Getting engaged/married is something Justin and I had already talked about and we knew this was the next step for us. When talking about the timeline of things, all I knew is that Justin was going to be customizing a ring, which would take a long time, and he wanted to propose out of town with it being just the two of us. So when he told me about this trip to Savannah/Hilton Head that he planned, of course, I began to wonder if this was more than just a weekend getaway. But he put my suspicions to rest when he told me that one of his best friends, Devin, and his girlfriend, Kelsey, would also be joining us and the ring wouldn’t be ready until the end of April, so as far as I knew, there is no way it would be happening this trip.I’ll fast forward to Friday, March 30th. We began our 6 hour car ride and were scheduled to arrive at 3pm, which was perfect because we had dinner reservations around 7:30pm. We planned to get all dressed up and eat at The Olde Pink House, which is one of the top rated fine dining restaurants in Savannah–this was totally normal for us since Justin is such a foodie and finds us the best places to eat whenever we go to a new city. Everything was normal, we jammed out to some good music, talked about our future, talked about where we have been and how far we have come, and joked around a lot. Aaaaand then we hit traffic-jam after traffic-jam which turned our 6 hour car ride into 8.5 hours and pushed our arrival time to 5:30pm. Usually this would be no big deal to Justin (he’s always so calm and collected!), but he was getting kind of antsy. He confessed that Devin had planned for all of us to meet at 6 for a surprise and to take some pictures before dinner so we really had to hurry when we got to the hotel because we needed to leave by 5:45.(A little unusual, yes, but still no clue at this point… These boys are always smooth like this). I started to get panicky about having to get ready in 15 minutes because I know how Justin hates being late, even though I’m literally late for everything, so he got Devin to push the time to 6:15. I hurried to get ready, threw on my dress and heels and we were out the door.

I was finishing my makeup in the car, not really paying attention to where we were going, then we pulled up to a place called Forsyth Park. I was getting out of the car and I asked Justin if I needed my purse and my camera. He said, “No, I think Devin hired a photographer actually.” This is when it hit me… I started to clue in on what was happening.

Justin grabbed my hand and we made our way through the park. It. Was. Beautiful. Spanish Moss trees and full-bloomed flowers covered this place. We were supposed to meet Devin and Kelsey in the middle near the fountain, but they were nowhere to be found. (Ok, this is it. It was definitely happening.) Justin walked me around the fountain to a clear spot right in the middle. (The photographer taped an “X” to the ground of where we needed to stand for the perfect shot! I didn’t even see it but that’s what Justin was looking for!)

He finally admitted that Devin and Kelsey weren’t coming… But that there was still a surprise. He started to reach for something in his jacket pocket and I instantly started crying. He got down on one knee, opened a small navy box, revealed a gorgeous L’Amour Crisscut diamond ring, and asked me the question I’ve been waiting to hear for what feels like my whole life, “Madison Taylor Scialdone, will you marry me?” Crying, I muffled out a very excited, “YES!” and buried myself into his chest and cried some more. I was so wrapped up in this moment, it took the loud clapping and “She said yes!” cheers from the crowd gathered behind us to help me snap out of it. This is when Justin pointed out Wendy, from Apt B Photography, who did the most amazing job capturing everything from my shocked face, ugly crying face, and the beautiful moment where Justin asked me to spend the rest of our lives together. Here are some of the shots!