Very Engaging!

A while back, some friends of mine got engaged...shortly after, I chipped my engagement ring and began searching for the perfect replacement. Somewhere during all this, I told my friend Nick how much I love engagement rings and proposals. (I've always found proposals more romantic than actual weddings. And although I'm not a big jewelry person, I love engagement rings and all they represent.) I told Nick that, when the time came, I would love to help him with the process of finding the perfect ring for his girlfriend Hilari. (Guys need help with these things, you know.) Recently, he emailed me and said, "It's time." Hooray!

To make a long story short, Nick and Hilari are (as of Friday) officially engaged and soon to be husband and wife! I was so happy to help him with the planning. Here are a few pics of how it all went down...

The location: Lone Oak Winery in Burleson. Nick told Hilari they were going there for her birthday.

When they got there, they bought a bottle of wine and took it with them for a stroll through the vineyards. They went down this path...

...and came to a shady area underneath a tree.

Under the tree? A table for two.

With a reserved sign and a photo album.

The photo album contained pics of their past, present, and future...and this was the last page:

(Yes, it says "Will you marry me?")

Now, I don't know all the details of what happened under that tree (I successfully fought my urge to hide in the bushes and take pics of the proposal as it happened) but I know that she said "Yes". We all met up afterwards for a celebratory dinner.

This is Hilari breaking the news to her mom. I love this picture!

Me and the future Mrs. Neitzey. (Random sidenote: The strap on my dress broke in the car when I was on my way to the winery to get things set up. I had no other choice but to shove the straps into the dress and carry on with the evening!)

Nick got me, Tiff and Hilari gift certificates to get manis/pedis together (as a thank-you for Tiff and me helping with the ring, etc.).

One of the tables of celebrators.

What a great evening! And another sidenote: Lone Oak Winery is so cute and the staff was so incredibly helpful...I had planned on going out there and lugging a table out underneath those trees, but when I arrived there, the staff had already set it up for us! All I had to do was put the photo album on the table (and of course take a million pictures of it!). Really nice of them. I think it'd be fun to get a group of girls to head out there for a wine tasting (you know, when it's not a billion degrees outside).

The rest of the weekend was spent attending a wedding, then a 25th birthday party for my unofficial-but-might-as-well-be-official sister-in-law. I must have been all paparazzi-d out because I took zero pictures of these two events. And speaking of weddings and engagements, I finally got my new engagement ring and wedding band! It feels weird to post a pic of them on the Internet, so if you're into this sort of thing (like me!) here is what I had the engagement ring made to look like (with a few changes):

http://www.tacori.com/Engagement-Rings/2502RD65

And here is what I had the wedding band made to look like:

http://www.pearlmansjewelers.com/jewelry-designers/beverley-k-jewelry/rings/01PP1/
(I had it made to be very tiny and dainty so I can wear it all the time and not catch it on anything, scratch the babies, etc. I loooove it!)

Having the rings made was a really long (but fun!) process. I'm definitely glad to have a ring on my finger again!