Looking back one year later on the night we got engaged.

All images by Hannah Schweiss Photography

This last week, I have been nostalgically looking back on this time last year, the night Sam proposed and what came after that. To this day, I haven’t publicly shared the story... We’ve kept this moment fairly private and very close to our hearts- now, one year later and I thought it was time to give you a closer peek into the night Sam proposed. So, here’s how it all went down, from my point of view.

On February 11, 2023, after what I thought was a normal Saturday- appliance shopping at ABT and vintage browsing at Dial M For Modern, we came home to get ready for “dinner and Les Miserbales with Sam’s parents”… or so he said.

For context- our bathroom in our home is at the back of the house, I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but looking back, Sam was doing everything he could to keep me there and make sure I wasn’t distracted by any noises. Not in a weird way- but for example, I had realized the earrings I wanted to wear were in my coat pocket and Sam instantly sprung up to run to our front door coat closet and kindly said: “don’t worry babe, I’ve got them!” I said to him, I don’t need them right now, really, to which he responded “no no all good, I’ll go get them now while you finish getting ready. In his head he was probably panicked thinking- don’t you fucking dare go to the front door right now. LOL!! He also had music on fairly loud in the bedroom and turned getting ready into a party but that’s a standard evening for us so I didn’t suspect anything… while we were getting dressed and ready, Sam had the entire studio team at the front of our home, decorating the front steps and getting ready to capture this video as I was doing my makeup. (shoutout to Hannah, Andres, Ty, Elise, Jess & Aubrey)!!

As usual, I was running a few minutes behind, so Sam was waiting downstairs and called to let me know “he had called an Uber”. When I rushed downstairs, he had my shoes waiting for me. As I was putting them on, I saw at flicker of light that looked like a flame in our front window- in my head, I thought, what the heck- is there fire outside? Well, yes. But not the bad kind..

I leaned to take a closer look to make sure there wasn’t the bad kind of fire, there wasn’t, but there were candles and flowers lining our whole front step. I then looked at Sam and loudly exclaimed: “WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING”!!!!

I knew what was happening though, and Sam gently grabbed my hand and said, just come with me…

Everyone says that you blackout when you propose or are proposed to, and let me tell you, it’s true. I remember coming out of the front of our home to camera flashes. When we got to the bottom of the steps, Sam gave what I am sure was a beautiful speech, the only thing I remember, however, is his first sentence: “from the moment I met you, I knew I wanted to marry you”. Then, darkness. I did, though, remember to say yes and I remember it being a shaky, scream/cry like: “YEAAS”, which is all I could get out.

After we had out moment, Sam said, you can all come out now. Which is when Hannah and Andres came out from behind the camera flashes and Elise, Jess and Aubrey came out from hiding around the sides of our house. I was then in shock, all over again. See below for the moment I realized they were all there….

We all hugged and cried, talked about what had just happened and took a few more photos and then, Hannah ran off because “she was shooting an event at The Studio” which, to the best of my knowledge, she was. Ya’ll…. my amazing team was in on this in ways I could have never imagined. We are getting there, promise.

So, after the team left, Sam and I went inside, had a moment to try and digest what just happened. After a few minutes and we calmed down a bit, Sam said, ok, we are going to dinner so when you’re ready, I will call an uber. I said, well, I’m guessing we are meeting our parents for dinner? Since the plan I had known was meeting Sam’s parents for dinner and “my parents were in the suburbs for the weekend visiting some super close friends (which wasn’t an odd thing either). I at this point had figured out that I believed those two things to be false. Sam, however, didn’t let on at all…

During our conversation, he had very slyly said, let’s celebrate just us tonight and we will call our family and friends tomorrow. I didn’t protest much except to say: can I please call my brother!! To which Sam responded, of course you can try but he’s on an overnight summiting (enter said mountain here) so he won’t have cell service. To which I sadly responded, you’re right. I knew that Evan was climbing a mountain (ya’ll, my brother is the coolest, literal mountain climber, avalanche educator, back country ski guide) so although this sounds wild, Evan being out of service for a few days sleeping on a mountain is not of the ordinary. He had told my family as he always does, that this weekend, he would be out of service- so I did not call.

Sam and I got in an Uber, and I, of course, was still freaking out. I said to Sam: can I please at least call Ilana!! Sam so nicely responded, let’s enjoy tonight and we can go to her house tomorrow and facetime everyone to tell them. I kept pushing; “does she know”?! “Where is she”?! Sam so nicely saying, I don’t know where she is, babe- we will go over first thing tomorrow…. Sam- you little shit. HA!!!!

So- we arrive at our destination. I walk into two front doors and then, I once again, completely lose my shit… to say the least.

I entered into a room, filled with all of the people closest to us (almost). Most importantly, both of our families and both of our brothers who both flew in from their respective states to be there. I don’t get to see my brother as often as I’d like anymore given his epic career and the sheer distance between us so needless to say, when I saw him- I completely lost it. The surprise in its entirety had me beyond emotional but to have our brothers in the room really was the icing on this incredible cake. I’m laughing thinking back at this moment because for someone who generally holds their composure fairly well, I was, well, audibly sobbing (see above).

Unexpectedly having so many of your loved ones in one room is so emotional and I am forever grateful that Sam worked so hard with my family and friends to pull this night off. It’s a night I’ll really, never forget.

Not only had Sam been in touch with Hannah and the whole Studio team for weeks to pull this off, but my team pulled off some seriously shady shit (in the best way- love ya’ll) to make sure I knew nothing about what was going on. I learned later that they had pulled me off email chains, created fake calendar events, our studio manager Ty was “on vacation” for the weekend…. all of it, to help Sam pull off this amazing surprise and of course, they were all there too. Elise, Jess and Aubrey decorated this room to be so personal and so beautiful (shoutout Chic From Chicago- hire her for your events)!!! I’m still not over all these details to this day- not sure I ever will be.

We spent the night, loving on all of our people, eating, drinking, dancing and just having the best time. Afterwards, a bunch of people came back to our house and we do what we do best, turned on a throwback emo playlist and had way too much fun until about 2 in the morning.

I always wondered where people found a man who did stuff like this for them- especially in this day and age, it’s easy to feel like the good ones, the nice ones, the genuine ones don’t exist, trust me. I felt this way for a long time. As cheesy as it may sound and I don’t want to preach to ya’ll, I just want you to know, if you haven’t found them yet- there is a person out there who is going to love you for exactly who you are. Someone who is going to lift you up, be there for you, treat you in the most genuine, kind hearted way. There is someone who is going to be willing to take all they have to pull of your perfect proposal (if that’s what you want) and make sure you feel like the most special person on the planet. Be patient and please don’t settle for any less.

I’m so happy to finally have shared this story with all of you, as it’s one of the most special nights in our life thus far. But more than anything, this post is for my incredible Fiancé. Sam, thank you for this night and for being the best partner I could ask for. I wanted to make sure this story could live somewhere permanently where we could always look back and remember exactly how this night took place, at least, from my point of view. I love you.

xx Ali