Bri and Tim had talked about getting married months before Tim proposed. We have built our relationship on open communication, and we both believe that the future of our relationship should be included in that communication. Therefore, the proposal should be the only surprise, not the engagement itself.

While Bri knew it was coming (down to the date and time!) there were still several aspects of the proposal that surprised her. Before we tell you this story, be advised that no animals were harmed in the making of this proposal 😅 we unfortunately cannot say the same for our best man, Dan..

Tim and Bri are at a point in their lives where most weekends are reserved for some sort of event, whether it be family-related, travel-related, or some other responsibility. It is RARE for us to have a weekend with nothing planned. But the weekend of September 16, we had “nothing” planned. That was the first clue. It was the only weekend of practically the entire year that wasn’t reserved for anything, and I mean NOTHING. We had all the time in the world the weekend of September 16. And Bri noticed.

Bri asked Tim what he wanted to do with their free weekend, and while Tim would usually advocate to keep it free to relax and maybe play video games, Tim told Bri they could do anything she wanted. That was the second clue. Bri had wanted to go to the zoo all summer, but they’d never had time, so the zoo was suggested and immediately booked for that Saturday, September 16.

Among many (and I mean MANY) other small hints, Bri immediately knew this meant that that was the day: Tim was definitely going to propose September 16!

It was also apparent that Tim’s brother and our best man, Dan, was involved. When it was suggested that we should invite Dan to the zoo with us, Tim’s response was, “No, he’s BUSY.” Busy with what? Nothing specific, apparently.

Tim had planned the entire day for us: we would leave for the zoo around noon, be back in Beaver around 5 to see a craft show, then head to Mario’s Italian restaurant for a dinner reservation… only Tim didn’t plan things like this. Tim is a very go-with-the-flow kinda guy.. this was very uncharacteristic and indicative of some ulterior motive!

So we went to the zoo, saw the hippo and other animals, and had a blast! But we were on a schedule. When we finished up at the zoo, we made it back to the car, and Tim spent several moments feverishly texting Dan, which ✨wasn’t suspicious at all✨ and then we got on the road to head to Beaver.

Now, we all know that Bri and Tim have several pets. We also know that Bri adores these pets more than any Earthly possessions, and when Tim told Bri they would not be stopping at home to let the dogs out before heading to Beaver for several hours, Bri knew the dogs were involved. They had already been gone for roughly five hours at this point, and Tim would never make the dogs wait that long to go out if we had the chance to take them.

So we bypassed the house, knowing the dogs were okay and someone was taking care of them (and possibly stealing one or two), and we headed to Beaver. Here’s where Bri was surprised. Yes, Tim had talked about a craft show, but Bri hadn’t believed him about it because there was no information about this craft show ANYWHERE. Genuinely, this one is still kind of a mystery as to how he knew about it.. but we pulled up to a park in Beaver and there really was a craft show, only we were about twenty minutes too late to buy anything; all of the vendors were packing up to leave.

Tim looked kind of defeated, but Bri suggested walking around to kill some time before our “reservation” at Mario’s. So we did. We walked to the gazebo in the middle of the park, where Tim was soooooo nervous! He kept looking around almost frantically and checking his phone. And Bri noticed. At this point, all the dots were already connected and we were just trying to kill some time before Dan and our dog(s) showed up at this park and helped with the proposal in some way.

So we meandered about, commenting on the fall decor around the park. Tim was seriously so nervous, he was barely speaking at all. It was actually adorable, knowing what was about to happen.

Then, suddenly we heard a dog’s collar jingle and people started yelling. We turned toward a side street to see a skinny, black dachshund running in the street. Immediately Bri was concerned and yelled, “Oh my god, a dog!” and was about to run after him when she saw Dan, dressed in a fluorescent green polo, running after the dog. Immediately, it became apparent that that was our dog, Marshall, and he was on the loose on the road in Beaver.

Shelby, Tim’s cousin, caught Marshall and she and Dan put his collar back on and started walking him over to us, where he eventually saw Bri, and Dan let him off the leash to run over to us.

Tim was so funny. At least we know he’s a bad actor and a worse liar.. he says, “Look, there’s something on his collar!” And he walks over to Marshall, takes the ring from his collar, and gets down on one knee. For a moment, he didn’t say anything. This sweet man was such a ball of nerves, it was just heartwarming. Then he said, “Brianna Elizabeth Metsger, will you marry me?”

Obviously you know what the answer was. And everyone asked if it was a surprise, and Tim is not the only bad liar, so the truth came out. But not everything was so obvious because Tim threw another curveball into the plan: we weren’t going to Mario’s, there was a party at his aunt Robin’s house, which is actually our ceremony location!

The best surprise was that my family was there, too, except for my brother who is also one of our groomsmen, Ryan, who couldn’t make it. Regardless, we had a sweet little celebration where we found out the reality of Dan’s adventure that day..

Dan hadn’t had that much interaction with Marshall before this day. He had gotten somewhat close with our dog Jack who passed in June, but he hadn’t really gotten to know Marshall yet. And Marshall really didn’t know Dan. So when a stranger abducts you from your home, you’re probably not gonna go very willingly.

Tim also had forgotten to leave Marshall’s harness for Dan, and Dan didn’t know he couldn’t use Marshall’s collar with a leash because it’s too loose, so when Dan tried to walk Marshall to the park from a few streets away, Marshall slipped the collar and ran off. Dan is the real hero of this story because he did everything in his power, including destroying a nice old lady’s shrubbery and enduring bites from Marshall’s 18 remaining teeth, to make sure this proposal happened and our dog didn’t end up on flyers around Beaver.

So he eventually wrestled Marshall into submission and got him to the part of the story that we all knew from the park.

Tim’s proposal ideas were romantic and memorable, and his efforts and the work of both of our families are so appreciated 💛 Even though there were several hitches and not many real surprises, we certainly have an engagement story to remember!