How He Proposed [10.24.19]

It’s been a little over a month now, but every single time I look down at my hand I still get emotional. On October 24th, Conner asked me to be his wife and it was the happiest day of my life… I still can’t believe we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together ☺️

My whole life I wondered what making the decision to spend forever with someone would be like. When it finally happened, it was more than anything I could’ve ever expected. It was thoughtful, intimate, and felt so perfect for us. I’m getting married to the person who feels like home to me, and I’ve never been more sure of a decision in my life. Conner is patient, kind, funny, smart, reliable, loves his family, and treats everyone he meets like gold. He makes me feel loved, safe, supported, appreciated, and taken care of. There’s no one in the world I laugh more with. He’s my best friend, my team, and now my future husband. 

Over the last three years of knowing each other, Conner became my heart’s match. It was never easy or perfect, but I’ve loved slowly growing together and learning more about each other in every single stage. Every week, month, and season feels like a new adventure..but especially this one. This huge step has made everything seem so real. I can’t believe I get to write all the stories of the rest of our lives together from here on out. Life with him is more than I could ask for. 

A little story about how we met..

My best friend Linds, who I cheered with in college at UK, is from Kentucky and grew up in the same town as Conner. Throughout college she’d occasionally bring him up to me, talk about how cute he was…how he was the quarter back at Harvard 😏But… I was clearly extremely busy dating all the wrong guys at that time, plus dating someone two years younger than me didn’t sound ideal.

Conner and I were both in long term relationships that actually ended at the same time when we were starting over in new cities – Con in New York & me in Chicago. When he found out I was single, he got my number through the grapevine, and a cute text eventually popped up on my phone (that he admitted took him weeks to hit send 😂). I was in that miserable stage of dating where I was tired of putting myself out there, and still feeling pretty negative about my last relationship. So, the thought of going on another date was the last thing I wanted to do. But, when I landed in NYC for my first New York Fashion Week, I decided to send him a snapchat when I landed (yep, romantic) to let him know I was there 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Fast forward to a couple nights later when this cute Kentucky boy stopped me in my 6 inch heels that night (but really they were that tall bc I knew he was 6’2”). I remember thinking to myself “holysh*t he’s cute AND normal..”. I wasn’t expecting it, but within the first few seconds of meeting Conner, something just felt right. We started developing a long distance relationship and friendship over the next year, and after two long years of distance, flights, thousands of FaceTime calls, I moved to New York City! Being in the same city transformed our relationship and brought things to the next level. It was the best decision we could’ve made – and after two years of distance, I never took one second of being together for granted. He felt like home.

And the story of the night he proposed…

I had just gotten back to NYC after a two week trip to Europe, and Con had mentioned he wanted to celebrate by taking me to dinner a couple days after I got home. He planned a dinner at Terra…where we had our first date 🙂 We had a great night together eating at our favorite spot, and even sat at the same exact table as our first date 3 years prior. We ended the night with a nightcap at Macao, one of our favorite bars in Tribeca, then headed back home for the night.

We took the elevator up to our apartment and right before he opened the door he stopped me, bent down and said, “Liv, I have something for you”… he opened the door and the entire room was covered in candles and rose petals and he had our favorite Frank Sinatra playlist on. From the second he opened the door I couldn’t control the tears and just kept thinking “it’s happening. IT’S HAPPENING”. We danced and laughed and were both crying, then he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.

That moment was perfect and so surreal, I will never forget it. We spent the rest of the night drinking champagne and face-timing our parents and best friends. We only slept for about 4 hours before waking up to leave for a trip to Kentucky we had planned several months before, he couldn’t have timed it better! I was on cloud nine the entire day, but mentioned to Con that I wished my parents could’ve been there with us. Fast forward to an hour later, I walked into dinner that night to find my mom and dad waiting for us to arrive. I seriously cannot describe that moment. My heart felt like it was going to explode. The night was perfect – our parents all gave toasts and we had the best meal, then all got to spend the entire weekend together ❤️(my ‘engaged’ story highlight on IG captures this whole weekend).

My ring!

I’ve gotten lots of ring questions, so I thought I’d write a little bit about it on here! The night Conner proposed, when he took the ring box out and got down on one knee, I saw the cursive writing on the box: ‘Nicole Rose’. Nicole is an NYC based jeweler and friend of mine who I met through a mutual friend from Kentucky. I had the honor of wearing her jewels to the Victoria’s Secret show in 2018 and she had also made the prettiest diamond studs for me last year. Nicole reached out to Con a while ago about doing my ring, and I’m so glad she did because it made it ten times more special to know he designed the ring with a good friend of mine who I know puts her whole heart into her work! Together they created the a perfect setting and picked the most beautiful diamond.

The details: The center stone is a round brilliant cut diamond set in a platinum 2mm wide shank encrusted with one row of pave diamonds. It’s held in place with dainty eagle claw prongs. It’s so elegant, timeless, and sparkly, I couldn’t love it any more! 

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Thank you again to all of you for making this time in our lives even more special, I loved reading every single message. For those of you who have been reading for quite a few years now, I’m so thankful for your heartfelt words. You’ve watched my story unfold and it’s been so cool to share it with you…so thank you for being SO loving and supportive. We’re taking it slow and enjoying the holidays (we have a Rink-Hempel Cabo trip happening over NYE!), and then all the planning will begin in the new year! Already dreaming of September 26th, 2020 and can’t wait to take you along with us!!!