Great show yesterday!

The Wedding Salon Bridal Show went great yesterday in spite of the downpour during most of the show. Of course, it cleared up for a while at the end! We had so many people and brides, that I forgot to take pictures! I am definitely going to designate one of my assistants as the official picture-taker next show so that you can see our fun afternoon! If you missed this show, don't worry, we have another great show in Tama at the Convention Center in October! This is where we have our fashion show as well. FUN!

I wanted to share the winner of the City View/Weddings in Iowa Grand Prize. Our contest was focused on engagement stories and maybe finding a unique or interesting story to feature as our winner. As it turned out, our winner wrapped himself up for his bride to be, so we would like to share his story with you. Any guy who wraps himself up for his sweetie is a winner and keeper!

Proposal story:

Over the past year, I kept asking my fiancee (Brandy) what she wanted for Christmas. She kept staying, "You wrapped in a bow." So, December came around and we have our Christmas before we both head to Ames to pick her brother up and then down to Fort Madison, Iowa for her families Christmas. That night, December 19, we had a wonderful home cooked dinner, went to the Jolly Holiday lights, and came back to exchange presents. After she finished opening her last present, I could tell that she was expecting the ring, but didn't get it and looked a little disappointed. HA! Working right into my plan! Now comes the fun part. Over the past week, I constructed a very large box and wrapped it up like a present, then covered it with a blanket so she wouldn't notice it. It was too big to get upstairs, so I had to keep it downstairs. She found it and I played it off perfectly saying it was a box for my dad's Christmas gifts and she believed me. So 3:30am on the 20th, I ran downstairs, put my bow on, hopped in the present, and started calling her to come down to open up the present that was for her. My story was I went to the gas station to fill up for the trip and I wanted her to open it before I got back. So....15 minutes go by, 30 minutes go by, I call again and again and again. Finally after an hour in the box, sweating, nervous, and my lower body asleep, I hear her coming down the stairs cussing my name because I woke her up at 4am. In my mind I'm going through this whole speech about what she means to me and how I wanted to spend the rest of my life together with her. And at that moment, she opens the present and I pop out. The look on her face was priceless. She had NO IDEA AT ALL! I get out, grab her hand, and get down on one knee and then my mind goes completely blank. I couldn't talk and I said maybe 5 words in my whole speech I wanted to say. She said yes and the rest is history:)I included a picture because in the end, it was that fun!

Thanks,Matt & Brandy