My Fairytale Engagement

So, as I said last week, fiancé and I got engaged while on our trip to Disney World this spring break!  I wanted to share the story with my fellow 20-something Disney lovers!


So let's just dive right in, shall we?


It was Tuesday, and the new Festival of Fantasy parade had just ended, around 3:30.  (Side note, the new parade is awesome, and I'll be sure to talk about it in my trip review).  Fiancé (things are getting serious, I suppose, so bloggers, his name is Alex) had said a few times that he wanted to go to the Hall of Presidents, since we didn't have a chance to go last year.  I didn't think anything of it until I suggested we go once the parade ended.

His response?

"Let's wait until 4:00."

Alex isn't good a secrets.

So we waited until 4.  We didn't have a lot of time, so we just sort of wandered around between Main Street and Liberty Square until he deemed it time to go.  We approached a small nook near the hall of presidents, and I thought it was cute.  Quaint.  But I also thought his moment was ruined because there was a lady sitting in one of the chairs.  I also didn't see a photographer, something that I insisted on if we ever got engaged.

The nook in Liberty Square (this was post-proposal).

However, it didn't take me long to realize that Alex had something else up his sleeve.  I found a scroll, wrapped around a rose, with a tag that read "Important Mail for Alex Ermine and Sarah Richter."

The scroll, tag, and first rose.

The scroll gave instructions for a scavenger hunt!  However, this was no ordinary scavenger hunt.  It was to lead us to a message from the Beast and Belle themselves!  The roses along the way were cursed, and he had to find them all before the petals all fell.  I was so excited.  Beauty and the Beast happens to be my favorite Disney movie (probably since my mom called me Sarah Belle as I grew up, and I love to read), so having a scavenger hunt that I knew would lead to my proposal was just perfect!

We were off, following clues that led us all around Liberty Square, Frontierland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland.  I don't want to give all of it away (I'll include a link to the service Alex used), but let's just say it was fantastic.  All in all, it took about 2 hours to complete the scavenger hunt, and I had no idea which would be the last clue until we got there.

Clue finding around Pirates of the Caribbean

The clue that took almost half an hour to find

Belle's gift shop

My most and least favorite rose

As a side note, the last picture, of "my most and least favorite rose" entailed standing in line for Haunted Mansion.  The line was half an hour long, and once I found my rose, I didn't even want to ride the ride!  I begged Alex to leave out of the emergency exit with me, but he insisted that another 3 minutes until we could continue was worth it.  He was probably right.

The last clue led to the little tollbooth on the bridge between Main Street/the Castle and Liberty Square.  Sitting on a ledge inside the booth was another scroll with another rose.  I unwrapped it to read:

Let true love unite, undying,

Until our last rose petal falls.

Sarah, will you marry me?

And as I finish reading, trying not to cry, I look up to see Alex on one knee with a box and ring in his hand.

I said yes, and he placed the ring on my finger.

A crowd of people walking by had gathered, and cheered and clapped as I jumped into Alex's arms for the absolute best hug of my life!

It was perfect, and magical.  I couldn't have asked for anything better, and wouldn't have thought of something so ideal on my own.  Alex made my dreams come true, and showed me that our love really was like a fairytale!

Afterward, with all of my roses and my ring on my hand!

My ring, my prince, and Cinderella Castle

OF COURSE afterward, once we had lived the moment to it's fullest, we made a beeline for information at the front of Main Street to get our "Just Engaged" buttons!

The ladies that helped us were fantastic.  They were so excited, which made us even more excited, as if that were even possible.  My favorite moment, though, was when one of the ladies asked me if I'd called my mom yet...and I hadn't.  I told her that my mom knew the importance of the celebration button.

The other then took us over to The Chapeau, the main Mickey ear store, and got us complimentary Bride and Groom ears, which I was not expecting at all, but I thought was really, really nice.  Another couple that had just gotten engaged even asked us about them the next day in Hollywood Studios.  They got engaged at Narcoosee's, though, so they weren't given the spoils of our perfect engagement!

Our immediate selfie out of excitement for the ears.

Also, I then did call my mom.

She was not at all mad that I got my button first.

From start to finish, it was nothing short of magical <3

Take-aways from this for you planners out there:

• If you are celebrating ANYTHING, get a pin.  Birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, family reunion, marriage, engagement, seriously, anything.  Sure, there is a chance you might be given some free stuff (Alex and I got a congratulations cupcake at Ohana), but more than that, the cast members really do make you feel so special.  So many asked us how Alex did it, to see the ring, how long we were together, if we'd set a date, and one girl even asked for an invitation to the wedding.  Also, the characters (princesses, especially) loved using it as a conversation point. Just get the button.
• Here's the site that Alex found to help him plan the proposal: Gifts of a Lifetime
• If you want to know a little more about Alex and my relationship's back story, check out my feature on Howheasked.com: Alex and Sarah, How He Asked

And there you have it.  My fairytale engagement.

For more information about Alex and my trip, check out my Trip Report posts!
Trip Report Part 1, Trip Report Part 2

Until next time <3

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