Engagement Weekend!

Yep, we're engaged! Geoff and I got engaged over Thanksgiving weekend at a wonderful bed and breakfast in Bloomington, IL.

We planned the engagement together. We've been together for four years, and when Geoff got his new job in the fall, the timing seemed perfect. So we booked the Vrooman Mansion in Bloomington, IL for two nights and decided we'd come back engaged!

 

 

 

 

The mansion belonged to the Vrooman's, a politically prominent family from 1873 until 1981, and they entertained such guests as the Roosevelts. The mansion is historically restored, and although my favorite book/move, Little Women,  took place earlier, I couldn't stop thinking about Orchard House and Aunt March's mansion, especially because the Vrooman Mansion was decorated for the holidays. Best of all, we had the run of the place, so we could enjoy wine in the parlor, play the piano, or take pictures of anything we liked.

Geoff and I had fancy dinner reservations at Station Two Twenty (seriously, go there. best food of our lives), and we had planned to "get engaged" there. But after breakfast that morning at the mansion, we went back to our suite and Geoff said he didn't want to spend another second not engaged to me (what a guy :) )He slipped the ring (more on that in a later post) on my finger, and after some moments of celebration, we called our families and headed out to enjoy the day. It couldn't have been more perfect.

 

My family was not surprised. Apparently when we told them we were going away for Thanksgiving instead of going up to Wisconsin to see my family or visiting Geoff's family in town, they started gossiping about the possibility. Ah, well. I think everyone knew that once we were both done with grad school and employed, it was only a matter of time.

Naturally, we took barely any photos with us in them.

 

 

We spent the rest of the day bumming around Bloomington, visiting an aviation museum and a winery, and eating at the amazing Station Two Twenty, where they added on a ton of extras in honor of our engagement, and made us feel very welcome and very, very full.

 

 

We've set a date (August 30, 2014) and slowly begun the wedding preparations. I'll try to keep you posted! We're thinking classy pizza party in the forest preserve- semi-small and casual. Most of all, I'm just excited to finally be marrying this guy who's already been with me through the best and worst of times. He's the best, and I can't wait!