning on asking Kayla to marry me. I respectfully declined Briana’s offer and said her and Kayla should go and I would keep Emelyn and go get stuff ready for Kayla’s Mother’s Day gift since the next day would be Mother’s Day. Briana “understood” and was completely compliant with just her and Kayla going out for a girl’s day. However, we needed Kayla to dress up pretty nice since that was going to be the big day! So Briana told her the itinerary for the day was going to be, getting their nails done, going out to eat at a nice restaurant, and just plain ol girl’s time. Kayla was all up for it.

So it was all set at that point. On May 13th Kayla would go with Briana for a “girl’s day” while me and Emmy went and got some stuff set up for “Kayla’s Mother’s Day gift”. In the next few weeks following our formulated plan, we worked out the little details. Timeline, address to the park, etc. The night before I, very subtly, asked Kayla some little details I needed to know. Such as, “So what are you gonna wear tomorrow babe?” Luckily for me she told me she was going to wear her black romper. That was perfect, because I had a black American Eagle polo, a black belt, and black dress shoes that would make us match to the T. So at 1:45pm on Saturday May 13th, I dropped Kayla off with Briana down in West Chester. I immediately drove back to our place in Kettering to meet Sadie, since it takes about an hour to get back home from West Chester. Sadie ended up arriving around 3:30pm to get Emelyn ready for me. She curled her hair, dressed her up and matched her shoes, put a bow in her, ya know the whole works. After she was done and I was ready, I grabbed the ring, grabbed Emmy and out the door we went.

That 1 hour and 15 minute drive to the park was the longest 1 hour and 15 minutes of my entire life. I don’t think and hour has ever felt so long. I was sweating, my hands were clammy, and I had this nervous butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach the entire time. After what felt like an entire day, I finally arrived at the park. Waiting on me is Kayla’s mom and girlfriend, Adam, and his mom. As soon as I got out I gave her full control. I said, “You’re the boss, just tell me where to stand and smile.” She laughed and said, “Alright, let’s do it!” So we walked the small area where we were going to be and formulated how I was going to ask Kayla. Then we moved our cars to another parking lot farther down where she couldn’t see them, and walked back to our area to hide.

To make Kayla unsuspicious, Briana told her after dinner that she needed to run some money over to Adam at the park because he left his wallet at home. So while they were on their way to the park, this is what we decided to do. All of us except Adam would hide in the cabin silent as we could be. Once Kayla and Briana arrived, Adam would make something up to get them to walk past the cabin so I could pop out and surprise Kayla. That’s exactly how it went. Kayla arrived, we were all in the cabin hiding and being super quiet. As soon as I heard them walk slightly past the cabin I opened the door. Kayla says her first thought was, “Oh shit I’m about to get killed.” To her relief it was just me. I walked out and then brought Emmy, Amy, Shannon, and Kerri out.

I could tell Kayla was kind of suspicious, so I said, “I wanted to surprise you with a gift for Mother’s Day, so I got you a Mother’s Day photo shoot for you and Emmy, and your mom included as well as a Mother’s Day gift to her from me and you.” That was totally what I needed to say because it threw her right off her suspicion train and I had her back where I wanted her.

So Kerri gets a few shots at one location of all 3 of them, then Kayla and her mom, then Emelyn and Kayla, etc. They move to a few other locations, I jumped in a couple times as well. So then we move over to the well.

The well is where we decided I was going to ask Kayla. Kerri would have Emelyn go to the far side of the well, Kayla would stay on the near side with her back to the camera and there they would get in a few good shots. While Kayla’s back was turned Kerri would hand me the ring, I would kneel down behind Kayla very quietly and when she turned around there I would be. So that’s exactly what happened. Kerri handed me the ring while Kayla’s back was to the camera, I knelt down behind her, and then Kerri said, “Kayla, would you like to look at these and see if you like them?”

So Kayla turns around, and there I am. I grabbed her hand, looked her in the eyes and said, “I may not be perfect, but you’re probably the closest thing to it. I love you more than anything in this world. It would make me very happy if you would spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me?” She obviously said, “Yes babe yes yes yes!” I mean, I’m a stud, can you blame her? I took the promise ring off her finger and placed the brand new Engagement Ring on her finger.
After that we got a bunch of good pictures in at different spots. Some with Emelyn and some without. We left, we went to Briana and Adam’s house, grilled out burgers, then went home. It had to be the most nerve wrecking/amazing day of my life. I don’t think any feeling besides when I hear her say, “I do.” Will ever top how it felt to hear her agree to be wife. It was an amazing day.