Leslie and Ross are getting married!
I could not be more thrilled for them. They truly are the perfect match and every part of me is beyond excited for their wedding day!
For those of you who may be new to the blog, Ross is actually one of Ryan’s best friends from college. He was even a groomsman in our wedding and popped up on the blog many times before he started dating Leslie. I met Ross through Ryan and he quickly became a good friend of mine when I was a freshman in college. I’ve known him for nearly 10 years and think the world of him. (Fun fact: When Leslie and Ross started dating, “Ross” became the number one search term on my blog for a solid month!)
Ross and Leslie started dating the year after our wedding and from the moment my sister told me about their first date, I had a feeling they stumbled upon something really special. I could tell there was something different and unique about their relationship and I was excited to watch it grow. As they continued dating, it was apparent to everyone around them that their love was the real deal. They were caring and affectionate. Patient and fun-loving. A great match!
A couple of weeks ago, Ross let me and my family in on his plans to propose. We were thrilled! After hearing Leslie and Ross tell the story of the proposal, it sounds like it was absolutely amazing! I’m so glad our family could be a part of the surprise at the end of the day! But let’s back up to the beginning…
The Proposal
Early last week, Ross had one of his coworkers email him, telling him he needed to come into work for a few hours on the 4th of July. He forwarded the email to Leslie with a sad face in the email body, but told her they’d do something fun to make up for it and to be ready around noon.
Well, that was all a ruse! Ross really set his alarm for 6 a.m. on the 4th of July, drove to St. Augustine, walked more than a mile down a secluded beach and set up a little picnic spot for them to visit later.
In the early afternoon, they got together and drove back down to St. Augustine to spend the day by the water.
First up was kayaking!
Then they rode beach cruisers along the beach, looking for a spot to stop to eat. After they had been riding for a while, Leslie said they should pick a spot and Ross joked that they should hijack some random peoples’ stuff. When he went to sit in their chairs, Leslie said they couldn’t really takeover someone’s picnic and that’s when Ross explained that he set it up for them earlier that day.
She was shocked and said she thought it was so sweet!
Not long after that, on the secluded beach, Ross told Leslie he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and that he wanted the rest of his life to start right at that moment. (Yes, I cried when he told this part of the story to me!)
She was shocked and so, so excited! Leslie said her mind was racing and that she can’t remember most of what Ross said when he proposed! She remembers him getting down on one knee and feeling so surprised when she saw the ring, but her thoughts were moving a mile a minute.
That picture of her makes me smile so big. Pure joy!
The surprises didn’t stop there! Ross planned for a captain to meet them in St. Augustine and take them for a romantic 60-minute boat cruise following the proposal.
The boat took them all around St. Augustine.
Everyone was out and about to check out the 4th of July fireworks!
The cruise then dropped them off at Cap’s on the Water, the restaurant where they had their first date.
And that’s where we came in! Ross had his mom and our family waiting at the restaurant to surprise Leslie when they arrived!
We got there about 40 minutes early and anxiously sipped on mojitos as we waited for them to arrive.
Once I spotted their boat in the distance, I started freaking out. Luckily the other people dining outside at Cap’s were really into the proposal as well and didn’t mind me popping in beside their tables to snap some pictures as the captain docked their boat.
Heeeere they come!
Surprise!!!
Leslie was absolutely shocked that we were all in on the big surprise and she said that she was so happy Ross thought to include our family in their special day.
We all agreed that we felt honored to share such a special moment with Leslie and Ross. My dad ordered two bottles of champagne for the table and we made sure to toast to the newly engaged couple!
After Leslie and Ross took us through their whole proposal story, we ordered dinner and more drinks and had a great time celebrating their engagement and the 4th of July!
It was the perfect 4th of July.
Congratulations to Ross and Leslie!!!
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I loved reading that story! Thank you for sharing! Congratulations Leslie and Ross!
Aw what a romantic proposal! Congratulations!
What a great engagement story! You totally made me cry as I was reading it. Your sister looks so incredibly happy, and I’m sure her wedding will be wonderful.
What a fun proposal and day! So sweet!
Aww what a cute story! Congrats again to both of them!
Awesome. Your sis and future brother-in-law are such a good looking couple. Look like they stepped off a win on The Bachelor/Bachelorette – seriously!
That photo shot of you and Ryan? Amazingly gorgeous. Gosh you guys are freaking all beautiful…how about sharing some of that around? 🙂
Awwwww! They are so cute together! The story totally made me tear up a little 🙂 So excited to read more about the future wedding adventures!
Your sister is absolutely glowing. She looks so happy! Congrats!
What a perfect proposal!! I seriously couldn’t wait to read this post when I read that Leslie and Ross were engaged! Such a happy weekend for all of you- congratulations Leslie and Ross!!
This was such an adorable idea! I bet you are thrilled to be able to wedding plan again 😀 Just a thought…But I’d love for Leslie to do a guest post!! 🙂
Such a cute story and so many great pics of your family:)
What a sweet story! I totally teared up at the same part you did 🙂
And what does Sadie think of having a cousin????
