as i briefly mentioned in my last post, on saturday, february 24, 2018, jamie asked me to marry him and i said yes!! it was the best day of my life! i’m really excited to share the story… jamie put so much into the day to make it absolutely perfect.
a big question that i’ve gotten asked a lot in the past few days is whether i was surprised, and the answer is yes – i didn’t know that it was going to happen that day or in that moment. jamie and i had talked about marriage quite a bit and knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, and i am a planner to a point of being ridiculous, so i had certainly thought a lot about our future – the engagement, wedding, and beyond. i had planned out some aspects of my wedding long before i even met jamie… i basically started that from the womb, haha. and then ever since mike and priscilla got engaged, there’s been a lot of wedding talk at my house, between preparations for their wedding and knowing that it would happen for jamie and me at some point. but all that being said, jamie managed to get me dressed up and in the mountains without me knowing what was happening and surprised me with this proposal, so i have to give him sooo much credit for that! here’s how it went down:
jamie had told me several weeks back that he had planned a birthday dinner for me on the saturday night after my birthday. over the next few weeks, he shared more details with me – that it was a really fancy restaurant and that we should dress up, that we would be eating a four-course meal, and that it was a super old place and highly rated. all this could have been a dead giveaway for a proposal to a lot of people, but if you know me, you know that i’m a big-time foodie, so this sounded like the perfect gift for someone like myself and didn’t seem at all out of the ordinary for a birthday event. i’m a person who likes surprises, so i didn’t even look up the restaurant, but instead just let it all happen. even though i do love planning, jamie knows from past experience that when it’s my birthday or when we’re going somewhere as a gift to me, i don’t want to be hassled with making the plans, i just want to show up!
i put together a fun outfit [i love dressing up, especially when i know we might take pictures], and i helped with jamie’s outfit too just like i do pretty much any time we dress up to go anywhere, including church every week. :) he later joked with me that he got me to plan his engagement outfit without me knowing, which is funny and true! he told me it would be cold up in the mountains and wanted to make sure that i dressed warm, so i planned my outfit accordingly.
{selfies because i loooooove dressing up! and this was definitely a fun outfit!}
on saturday morning, we had a delicious breakfast together at four friends kitchen. jamie told me that the reservations were early and that we could take a few pictures before at dillon reservoir near the restaurant, so we got ready separately and then he came to pick me up in the early afternoon, as it takes about an hour and a half to get over there.
{i took tons of photos on the way because the snow on the mountains was soooo pretty. there was even snow in the foothills!}
jamie acted completely normal the whole way to dillon reservoir, so i didn’t really have any thoughts that it would be anything other than a birthday dinner. he did stop at a gas station along the way to use the bathroom, which i noticed as sliiiiiightly abnormal for him because he usually has a really big bladder [haha], but i didn’t really question it. i stayed in the car, but i regretted that by the time we got into dillon and i was wishing i had used the restroom too. when i mentioned that i should have gone, he kinda shrugged it off and said in a nice and relaxed way, “oh, we’ll just go take our picture and then you can go.” he said there might even be a bathroom up there, and i could wait, so we just headed up the mountain.
{a selfie i took while jamie was inside the gas station, haha}
{i love these views!}
when people have come to visit, we’ve taken them up to dillon reservoir to take pictures because it’s so beautiful, so it didn’t seem odd to take pictures there before dinner. plus jamie is obsessed with the mountains and loves to drive around and show me different spots. on this occasion, we took a little road up to sapphire point, where jamie told me there’s a lookout spot with a great view. it was 20 or so degrees, and as we got out of the car, he handed me some little hand warmers which definitely struck me as unusual because i had thought we were just going to go get a quick picture. at this point, the thought of a possible proposal did cross my mind, but i didn’t have any time to think about it because jamie was leading me down a path with gorgeous views to our left.
we got to a little lookout area and admired the view – the reservoir was iced over, and the mountains were snowy and majestic. at that point, jamie gave me a hug, spun me around, and told me he had a letter for me. he handed it to me and i began to read it, and i realized what was happening. i started crying, and when i finished reading the letter, jamie got down on one knee and started telling me lots of sweet things that i wish i remembered but my heart and mind were RACING and i was crying and then i remember that he said, “jessica elizabeth kojder, will you marry me?” and i said, “YES! it would make me the happiest girl in the world!” and just like that, we were engaged!
