Our Valentine's Day Love Story Winner!

And our Valentine's Day winners are...(drum roll)....

Kelley & Troy!

We melted over this story and the lengths Troy went to to make this perfect for Kelley. They are our 2014 Valentine's Day Love Story winners!

THE PROPOSAL

"Troy surprised me, {yes i really had no idea} with the most AMAZING trip to Chicago so that he could propose to me under "the bean" AKA Cloud Gate; a magnificent mirrored sculpture in millennium park. This proposal and entire trip was ridiculously planned- down to all the details and moments. Troy is NOT a planner by any means and this is what made the whole thing that much more special.

Chicago was and is “our special city” the tip we had taken there the year before was simply magical, we had gone through a lot that year and the trip had us falling in love all over again. We both were in love with the architecture, food, beer, people, the walk-ability of the city, the atmosphere, art...everything!

I came home from work on a Thursday in May 2012 and he told me to pack my bags he had a surprise planned ( he had spoken to my boss and gotten me a few days off, which I didn't know). He gave me a list of what to pack and the next day at 2pm we were in Chicago. I couldn't contain myself with excitement. Troy was very cute, he seemed so organized and a little nervous. After we checked into the same hotel wed had been the year prior, he told me to get ready, he laid out an outfit for me and ran to get me my favorite lunch. We took a cab to millennium park, as an art lover this was amazing to me. Troy and I are not ones that like to have the spotlight or have all eyes on us. We walked over to the “bean” and there were people ALL over the place. As soon as we got under the beautiful structure he dropped to a knee(everyone was watching but he (and I ) didn't care. He told me that I was his best friend and the woman of his dreams, that he saw himself with me and our kids when he looked into the future..I couldn't believe what was happening it was the most romantic thing I’d ever experienced.

The next few moments were pretty much a blur, especially once I saw the most amazing ring he pulled out of his pocket, that he had custom designed for months. I was shaking and saying oh my god oh my god. I few moments later a man walked over and was taking our photo, I soon realized and him and Troy were talking. He hired a photographer to capture the moment he proposed, something completely out of his comfort zone but Troy knew how important this moment was and wanted it captured for me!

Then we went all over the city for the most unforgettable engagement photo shoot, seeing sights that we would never see otherwise. After, we went for a romantic candle lit dinner. The day after the best day EVER (the proposal day) Troy had more surprises- he had gotten us practically dugout seats to a Cubs game! Needless to say it was the best Chicago trip of our lives!

The weekend before the engagement trip Troy told me he was going up to Orange County to visit a friend. I had no clue he actually flew up to northern California, where I’m from to surprise my parents and ask for their blessing. Needless to say he had it already since wed been together over 5 years; but he planned out the trip with my best friend to surprise my parents at their favorite restaurant. My best friend and her husband and plans to go to dinner with my parents to celebrate mother’s day weekend. (My mom is like a mother to my BFF). They drove almost 2 hrs to the airport to pick up my guy and brought him to the restaurant. My parents were so shocked and surprised to see Troy, who had flowers for my mom and a Tiffany bean necklace to commemorate where we would get engaged the next week- he also told her of the silver beans meaning, new beginnings. He also showed them the custom ring he designed and explained that the sapphires symbolized eternal love. They were in tears. The kicker was my mom was flying out the next morning to meet me for our annual mother’s day weekend trip. We met in Las Vegas for a spa weekend and she said it took all she had to not spill the beans J I will never forget our engagement weekend as long as I live it was easily one of the best weekends of my life!"