Just perfect! One question: How did Leslie get so gorgeous for dinner out after spending the day biking, kayaking, on the beach, and on a boat? I’d be a wreck. Of course, I’m an old broad, so there’s that.
Seriously so sweet!
Wow! What an incredible proposal story and that is so special that your whole family got to be a part of it. Truly awesome. Congrats Leslie and Ross!
What a lucky girl Leslie is!!! Such a great proposal and wonderful story to read!! Congrats to your growing family! “)
omgosh I cried!! I love a good proposal story and that one was amazing! Congrats to everyone!
That does sound like the perfect 4th! Congratulations!!! How exciting!!
HOW SWEET!!! Loving all the pics captured of this special time for them!!!! Congrats to them!!! How exciting!
I love that he had your family waiting there, my husband did the same thing when he proposed, he brought me to my families house and they had champagne, food, and a cake waiting! It was so sweet and so thoughtful!!!
I echo many of the comments yesterday in that I hope it’s not creepy to be so excited for someone we don’t even know!
However….this story brings tears to my eyes — we’ve gotten to know Ross & Leslie through your posts & I am SO happy for them both & cannot wait to hear all about the wedding prep 🙂
love all of the pictures – the one of your sister laughing reminds me of one of your wedding photos of the 2 of you. is it creepy that I remember that!? congrats to your sister =)
Oh I just am so excited for all of you! Totally agree that the look of joy on Leslie’s face is priceless 🙂 Everything sound just perfect. Congratulations to all.
it must be so fun for your sister to see all these “strangers” celebrating her engagement! I nearly wrote “so odd,” (in a good way!!!) but I imagine they are used to being blog-lebrities! How cook that the two couples overlap in several ways….now you just need to plan (and get nature to be cooperative) on having the cousins the same age so they can grow up together (no pressure!!!). And I just need to stop with the parentheses…and ellipses…
and I need to spot typos before hitting “post” since my frantic attempt to change “cook” to “cool” failed
what a great story – good job ross! and congrats to them both!
Yay! I’ve always thought your sis was adorable, but she looks especially radiant in the photos I’ve seen from that day! Wonder how many times they “met” before they actually started dating? Was wondering when a proposal might come…. 🙂
Man oh man, even I started crying reading this! Such a great and romantic story to have and tell forever….congrats to your sis and Ross!
Such a sweet proposal…it definitely made me teary eyed! Congratulations to the happy couple:)
So beautiful. I can’t believe I’m sitting here sobbing over people I don’t even know! Congratulations to the happy couple!
Congratulations!!!!!!! So amazing!!!!!!!!!
Aww how sweet! They look so happy and in love! I adore that picture of Leslie under the umbrella! She looks SO excited 🙂
I was so excited to see the news the other day! I love the pics. I was wondering if you would post a close up of Leslie’s ring!?! So exciting!
She looks so happy! Congratulations!
ahhhh that is the best story!!!! Congrats to both of them!!!
I’ve been looking forward to this post for days (creepy?) and it did not disappoint! I’m excited to read about their wedding. And I’ll echo an earlier comment: Leslie should do a guest post!
After reading all of the posts including the two of them, I was hoping it would happen soon!
So happy for them!
Www what a beautiful day! Leslie looks so happy what a beauty! Lots of love to her and her special day ahead! Love + shine Courtstar
HOW EXCITING!! Also funny story I had to share….I had been away from the blogging world for a while and had not caught up on your blog in quite some time! Tonight as I was catching up on a few others, I randomly thought to myself that I needed to check back to see if Ross and Leslie had gotten engaged yet. No joke. So I did just that and this post was about their engagement. Weirdest coincidence ever. but SO excited for you all, congratulations!!
So exciting! Hearing about engagements always makes me think back to mine. Such special times. Congrats to Leslie! Thanks for sharing their sweet story with us!
So so so sweet!! I love that he totally threw her off with the email 🙂
And that picture of Leslie laughing is so beautiful! They are a wonderful couple, so happy to hear of the great news! Congrats Leslie & Ross!!
what a great story!
I love everything about this! Such a sweet proposal!!
Cute story! I just checked back in after being away for a few months and was so happy to hear this news! Congrats Ross and Leslie!
Congrats to the couple!!!
Love hearing about proposal stories! Congratulations to the couple!!!
congrats to Leslie and Ross!!!
That is such a sweet proposal story!!! I love how thoughtful Ross is & so happy for them!! Congrats to Ross & Leslie!! 🙂
Awww, I loved reading their proposal story — it sounds like Ross did an amazing job surprising Leslie!! Congrats to them both!
Congratulations to your sister! That’s a sweet story. What a small world… I visited my brother-in-law over the 4th in St. Augustine! My husbands grandparents actually live in Ponte Vedra Beach, so Cap’s is a great meeting spot for us. Although we didn’t eat at Cap’s this trip, it is a favorite of mine!
What a great blog post! Congrats to the happy couple and to your family for getting a great new addition to your family!
p.s. The food looked so good. NEED. SEAFOOD. NOW.
Congrats to your sister!! What a wonderful 4th of July!