Joel & Chelsea met at Goat Hill Tavern in Costa Mesa, California (in fact, Joel is still saved in Chelsea's phone as "Joel Goat Hill"). While it took a little persistence on Joel's part, the two hung out for the first time a month or so after they first met.
As they spent more time together, the two quickly became best friends– enjoying countless late night chats, date nights, and weekend getaways. After almost four years of music festivals, new jobs, and adventures, Joel popped the question on October 11, 2019, and the two could not be more excited to begin the next chapter of their relationship as husband and wife on February 20, 2021.
It all started during Tuesday night trivia with friends…. Something we often do. During a break in the game, the group started discussing the weekend plans. Nick Straubel proposed that we all go and see his friends band play in Laguna at one of our favorite local spots. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is my dream night. We all agreed to meet at Beachcomber (at 6pm?), for dinner before the show.
Little did I realize, this was the bait to lure me into the most unexpected, BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE. (Looking back at this plan, I laugh because what group of friends pre-games a punk concert at a five star restaurant..)
Friday came around and I went to work as usual. Joel had texted me that day to make sure I would be home in time for our “dinner reservation” at 6pm. Surprisingly, I left work early and got home around 4pm. Without realizing anything out of the ordinary, Joel stops me before getting in the shower to say, “You know it’s 4:30 right?”, “You think you have time to shower, and be ready?” Between the sass and laugh in my response, I ended up taking longer in the shower. Per my typical getting ready routine, I took forever lolli-gagging until eventually Joel was doing anything and everything to get me out the door, without giving anything away. I left with wet hair and did my makeup in the Uber. While in the Uber, I was super flustered trying to rush and put makeup on in the dark car. I remember Joel breathing heavy and asking me about my day while I responded with, “Don’t rub my leg, I'm trying to do my mascara.” Poor guy.
We finally get to Beachcomber and start walking down the path towards the restaurant. Joel wanted to stop and use the bathrooms before going in, so we stopped. We re-group and Joel grabs my hand as we walk towards the restaurant. As soon as we got to the entrance, he started pulling me the opposite direction and says, “Let’s go for a walk”. I was so confused and kept repeating “why”, “what”, and “Isn’t everyone waiting for us?” To which he kept pulling me towards the water and saying, “just come on, it’s so pretty outside”,and “let’s just walk for a minute.” I remember asking him if our friends were okay, if he was okay, and then if we were going to be walking for awhile because I was wearing heeled booties on sand. Still oblivious to the situation, he started reminiscing our relationship as we walked. I started to see white rose petals and tea candles lying on the sand. When I realized that this was a path leading towards blankets and pillows and a picnic, I started crying. I still had no idea what was about to happen.
He grabbed my hands, said the sweetest words and got down on one knee. I can’t even explain the shock I felt, but have never felt so elated and overjoyed as that moment. Through the shock and the tears, I said yes! We popped the champagne he had packed and enjoyed the moment with laughter and excitement. Eventually, he tells me that the night isn’t over, and that we needed to get back to the restaurant. I was on cloud 11 when we walked back to the restaurant and heard “SURPRISE” only to see our families and friends ready to celebrate with us. I don’t think I have ever cried happier tears. Truly, this was the best night of my life!
While I had a bunch of different ideas about how I wanted to propose, I couldn't help but think to myself, "Chelsea needs to get engaged on the beach." The other thought that I couldn't shake was that we needed to have our closest family and friends there to celebrate with us. With those two thoughts in mind, I got to work attempting to plan the ultimate surprise for Chelsea.
The first step was to find a day that her mom would be able to make the trip down from Seattle to share the night with us. Once we locked in the date, I immediately started to worry about getting her to a beach we rarely go to (on a Friday night no-less), without her suspecting anything different. I knew I couldn't plan anything too far in advance (as that would raise a HUGE red flag), so I continued to finalize the rest of the details while trying to come up with a good excuse to get her down to that beach right at sunset. I coordinated the details with our family and friends, and the last step was to get her there.
It was the Tuesday before the proposal, and I had planned on asking her to join me for a "client dinner" at Beachcomber Cafe that coming Friday night. As I was waiting for her to get home from work that night, I got a text from Nick (our roommate) saying, "Are you still planning on doing the thing on Friday? Chelsea just invited everyone over for pumpkin carving." After a minute (okay more than a minute) of panic, we came up with a better idea– let's hijack her plans.
That same night, we went to play Trivia with a bunch of our friends, and Nick said, "Let's do pumpkin carving closer to Halloween– my friend's band is playing at Marine Room on Friday night and it would be fun if we all went." Chelsea lit up– she was so excited (so excited that I honestly felt a little guilty that it was a lie). We planned to do dinner before we went to "see the band," and encouraged Chelsea to try and get off work early so we would not be late our dinner reservation (which was actually the time of the sunset).
Come Friday, Chelsea got home from work about an hour early, and I started thinking "Yes, this is going to work perfectly!" I was in my office pretending to work (but actually coordinating the details with everyone who was helping), and assumed she was upstairs getting ready. After about an hour, I was thinking Chelsea was probably getting close to being ready. The ring was in my pocket, and I was all ready to go, and then Chelsea walked down to get in the shower– she hadn't even started getting ready!
I looked down at my watch and thought, "Okay, we've still got about 90 minutes until sunset– we're cutting it close but we should be fine." I encouraged her to move fast because I didn't want to be late, which must have annoyed her because she was in the shower for 40 minutes.
40 minutes?!
At this point, everyone who was already at the beach was texting me asking for updates, and Chelsea kept saying "10 more minutes."
By the time we left the house, the sun had already gone down, we were over an hour late, and I had been on an emotional roller coaster trying to get her out the door. As we approached the beachfront restaurant, I grabbed her arm and said, "Let's take a walk– our friends aren't here."
At this point I expected her to sense what was happening, but I was WRONG. She kept asking, "What do you mean no one is here? Did they already leave?" As we walked down the moonlit beach, the touching and emotional speech I'd prepared in my head completely disappeared as I felt my heart race and I tried to keep my cool. As we walked up to the picnic I'd prepared, I collected my nerves, dropped down to one knee, and asked my best friend to spend the rest of her life with me.
The rest of the night was a wonderful blur– I vaguely remember lots of hugs, laughter, and tears of joy as we joined many of our closest family and friends in the "Barefoot Bar" for celebratory cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.
Huge thanks to all of the amazing people who helped plan the perfect proposal, and to everyone else that has stood by our side over the years. We cannot wait to celebrate with each and every one of you next February in La Quinta. See you there!
