A Foggy & Windy Engagement Session at Roan Mountain | Roan Mountain, TN
“What started as a series of failed events turned into the perfect proposal on a cliff overlooking rolling mountains and a rushing river with a tree that had several hearts carved into it.”
Proposal Story?
Nick: “Proposal attempt #1 ) Travel to Maggie Valley and propose at Soco Falls. However, after a wintery blizzard, power outages, and unsafe traveling conditions we decided not to go.
Proposal attempt #2) Traveled to Charleston, SC and find a cool spot to propose. However, driving about an hour away from the house, my engine blew up and the car broke down on the side of the road. Brooke and all of our friends continued to head to SC while I waited for the tow truck. By the time I got home to swap vehicles and drive to meet up with everyone, it was about 1 am. Next, it rained the entire trip and was very cold and windy. There were about 2 hours on Saturday when the rain let up and we visited “the Angel Tree” which was about a 450-year-old oak tree that looked awesome. Once we arrived on site, the tree seemed to be inside of a dog park and a guy who we think worked there was walking in circles around the tree yelling at everyone to not touch or get to close to the tree. This experience was not good and I didn’t feel like it was the right place or time to ask Brooke the big question. So we traveled back home the next day.
Proposal attempt #3) Traveled to Hot Springs, NC to attempt to visit a magical place called ‘Max Patch.’ Once we arrived at our cabin in Hot Springs, it had snowed 5 inches already and we almost didn’t make it to our cabin! It snowed 8 inches that night. The next day we drove to Max Patch, however, due to the snowy roads, we were not able to get up the mountain to reach our destination. Big bummer. We tried to venture to Max Patch a second time on another day, but still, the road was too icy and we got stuck trying to make it up the 2-mile long road to the hiking area. Later that day, Brooke found a hiking trail called ‘Lovers Leap’ that was closer in the town of Hot Springs where it hadn’t snowed as much. So we successfully made it to the trailhead and discovered the beauty of the cliff off of lovers leap trail. This is where I asked Brooke for her hand in marriage. She was so surprised and said THANK YOU before she even said the ring. What started as a series of failed events turned into the perfect proposal on a cliff overlooking rolling mountains and a rushing river with a tree that had several hearts carved into it.”
What was it like early in your relationship?
Nick: “The early part of our relationship was really fun and exciting. Full of new experiences such as concerts and traveling to new areas. Our first date was on New Year’s Day 2015 (which we now celebrate as our dating anniversary). Brooke asked me if we could have ‘an adventure’ that day. We met for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and talked about our goals and what we wanted to do with our lives. We then went hiking at the Haw River where Brooke asked me to not take pictures of her, but I did anyway. As the sun was starting to set, we drove back towards Jordan Lake to watch the sunset at a great spot I knew of. The whole time Brooke was threatening what she would do to me if I made her miss such a beautiful sunset over finding this ‘perfect spot,’ which we never did find… But we didn’t miss the sunset and it’s one of Brooke’s favorite stories to tell. From there on out our adventures together continued to involve mountains, hikes, and wineries any chance we could get.”
“Every time I look into Brooke’s eyes I see and feel the connection, love and trust. I truly have never felt this in my life until I met Brooke.”
Name one thing you love about each other.
Nick: “It is extremely hard to pick just one character trait or one thing that I love about Brooke. But the question does ask to pick one so if I had to I would say that I love Brooke for her companionship. She is my best friend that I love spending every second of the day with and wake up next too every morning. She is the love that I have by my side no matter what activity we are doing. Every time I look into Brooke’s eyes I see and feel the connection, love and trust. I truly have never felt this in my life until I met Brooke.”
Brooke: “It is really hard to name only one thing that I love about Nick, but if I had to name only one it would be his supportive nature. Whether I am doubting myself, on the verge of a breakdown, entertaining a wildly optimistic idea, or just completely overbooking ourselves with obligations, he is always supportive. He is the voice that constantly assures me that ‘You can do this,’ ‘We can do this.'”
What’s next for the two of you?
Nick: “That’s a great question! After we get past the wedding planning we will probably start working on materializing our dream of moving closer to the mountains and building ‘our’ home together!”
Any funny stories?
Brooke: “When we first started dating, Nick and his roommate used to spend a lot of their time recording weird, corny videos of Nick’s alter ego, ‘Big Sal.’ Big Sal is a mullet wearing, cut-off sleeves, uncomfortably short jean shorts, PBR drinking, America loving guy with a really bad attempt at a country accent. To give you an idea of this ridiculousness, in one ‘episode’ Big Sal goes turkey hunting in the backyard… for a frozen turkey. Anyway, probably only after a month of dating (and before I knew about Big Sal), I was at Nick’s house waiting on him so we could grab some lunch. Nick came out of his bedroom wearing his Big Sal attire, but most horrifyingly, the shortest, tightest, cut-off jean shorts I have EVER seen a man wear. I was shocked. I stared at him and thought to myself, ‘Ok, I really like this guy, so I need to decide right now whether I can handle this weirdness or if I should run out of here right now and never look back.’ Obviously I stayed, but those jean shorts did not :)”
Thanks to Shear Shakti for their incredible hair and makeup job that held up during the most BRUTAL weather on top of Roan Mountain!