at some point after i said yes and kissed and hugged him, i realized that i was holding a ring that i hadn’t even looked at yet. and when i saw it, it was breathtakingly beautiful. i could hardly believe it was mine! i was bouncing up and down [haha] and we took a couple selfies plus our signature kissing selfie. jamie also told me that there was a photographer [joe and robin photography] taking photos and a video the entire time – he pointed him out to me and he was camouflaged so well that i couldn’t even see him after he pointed him out. [jamie said that this was his sister hope’s favorite part of the video: jamie pointed out joe, and i was all confused, staring blankly at where he was pointing, like, “joe?” i was convinced that maybe joe never showed up because i couldn’t see him, ha].
{i couldn’t contain my excitement!}
{oops, kinda missed the ring in this one!}
there was a wedding happening right after our proposal [more on that later!], and so joe, the photographer, came out of his hiding spot and gave us a hug, and then we headed down the path a bit to get more photos. in all the excitement, i wasn’t even cold nor was i worried about my small bladder!! ;) we took some glorious photos, and then jamie went to his truck and brought back a bottle of rosé champagne and some beautiful champagne glasses with our names and the date engraved on them. we popped the bottle, and joe took more photos as we toasted and celebrated. jamie had also hand-stuffed these big poppers with freeze-dried rose petals that he was hoping to pop together for photos and video, but the photographer told us that we probably shouldn’t do it there since park rangers would probably get onto us for it, so we decided to take our own videos of that later.
{what a place to get engaged!}
{this was take 2, and this time the ring made it in the picture!!}
once joe was done with pictures and had taken off, jamie and i sat in his truck warming up, sipping on champagne, and calling our parents, siblings, and grandparents. it was a magical time, getting to share the news with the ones we love. we were on cloud nine!
our dinner reservations were 1.5 hours later [boy, that time flew by fast], and the restaurant, ski tip lodge, was only 10 minutes away. it was a tiny old lodge tucked into the snow… it used to be an old stagecoach stop in the 1800’s, so it was small and quaint and cozy, with fireplaces and low ceilings. honestly an epic place for a proposal dinner, in my opinion.
{the view on the way to the restaurant… check out the sun shining on those snowcaps!}
{the cute restaurant! that’s the front door there with the lantern. i’m pretty sure jamie may have had to duck to step inside!}
{this was the area when you walked in past the front entryway. i wish i had gotten a photo of the large fireplace off to the right. the tables were set up in a few other rooms, and we ate our first three courses in one of those. then they bring you into this area so you can be comfy and eat dessert by the fire!}
ski tip lodge was very well-appointed – we had excellent service and the food was soooo good. they have an extensive wine list and their four-course menu changes every week. the sommelier gave us awesome recommendations for wine to pair well with what we planned on ordering, and she gave us complementary prosecco when she found out that we had just gotten engaged. it was a leisurely, quiet and relaxing dinner, and so fun to sit together and catch up after the events of the day.
{our waiter was kind to take a few photos of us – this was right next to our table.}
{showing off that ring!}
{so much fun!}
also, jamie decided that we should order different menu items for each course so that we could try each other’s dishes too… gosh, i love him. he knows me so well. and everything we ordered was FANTASTIC.
{my course #1: ski tip winter beef & barley soup}
{jamie’s course #1: sweet onion soup. he said it was the best onion soup he’s ever had, and i would agree.}
{my course #2: torn baby purple kale with yogurt-marinated carrot and turnips, salted peanuts and cashews, ricotta salata and yellow beet vinaigrette}
{jamie’s course #2: new zealand lamb lollipop with apple fennel slaw, mint pesto, red beet purée and apple gastrique}
{my course #3: muscovy duck leg confit with cured pork belly, white bean and black garlic cassoulet, fresh radicchio and crispy brussels sprouts. super delicious!}
{jamie’s course #3: hudson valley foie gras crowned wagyu beef striploin with buttermilk blue cheese whipped potatoes, garlic laced broccolini, thyme scented egg jam and juniper demi-glace}
then we went to the living room area for dessert! jamie gave me a fun little gift [as if he hadn’t already done enough that day!!!] – these little scrabble pieces that spelled out “i love you” and a little tray to hold them. we replaced the “o” in “love” with my ring and took a picture:
{so cute!}
{here’s my course #4: it was a yummy apple pastry with caramel and candied pecans}
{jamie’s course #4: key lime pie with blackberry sauce}
it was a perfect evening.
