Will you marry me?

I had never thought about marriage and wedding before meeting Sami. After only a few dates he already wanted to discuss big things such as values, marriage and kids, which surprised me (and scared me a bit) but I guess it's better to be on the same page right away. At that point I was 22 and I started thinking I could get married eventually.

When is the right time?

I started thinking very seriously about marrying Sami back in 2017, a few months after I lost my dad, I think I had a sudden realisation that life is too short and that I wanted to do this. However, we were still in a long distance relationship at the time so it wasn't the right time. But Sami knew that it had become really important to me and that my Pinterest boards were ready! We had ups and downs as every couple but in spring 2021 after finally settling down together for a rather long time, "after" a global pandemic, after a good therapy for me, it seemed that we were stronger than ever.

The proposal

I knew it was going to happen in 2021, but I didn't where, when or how. In July we were invited to one of our best friend's wedding in Spain and decided to make it a cool nostalgic vacation by spending some additional time in Barcelona, where we met. It was amazing to finally go back there after 7 years.

On the first day we had a very romantic dinner on a rooftop at sunset, a beautiful moment, he didn't propose! The next day we went to see a museum that we love and had planned to go to Tibidabo (a small mountain in Barcelona) but couldn't find the right bus. Little did I know that it's were Sami had planned to propose and he had been carrying the ring with him all day!

In the evening we went back to our hotel and he said "I gotta do it now", I was confused but he was already getting on one knee. He asked "will you marry me" and my first reaction was "For real?" I thought I was dreaming! After that I said YES and kissed him a thousand times and started yelling "I'm engaged" at the window Monica style. I couldn't wait to share the news with my mom, my brother and my 2 best friends so I called them the same night.

I will remember this moment forever, it was the perfect time and place, it was low-key, it was us.

What happened next?

The proposal happened the day before our friend's bachelorette and 4 days before her wedding. Of course we didn't want to steal her thunder and kept it a secret. The day after the wedding I couldn't keep it any longer. I told my dear friends (the bride and another bridesmaid) how happy I was to have been a part of this amazing event, to have been a bridesmaid. So I said "will you do the same for me?" showing the ring, they both said yes and we have a good cry/laughter. This particular week was so filled with emotions it was probably the best of my life so far!

Then the announcements and celebrations started, we held our engagement party in Finland in September 2021. We then started our wedding planning, what a thrill!

We had our engagement photoshoot in January 2022 because I really wanted snow in the background and our photographer (Sander Vill) did an amazing job!