What many people don’t know about me (and are surprised to learn) is that I’ve never been married. When we launched the OneWed blog over three years ago, it wasn’t to document my personal planning journey; it was to inspire unique brides to craft the weddings of their dreams. This makes me a rare breed of wedding blogger, one who has (for better or worse) never stood in the shoes of a bride-to-be.

But, I have been headed in the direction of the aisle, having spent the majority of the past four years with my love and best friend, Reid. And this weekend, during a beautiful getaway he planned for us to Vail, he got down on one knee & popped the question! I (of course) said yes, and we’ve been flying high on cloud 9 ever since. So I can finally say, OMG I'm engaged!!!

And as a brand new member of the bridalhood, I wanted to get personal for a moment and share my unique love story... plus a few pics from our trip and of my oh so perfect engagement ring!

From puppy love on the soccer field to a modern day fairytale… Even as kids we were smitten with one another. Reid played soccer with my cousin, and after a few games cheering on the sidelines, I caught his eye and he mustered up the courage to “ask me out.” I (of course) said yes, and our grade school romance began. It lasted all of a month (we still reminisce about our date to Great America!), and to this day we can’t recall how we broke up or why. And to us, it’s not important, because our love story was far from over.

Nearly ten years passed before we reconnected, and we initially hit it off talking business, start-ups, technology, and the like. Reid had just launched his mobile development shop, VOKAL, and was chipping away at his Entrepreneurship degree from DePaul, and I was in start-up/wedding heaven working at OneWed (happily putting my finance degree to little use). But a few get-togethers in, it was clear that our childhood spark was still burning, and we quickly became a couple again.

As most couples do, we've had our share of rocky times since starting the second chapter of our love story; we've had break-ups, and make-ups, but the desire to be together was always there. I love Reid for so many reasons, and I know how much he loves me. He goes out of his way to make my life amazing, and inspires me each and every day. And I'm so proud to call him my fiance!

Believe it or not (given my profession), I'm still figuring out what my dream wedding looks like. So I'm excited to share my journey of discovery with all of you. I promise not to go bridezilla, and to heed the priceless advice we've always preached!

Via: Now Entering the Bridal Hood