4 years ago today, Ben and I were in my hometown of Calistoga, California (population 5,000 for those of you who may have been wondering). We decided to visit my parents for the long weekend and I was so excited to show Ben some of my favorite places where I grew up.

After Ben secretly talked with my dad and asked his permission to marry me, he suggested we head to the beach to watch the sunset. It took a little convincing to get me to go along with it because it’s a little over an hour drive to the beach! I love my little hometown and had so many things to show Ben, but eventually I decided the beach would be fun.

We headed out to Bodega Bay and settled on watching the sunset from Schoolhouse Beach. We walked down to the water’s edge and sat on a piece of driftwood together while digging our toes in the rocky sand. Suddenly Ben remembered that he’d left his coat in the car. It wasn’t all that cold, but he insisted he go get it. Little did I know he had the ring box in his coat pocket and that was why he needed to go get it from the car!

When he got back, he offered me his coat after slipping the box in his pants pocket. He suggested we stand up and take a little stroll around the beach, so up I stood. And when I looked over at him, he was down on one knee, offering me the most perfect ring I’d ever seen.

“Sydney Rose Hughes, will you marry me?”

I remember hearing the question but not fully grasping what was happening. “What are you doing?!” I asked him as he offered me his whole heart. It was an excited “what are you doing” but it still wasn’t quite the response he was expecting! I just kept staring at the ring, wondering why he wasn’t putting it on my finger!

“So…is that a yes?”

I was so embarrassed (and deliriously happy)! Had I really forgotten to say yes? How many times had I imagined the moment when my dream man would propose to me? It had always gone perfectly in my head…but life rarely goes perfectly 🙂 It often goes better.

I finally said yes and we enjoyed our sunset on the beach together. We didn’t have a camera with us, but luckily there was a girl on the beach who had brought her DSLR to practice and offered to take our photo for us! We’ll treasure these photos, and our goofy little story, forever. 💕

Here’s a little compilation of photos from when we were dating and engaged 🙂