Wow I’m sitting here rewatching this video and tearing up. I’m so grateful for this beautiful day and the blessings that followed. I’m also cracking up that my nails were a bright chippy teal. Let’s just say… I was not prepared!

Brian and I have been together since we were 19 and 20 (I’m obviously the younger one). We always talked about getting married, but we also had other plans that always came first— he studied abroad in Australia, we graduated college, got our first jobs, lived in Boston (not together) and then moved across the country to California. Here we started Tone It Up, created a new life on the beach, and traveled as much as we could. We always knew we would get married, so we weren’t in a rush, but it was definitely something we wanted to do.

I remember running on the beach one day and Brown Eyed Girl came on my Pandora and I started crying thinking about my father-daughter dance one day. I came home from the run and looked at Brian and said… ‘when do you think we want to get married?’. I don’t even know if he remembers that day (maybe he panicked inside, who knows), but I think that’s when I realized I really wanted a wedding—  not just for us, but for our families and for everyone who supported our relationship for the past 9 years.

I don’t know how long after that Brian bought a ring, but it was probably a good six months. I was fuming and so upset… JK— we were so busy with work that I couldn’t even think much about it. We were running TIU and in the middle of filming a Docu-Series for Bravo. I knew we’d eventually get married.

That summer we traveled back to my family’s lake house in New Hampshire where we spent every summer for over 15 years. One rainy day at the lake, we were all at the boat house enjoying a glass of wine when Brian decided he was going to jump in the lake. This wasn’t unusual for Brian since he can’t chill for more than 5 minutes. Seriously… he can’t sit still.

He handed my brother the camera and asked him to take pics of him jumping off the boat house. Brian took the plunge and as he came up from the water he shared that he found something at the bottom of the lake…

It was one of those moments in life that everything moves in slow motion– nothing else exists in the world. He proposed with the kindest words- he’s my best friend and the love of my life. I was so surprised, but also smiling ear to ear hearing my mom excitedly yelling OMG (possibly low key cursing) to the left of me.

Easiest YES ever.

Inside a seashell case, he had the ring on a piece of drift wood. It’s a beautiful canary diamond ring.

Thank you Brian 🙂 This was one of the most special days for me and of course, Chris and Jane.