Hello Friends!
If you have stumbled your way onto my blog and are reading this, welcome! My name is Jenna, and here are a quick 10 facts about me:
1) I was born and raised in Northern California, but currently reside in Orange County.
2) I have been a HUGE fan of Disney since practically birth, which I'm sure you will see as time goes on. I was lucky enough to find my soulmate, who shares this same love.
3) I am 22 years of age, and work as a nanny to two wonderful children.
4) I can play the flute and piccolo, and played volleyball for many years.
5) Hiking is one of my favorite things to do, as well as going on adventures of any kind. Being outdoors is the best.
6) I have one younger brother.
7) I'm a big animal lover. For countless years, I wanted to be a zoologist.
8) As a child, I was painfully shy. As I've gotten older, I have grown out of it immensely, but still have a hint left.
9) I stand at 5' 11" tall.
10) I love to write. I hope to one day publish my own children's book. It's a dream that I want to see come alive. :)
Now that you were able to take a tiny peek into my life, let's get on to the main purpose of my blog... Our fairytale wedding! Let's start at the beginning.
OUR ENGAGEMENT STORY
Jacob and I got engaged on the beautiful island of Lana'i on November 4, 2013, the same day as my parents wedding anniversary, after 4 years together. This was a very last minute (and amazing) proposal idea of Jacob's, and I'll explain why.
Back in August 2011, Jacob and I spent our two year anniversary on Maui. It was a wonderful, low key trip, but we decided to splurge for one day and do an all day excursion with the Maui company, Trilogy Excursions, which was highly recommend by my cousin. This particular excursion left in the morning from the Lahaina Harbor, and took us to the island of Lana'i, where you could relax on the beach, snorkel, snuba, hike to the cliffs that over look Sweet Heart Rock, etc. It was an amazing excursion, that also provided breakfast fruit, cinnamon rolls, beverages, and dinner on Lana'i itself. Here's a photo Jacob and I took on the cliffs, that would actually change everything two years later.
Fast forward two years to August 2013, I find out via Facebook that Trilogy Excursions is holding a contest for their 40th anniversary. The contest rules were that you had to either post a picture of Hawaii, with a caption of what the trip was about, or a picture of any destination, with a caption of what adventure means to you. To have a chance, your friends with Facebook profiles had to vote for your picture, only one vote per profile. The top ten most popular photos would go into a pool, and the staff of T.E. would choose their favorite to win a free trip to Maui, stay at the nicest hotels, go on all expense paid excursions, etc. I jumped on this right away and submitted the above photo, and probably bugged my friends and family for a good 40 days to vote, vote, VOTE!
To make an already long story short, I WON THE CONTEST. I was at work when I received the email, and I couldn't function properly for a good 30 minutes. Sounds ridiculous, but I will admit it. Crying, shaking, calling people... You have to understand though, this doesn't happen to people I know, I was absolutely shocked. After I was able to calm down, we picked our dates, and were set to go.
The trip itself was amazing, I wont go into detail, but Jacob and I felt like royalty. Everyone was so incredibly kind and accommodating, it all just seemed like a dream. I will forever be thankful to everyone who made that trip what it was.
On our last morning, we woke up at The Four Seasons at Manele Bay on Lana'i, and headed to the beach to enjoy a few hours more of sunshine. Plus, Jacob was scheduled to snuba later as well. As a last second idea, I decided that I wanted to go up to those same cliffs like we did two years ago, since we wouldn't have time later to do so.
After reaching the top, I was completely blind sided when Jacob got down on one knee in front of a small circle of Hawaiian flowers, and proposed, with a secret photographer and all!
We got engaged on the same cliff in front of Sweetheart Rock, that basically won us this trip in the first place. It's such a great story to tell, and it makes me THAT much more excited, because... I can finally plan my dream DISNEY wedding!
I hope you enjoy our journey from my perspective, as we take this next exciting step in our lives. Many fun-filled things are to come, and I hope you are here for the ride! :)
Jenna xo
