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Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope you’re having a great weekend.

Today I have some very exciting news to share with you all! If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already heard the announcement, but for those of you who haven’t… Tania and I are officially engaged!

The two of us had been talking about taking this next step for quite a while, but this year, we decided it was finally the perfect time. We both had very specific visions of what we wanted for our engagement rings: Tania had her heart set on an oval stone in a slanted setting ever since she saw this design from Brilliant Earth, and I’d always known I wanted a twisted halo design like this one. We decided to have our rings custom-made, for a couple of reasons. First, we wanted our rings to be absolutely perfect for us and just as we’d envisioned. I’d seen some twisted halo designs at jewelry stores, but none of them were quite what I’d had in mind, and we hadn’t seen anything in stores that was even close to Tania’s vision. Second, we have several friends who went the custom route and highly recommended it. It sounds counterintuitive, but getting custom-made rings often costs the same – or even less – than buying them from a traditional jewelry store. Not only do you get to choose everything from material to carat size yourself, but you’re really just paying for the materials and design costs. At a big-box store like Peoples or Michael Hill, ring prices reflect not only the materials and production, but also their high overhead costs, marketing budgets and C-suite salaries. Plus, Tania and I both love supporting local businesses, and there’s something special about knowing your ring is one-of-a-kind!

Now, some people may find it interesting that Tania and I were both so transparent with each other about being fully involved in this process. Truthfully, that’s just how we’ve always been as a couple. Since early on in our relationship, we’ve talked openly and honestly about the “hot topics” – marriage, kids, finances – that’s just how we are, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! But the more I talk to friends and colleagues in our age group, it seems that the traditional notion of the total “surprise proposal” is falling by the wayside. Now, the fact that Tania and I aren’t your “traditional” couple – i.e. two women – already introduces some unique elements to consider… who proposes to who, for instance? But talking to our engaged and married friends, the majority of whom are straight, it seems they’ve also been very open and honest with each other about wanting to get engaged. And while the proposals may have been a surprise, the plan to get engaged was not – and truthfully, isn’t that the way it should be? Side note: Amy Schumer does a hilarious bit in one of her stand-up routines, making fun of movie proposals and how the brides-to-be always seem to be completely gobsmacked. “I didn’t even know you liked me! I’m still on Tinder!” (I’ll share the clip if I can ever find it… it’s too funny!)

Another interesting trend I’ve noticed is that more and more women are taking an active role in choosing their own engagement rings, which just makes sense. An engagement ring is a big investment and it’s going to be something you wear every day for the rest of your life, so wouldn’t you want it to be perfect? We worked with a local Burlington-based jeweler – Kat Wilkinson of Modern Love Jewellery – to design our rings, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with them! Kat worked diligently with us to create beautiful and timeless pieces that matched our visions perfectly, and we can’t recommend her services enough. Here’s a peek at how the rings turned out… we are both obsessed!

Of course, we wanted there to be some element of surprise in all this! So while we each worked with Kat to get the ring designs just right (and gave the go-ahead on the final CAD drawings) neither Tania or I saw our physical rings until the proposals, which were also a surprise. Of course we both knew they were coming, but neither of us knew how or when the other would pop the question. We did know from the beginning that we wanted dual proposals, as we each strongly felt that the other deserved their own special moment! Plus, we had so much fun planning them – although since we share everything with each other, keeping the secret was the toughest part!

So here’s how it happened… on August 18, Tania took me on a dinner date downtown, then suggested we go for a nightcap on the beach. She drove us to Humber Bay Shores, which has always been a special spot for us. That particular stretch of beach has been the site of many picnics, walks and wine dates during the five years we’ve been together. She laid down a beach blanket and opened a bottle of Trius Rosé, one of my favourite wines. While we watched the sun set over the lake, Tania mentioned she’d brought dessert, and pulled out the most adorable “will you marry me?” cookies from XO Cookie Co. (Tania’s friend Marlena owns this business and she makes the cutest personalized sugar cookies – and unlike other ‘pretty’ cookies I’ve tried from similar businesses, these ones actually taste really good! I highly recommend her for all your custom cookie needs!)

Anyways, back to the proposal… of course my answer was yes! And after some happy tears and gushing over my ring, which I was seeing for the first time, Tania told me to turn around, where I spotted our friends Jordan, Marie and Richard. They’d been hiding behind a tree snapping photos the entire time!

Now that the jig was up, Jordan, Marie and Richard came to take some more photos of us on the beach. Marie and Richard both have professional cameras (and Richard is a photographer) so the pictures turned out beautifully. (I wish my own photos looked half this good!)

I’d be remiss not to include a photo of this family of cookie crumb-seeking ducks who decided to join in the celebration…

After the impromptu photo shoot, our friends headed out to give us some alone time to celebrate the moment. Some blurry selfies and cookie-eating followed…

It was truly one of the most special nights of my life, and it just illustrates why I’m so lucky to be spending my forever with Tania. She put so much planning into this evening and made every detail perfect – I couldn’t have felt more spoiled!

Thank you all so much for following along and sharing in the joy of this special milestone! It was tough keeping it a secret for so long, but we wanted to tell our families and friends in person before posting the news publicly. But now the cat is out of the bag, and I’m so excited to tell you guys all about my proposal to Tania at Makkink’s Flower Farm, which followed a week after this one. But I think that deserves a post all its own, so I’ll be sharing that story in a few days. Stay tuned!