There were many, many more dates after that; they spent time together every single day of their first month as a couple. They celebrated their first monthiversary in Disneyworld, thanks to another joint Singing Cadets/Women's Chorus tour...and then had to spend a grueling three months apart that summer. Aidan, who had explained that he was "not really into texting," exchanged messages with Ariel every day—they even called every evening! (Ariel's family thought this was hilarious.)

Thankfully, they would never have to be apart that long ever again. When Ariel moved back to College Station for the semester, she was there to stay, and for the next two years they kept up the habit of spending time with each other every single day. But even though Ariel spent more time with Aidan than anyone else, when Aidan proposed on their two-year anniversary, she had no idea it was coming. This was largely due to a targeted misinformation campaign, wherein Aidan left clues around the house (that were impossible to interpret), frequently urged her to get her nails done (in increasingly cryptic tones), and generally did everything he could to confuse her. And it worked.

(The day Aidan was going to propose, a coworker asked her if she suspected anything. Wasn't it their anniversary? Why else would he have her take time off work to get dinner? Ariel told him she was confident it wouldn't happen for another three months at least.)

They went out for a wonderful dinner, then stopped by the Messina Hof winery for a glass or two. Before they went in, Aidan suggested they take a walk around the gardens. Ariel thought this was a great idea! It was a little odd that he wanted to take a quick detour back to a statue they'd passed earlier (he was trying to buy time for Melanie, their photographer, to shoo off a wandering couple), but was happy to oblige.

Eventually, they made it to a small table under the gazebo...with an even smaller box on top of it. Ariel panicked, turned around to ask Aidan what was going on, and saw that he was already on one knee. ♡

He asked. She said yes!

Travel

Hotels & Shuttle

Cavalry Court, Valencia Hotel Collection

The George, Valencia Hotel Collection