{i love us.}
in the car on the way back home, i learned more about all the planning jamie had done. he had designed the ring himself based on a few things i had told him, one photo i had sent a while back, and his own creativity! i am obsessed with it. it is a three-stone ring, with one oval diamond in the middle that he had bought and then two smaller round-cut diamonds on either side which came from earrings that my papa joe had given nama, and she in turn gave to me when i turned 21. papa joe and i had a special bond, so these diamonds are very meaningful to me. i had given the diamond earrings to jamie at least six months ago, at a time when we knew we wanted to be together forever and had discussed that, but when a proposal wasn’t imminent yet. it was before he had started proposal planning and before any surprises were ruined. i had explained at the time that he could use them for a ring for me or not, and i would be fine either way, but i wanted to give them to him in advance in case. anyway, he did end up using them, and they are absolutely gorgeous in this ring, as is the center diamond. and jamie designed the band and it is just so PERFECT! i couldn’t have designed it better myself. he did so well.
jamie had asked my dad for permission to marry me when we had gone home a couple weeks earlier, but he had done a good job of playing that off too because i had been the one to suggest that we go to texas to visit my parents. he told me that he had been all ready to do a one-day turnaround just to fly to texas to get permission from my dad some weekday when i thought he was at work[!], but luckily he didn’t have to do that. he was able to catch my dad alone while he was grilling outside before dinner on saturday night.
and the way our engagement day had played out was a funny story too. apparently jamie had been praying so hard for the weather and checking it religiously for several weeks, hoping that it would cooperate for this event. he told me that the week of the proposal, he would refresh the weather screen every 5 minutes just to make sure!! [he also hadn’t been sleeping too well – he was paranoid that someone was going to break in his house and steal the ring, and his mind was going wild thinking of how the day would play out. poor guy!] in the days leading up to the proposal, the weather had looked snowy and not so great basically every day but saturday, the day he planned to ask me to marry him, which was good, because he told me that if it had looked snowy, there would be no visibility in the spot where he proposed, so he would probably have decided to do it somewhere else or on a different day. and our glasses had the date engraved on them already, plus he wouldn’t have been able to cancel the dinner reservations since it was my “birthday dinner!” that would have really ruined the plans.
luckily, it looked good on saturday, so he could continue on with his set plan. he was hoping for sunshine, but on saturday morning, it was looking like a pretty cloudy day with a short window of sunshine right around the time he was proposing, which was planned with the photographer right at 3:30 pm. it was going to be iffy. then there was the timing of the whole event. his gas station stop was actually not to use the bathroom, but to stall for time [as we were a little ahead of schedule] and call joe. the funny thing is that when he called, joe asked if he could show up 15 minutes earlier because they found out there would be a small wedding going on at 3:30 in the exact spot where jamie wanted to propose. jamie went from taking his sweet time to stay on schedule to having to haul a** to make it in time. hence the ignoring of my bladder needs, lol. thankfully that didn’t end up becoming a problem!
and then the WEATHER. it was a miracle because jamie had been praying so hard, and sure enough, right as we’re getting up to the spot, the clouds open up and we saw sunshine and even the wind stopped! it was amazing. God was so good to us on this day!
everything about 2/24/18 was a dream come true – it still feels completely surreal and we’re totally still up in the clouds! we’ve been reminiscing about last saturday every single day since and obnoxiously call each other fiancé/fiancée in every other sentence, ha! life is good. stay tuned for the professional photos from the big day – i’ll be posting those next! finally, we’ve received so much LOVE from friends and family – thank you for sharing in our excitement! we love you all so much! xoxo
