Hello, loyal blog followers! Thank you, thank you, thank you for the congratulations and kind words about our engagement–so sweet of everyone! We're coming off of a busy, yet relaxing weekend here at Katie O' Weddings and Events–I think every weekend should be a three day weekend!

At this point, I think everyone has seen the surprise proposal (if not, check here and here), but there was so much effort and planning that went into the WHOLE day–I was seriously surprised and impressed. I wanted to share the backstory on that awesome day with everyone…but I thought it would be fun to share both my perspective AND Nate's!

Katie: One of my favorite things about finding Nate is that we are partners in everything together including his help with different elements of my business. He is very talented with marketing and sales and I constantly find myself asking his opinions, advice, etc! So when Nate suggested I set up a photo shoot at my studio to update the photos on my website, I didn't think anything about it. The end of August made sense since we were approaching the busiest fall weddding season in history of KOWE. Nate mentioned he needed a headshot for his full time job, too, so it really worked out for everyone. I contacted JP Elario to set up the shoot for Thursday, August 22nd.

I was excited for the weekend–it was Travers weekend and I decided to take Friday and the weekend off to enjoy my “last weekend of freedom” before the craziness of fall set in. Also, Nate and his good friends the Higgin's, Redgrave's and Smigelski's, host a Travers Tailgate every year and I was excited to experience that, too. Nate's sister, Norah, invited me to get my nails done on Monday night, I scheduled my spray tan for Wednesday night and since we were doing photos for the website, I asked my friend and super talented make-up artist Jennifer McCarthy Norton to do my makeup the shoot Friday! I was ready for the promo shoot and the party, but I had NO IDEA what other plans were in store for me…

Nate: Hello KOWE blog readers! I hope this is the first of many times Katie let's me weigh in here on the blog. We're both very excited to share our story with you all. Katie mentioned that I have experience in marketing and sales, what she didn't mention is that my job takes me all over the world…it never bothered me to travel before, but now each time I leave I am more anxious to come home to Katie. It's a great feeling to know there is some one to come home to. She hides these little surprise love notes in my bags when I travel and I look forward to finding them. I don't think there was any one special event that made me realize Katie was my true love…if anything it's how well she gets along with my family (a little too well with my sister, Norah). Family is so important to me, as it is to Katie, so it's great that we really mesh well with each other's families.

As the summer got underway I decide to visit Shirley, my jeweler at AV Costa in Troy, at the end of June. (Coincidently, every time I was in the store Katie either texted or called me!) I'd given Shirley until October to find the perfect sparkly diamond…and, wow, did she work fast! On August 8th I got the call and went to see what is perhaps the most perfect Katie O' diamond. On August 10th I showed up at Mr. O'Malley's door to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. Now I just had to pull off a proposal that would sparkle…or markle (that's man sparkle), if you will!

Katie: My plan for August 22nd was to get the promo shoot done, grab lunch and them head up to Siro's to meet friends and see Grand Central Station perform. I was looking forward to a fun night out in the summer, which can be rare in my world.

Nate: Obviously, my plans were a little different than Katie's… Everyone wanted to know if I was nervous…truth is, I wasn't; JP was nervous enough for the both of us…he wanted the perfect shot. I just needed to hear “Yes!” Which I did, by the way, about 100 times! We had it perfectly choreographed and my co-conspirators were ready to go. Katie left the house that morning ready for the promo shoot and I jumped into action for the proposal.

We all arrived at Katie's office and the shoots began…JP gave me the signal (a code phrase- “I've got the right lens”) and that was my cue that he was ready. Even though JP was in the room snapping away, it was like to two of us were transported to our own private place. Went we returned (see Katie's reaction below–she's put it all together at this point), that's when I got nervous…I knew Katie would want to start telling people.

Katie: After Nate popped the question and I came back to earth….we started calling everyone we knew. I kept telling him that I wanted to make sure I called everyone before we went out so then it could be “Facebook official” and I wouldn't have anyone find out online that I loved without hearing it from me first. He told me he had a car service that would take us up to Siro's to see Grand Central Station and still meet our friends and then at 7:30pm the car would take us to DP/Yono's for a very special dinner for just the 2 of us. I was so excited – it was the perfect way to celebrate!

Nate: I had a lump in my throat all afternoon worried someone would leak the next surprise…you see, the intimate dinner she thought we were having later on would really involve 50 of our closest family and friends…to my surprise, everyone she called acted as if they knew nothing. It was amazing.

Katie: After a fun trip to Siro's and a super fun video with this guy…we were headed back to Albany for our cozy dinner for 2. We stopped by the house to freshen up and get ready for dinner. Once we were back in the limo after a whirlwind of a day I grabbed Nate's hand and told him “this is perfect….dinner for just you and me at DP/Yono's sounds so romantic and relaxing.” The limo dropped us off and as we walked up the front entrance Nate pulled me close and said “I have one more surprise for you, dinner is not just the two of us…50 of our closest friends and family members are inside to celebrate with us.”

Nate: To say I was happy we made it to Siro's without having the final surprise spoiled is an understatement. Once we were in the limo by ourselves headed to DP/Yono's, Katie started to say how happy she was to be spending the night alone, I knew I had pulled it off. As we got out of the limo, Katie wanted to take a picture next to the TODAYS21 license plate…I thought for sure she was going to see our people looking out the window but she didn't!  After I told her there was one more surprise, I thought she was going to pass out! Her excitement and realization that all our loved ones were present is something I will cherish forever.  I love you Katie and can't wait to live happily ever after!

Katie: It was at this point in the day when you can officially say that this planner lost it!!! I honestly did not know what to do when Nate opened the door to an establishment I have spent celebrating momentous occasions for almost 10 years to see so many familiar faces. Nate and I love people, we especially love “our people” and dp was full of them. It was overwhelming, amazing, exciting and so perfect. The photos can't possibly show just how much fun it was. There were sparkletinis and truffle popcorn flowing all night. We were sparkling. We actually haven't stopped since that day and we look forward to planning and our happily ever after together.

Above, some of the Katie O' Weddings and Events team out celebrating during my surprise engagement party!

So that's our story! I'm glad I was able to introduce Nate to my blog readers and I hope he's willing to pop by here and there during the planning process to share his perspective with you all!

Were you totally surprised by your engagement? Do you want to be surprised or do you want some input? Let me know in the comments!

Keep sparkling–