***VOTING HAS ENDED FOR THE FREE ENGAGEMENT SESSION GIVEAWAY. THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED!***
Oh. My. Word!!!!! Thank you so much to EVERYONE who sent in their proposal stories. I’ve enjoyed reading through them more than I could ever express. To say that I love and adore my job would be the understatement of the year.
How fantastic are these people?! Truly. I’m simply ecstatic for all of them! Each story made me tear up (c’mon, it’s how I roll!) and appreciate my life so much more and all of the amazing people I’m surrounded by each day. You may notice there are 4 finalists - I call the shots so I decided to add in another spot 
I’d love for you to take a minute to read their stories and kindly vote by leaving a comment at the bottom of the post. Please, one vote per person.
1. KARA + ALEX
Nominated by Elizabeth Thompson:
This is Elizabeth Thompson (we’ve met through Rachel Ward)… I saw your tweet about your engagement session giveaway, and I had to share with my co-worker! She got engaged over Valentine’s Day weekend 2010, and I immediately told her about you and shared your website with her. She is our age, 22, so needless to say, she is planning a wedding on a budget. It just seemed like a little bit of fate that I saw your post about the free session! Her name is Kara Barnett, and she is such a sweet person. She’s currently working full time at my company (DWA Healthcare Communications Group) AND she takes a full time student course load at IUPUI, finishing a Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Psychology. She is super driven, but at the same time very humble and down-to-earth. I think she would be great for your contest!
Their proposal story:
Alex and I met 5 years ago at our family church. He played drums for the worship team and I helped out with the high school ministry. At the time I had a serious boyfriend so we didn’t really spend too much time together. I ended up moving away for a year to Maui (of all places) for an internship with middle schoolers. During that time we kept in touch over facebook and through text. When I returned from Maui, Alex was quick to text me and ask me to dinner to hear about my time. We went to dinner together and we realized there was a spark there that we had never seen before. We ended up prolonging our first date by walking around the different stores at Clay Terrace because we couldn’t get enough of each other. Soon after that he invited me to a midget race (high speed go kart racing) and I knew that he was someone that I wanted to spend more time with. He knew how to make me smile and he was so confident in who he was. I hadn’t ever met a guy like him, someone who wasn’t afraid to laugh at himself. One of the parents at the race that we were with gave us these huge xxx t-shirts to wear and without hesitation he put it on over his nice outfit. He wasn’t concerned about how he looked or even what I thought about how he looked. After that we were inseparable. There were many laughs and tears along the way but we always knew how to work things out. A year later, on February 12th Alex took me to a special gazebo in a park that we always walked to. He had a single rose waiting for me there. I walked over to the rose and turned around and he was pulling out a letter that he had written for me. He wrote me all of the reasons why he loved me and why I was the one as tears filled his eyes (and mine of course). He then got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I, of course, said yes.
2. KATIE + CHRIS
Their proposal story:
Chris and I met about 4 ½ years ago while we were both going to school at Purdue. After a few months of dating, Purdue was hit with a snow storm and the campus was covered with about a foot of snow. Since we both love the winter and especially the snow, he called to ask me to go on a “winter wonderland adventure.” We ran all around campus building snowmen, making snow angels, getting into snowball fights, but the night ended at the top of a parking garage on campus. We were able to overlook all of campus and the city. It was just absolutely beautiful. Neither one of us ever remembered what we talked about that night, but we always knew it was the night we each found our best friend.
Flash-forward to the present: We were visiting my brother and sister at Purdue a few weekends ago. After spending the evening with the family, Chris told me he wanted to take a walk around campus. While we were out enjoying the winter evening, it began snowing those super giant snowflakes. Chris grabbed me and led me up to that special spot in the parking garage. He got down on one knee and said, “I know I don’t have a ring yet, but I have everything I need in the world. Will you marry me?” Obviously, my heart melted and I said yes! We ended up getting a ring that we both loved a few days later. It was all absolutely perfect.
3. JUSTIN + LINDSAY
Their proposal story:
December 30, 2009 was Lindsay and Justin’s 4 year anniversary when Justin asked Lindsay to dinner downtown. Afterwards, Lindsay suggested they go get hot chocolate at the South Bend Chocolate Company on the circle. The Christmas tree was still up, and since they hadn’t seen the lights yet, Lindsay also suggested they walk under the tree and take some pictures (Justin knew she would do this all along). She had a mini tri-pod in her purse that she set up on the edge of the circle to take a “timer” picture. Lindsay would push the button on the camera, and then run back to Justin to get in the picture. After about the 3rd picture, Lindsay promised to take only one more, and just as the camera was about to go off for the 4th time, Justin got down on one knee and asked, “Will You Marry Me?” Lindsay was completely surprised, as she put her hands up near her face in excitement and the camera flashed, capturing it all. She pulled Justin up off the ground to say ‘yes’ as he put the beautiful ring on her finger. They were lucky enough to capture a picture of a moment they will never forget!
4. CAITLIN + ERIK
Their proposal story:
Erik and I drove down to Alabama last weekend to visit his best friend Curtis. We’re all cyclists (the boys are way faster than me, though), so the trip was an excuse to get out of Indiana and ride in some warmer temperatures, and was also partly an attempt to get Curtis’ stamp of approval, since we’ve been dating a long time and I still hadn’t met his best friend. Friday we all went on a long ride that had a huge mountain in the middle of the ride. The boys decided to race each other up this huge 1-mile climb and I decided to just hang back and take my time so I’d make it all the way up without absolutely dying. I ended up being about 5 minutes behind them once I got to the top. At the top, there was a “YOU MADE IT!” chalked on the road, then a little further there was a “CAITLIN” and then there was a “WILL” and then further on there was a “YOU”, then a “MARRY” and then a “ME?” and then Erik was down on one knee at the top of the mountain, ring in hand. Of course I said yes!!!
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