Sarah and Skyler
How He Asked First off – I don’t know if you follow me on Instagram – but I was given a giant poster board that had all these post-it notes on it, saying things my boyfriend loved about me. What I didn’t know is underneath the 45 post-it notes, there were pictures of beautiful places. I didn’t know what all of them were, but I did recognize a couple of them. One of the pictures was a print of airline tickets to Europe! The other pictures were places we were going to visit, including the Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen Germany that I had mentioned to him one time about how much I’d love to see it. Castle are my absolute favorite! I have more Disney in me than the average 6-year-old and even started a Princess and Character company. Neuschwanstein Castle is said to have been Walt Disney’s inspiration for his Disney castle, and I’d had it on my bucket list forever!
We left a few short weeks later and arrived in Switzerland. During the last 3 days of the trip, we made it to Germany. We stuck to a pretty tight itinerary and intentionally booked hotels next to the castles in Fussen. In addition to the picture-perfect scenery, they offer a full castle tour. After waking up to thick fog as far as the eye could see – which in this case ended up being about 100 feet, we arranged our schedule a little bit and decided to head indoors to take the tour. I was so disappointed that we had come all that way and I couldn’t even see the beautiful castle. Just before we left, I told Sky that I had this picture saved on my phone that I would like to re-create with the castle in the background.
I wanted to dress up like a princess, looking at the castle from afar and have the shot taken with my back to the camera. Little did I know, he was way ahead of me. We hiked over some trails and found the spot to take the photo. The fog had lifted, but just enough to barely make out the outline of the castle. After all that walking uphill, my heart sunk a little. My boyfriend, ever the optimist, said it was no big deal and that we would come back the next day. He assured me the fog would clear and everything would be okay. Somehow I believed him. With the morning sunrise, I could tell he was right and this was going to make for a great photo shoot. I got dressed up (again) in my little Cinderella dress, princess crown, and glass slippers and started our trek back to the spot we’d found. Being an Instagram Influencer, he’s kind of assumed the role of the “boyfriends of Instagram” and regularly takes my photos in various locations.
This time he decided he wanted to buy a tripod with a little remote so we could take them together and not need to bother other visiting tourists. Once we arrived, I was busy scouting out the exact position I wanted while he readied the tripod. I explained what I wanted once again and stood facing the castle with my back to the camera for the shot I wanted. He took a couple of pictures and then came over next to me to join me for some photos. I had no idea what was about to happen, since this had been a semi-regular thing he’d do with me. I love when we get pictures together and so I assumed he was just joining me because he was also dressed up quite nicely. That’s when he got down on his knee. I assumed he was adjusting something for the picture and didn’t realize what was happening. When I finally turned towards him, I was in shock!
We had been together for almost 4 years and never really talked about a wedding or tried on rings like most couples do, so it came as a huge surprise. He opened the ring box and inside was the most perfect ring I could have imagined. It was shaped like a tiara and so beautiful! On top of that, he had designed the ring himself! And he pretends not to have any artistic ability. Pssh. Apart from its perfect symbolism for my personality, it carried additional significant meaning, which I didn’t learn for several weeks. He was seeing if I would figure it out. It has a diamond in the center with 2 sapphires surrounding it. This happens to be my favorite stone. There are a couple medium diamonds underneath and then 14 small diamonds below. They are symbolizing the date we met – 2/14. I would have told this guy yes if he had proposed in the drive-thru line of McDonald’s so of course I said, “Yes!”
We finished the afternoon by taking a horse-drawn carriage down the mountain to the lake where he rented a paddleboat and we paddled the boat across one of the most beautiful and crystal clear lakes in Germany – Lake Alpsee. Just before we left, we met an old man who had been coming to the castle for years and sketching it with pencils. He drew one of the most incredible pictures I’ve ever seen (by memory no less!) and gave it to me as a keepsake for me to remember the day. It was absolutely a dream come true and I still can’t believe it happened! Now I am planning a Cinderella themed wedding because that’s the only way to follow that proposal. I designed my own dress and found an incredible seamstress making it for me. We will be getting married at Castle Manor in September and I’m so excited! And of course we’ll be renting a carriage!
Fairytale Proposal Video
