Anyone who follows any of my Pinterest boards knows I really love mini food. A few favorite examples:

Mini caprese sandwiches (by Callahan Catering, photo by Daria Bishop, via Martha Stewart Weddings)

Mini turkey club sandwiches (by Callahan Catering)

Mini spaghetti and meatballs (by Callahan Catering, via Martha Stewart Weddings)

Mini grilled cheese sandwiches (by Callahan Catering)

Mini pork tacos (by Paula LeDuc Fine Catering, photo by SMS Photography via Style Me Pretty)

Mini turkey burgers (by Callahan Catering, via Martha Stewart Weddings)

Mini pigs in a blanket (photo by Thorsen Photography, via Weddingbee)

Mini mac and cheese in parmesan crusts (by Callahan Catering, via Martha Stewart Weddings)

Mini tequila shots and fish tacos (via Luna & Chloe)

Mini chips and salsa scoops (by Paula LeDuc Fine Catering, photo by SMS Photography via Style Me Pretty)

Sliders (photo by Jose Villa)

Call me crazy, but I had a “vision” last night of what our reception might look like incorporating mini food… can’t wait to share! :)

P.S. OBVIOUSLY mini desserts are adorable, too. So adorable they deserve their own post.

My evenings are now occupied by a massive venue hunt spanning the coast of Connecticut, so for today, I will leave you with this utterly gorgeous bouquet by Quatre Coeur.

Photo by Elisabeth Millay via Style Me Pretty

Though I am an extreme lover of weddings, I will freely admit I’m not a connoisseur of engagement rings. There was never one particular style or shape I loved or hated, so I knew I wanted to try on a few different options before John or John and I settled on the final pick. Going into our “looking” trip, I thought I knew that I wanted a very thin, yellow gold band, I DIDN’T want a halo, and I was most interested in oval-shaped diamonds. Here are a few of the images I gathered in the days before our trip:

Credits, from top: oval gold engagement ring from Asprey, micropave cushion-cut engagement ring in platinum from Harry Winston, horizontal gold setting from Marvin Katz, photo by Kate Headley, photo by Whitebox Weddings

And, well, here’s what I ended up with!

Surprise! I ended up with a halo, since it turns out I liked halos, just not ones that were bezel-set. Ovals just weren’t my shape :)

As for the yellow gold? I LOVE it! All in all, I think my ring is sparkly, while still being classic and simple. I couldn’t ask for anything more!

For those of you who are also yellow or rose gold lovers, here’s a little more engagement ring inspiration…

“Loved” ring from Catbird

Photo by Tec Petaja via Once Wed

Photo by Nancy Ray

Oval white sapphire rose gold ring from EidelPrecious

“The Tiniest Pearl” ring from Catbird

Elisa Solomon 18K diamond ring from Stuart & Wright

Conroy & Wilcox 18K triple diamond ring from Stuart & Wright

Suzanne Kalan white rose ring from Sundance

What does your engagement ring look like?

So, we’re engaged!! Though I’m sure you’ve seen the video, I thought I’d share a few more details from our weekend in Beaufort, NC. John surprised me on Thursday after work with the news that we were going on a mini vacation that weekend by handing me a suggested packing list :) The next few days were one surprise after another, which I loved!

On Saturday morning John booked us on a ferry out to Shackleford Banks, a barrier island that’s at the southern tip of the Outer Banks.

It’s famous for wild horses and tons of seashells, and we loved it! We left with one perfect sand dollar after some intense beach-combing.

We got ice cream cones once we were back in town, and then John suggested we walk around and look at the pretty old houses, which is one of my FAVORITE pastimes but one that he usually only tolerates. If I didn’t suspect something before, I definitely did at that point :)

The houses and streets were glorious, as you would expect.

We then cleaned up for dinner at an ocean-side restaurant. Once we arrived, I suggested we take a walk on the beach, since we were a little early for our reservation. We walked out to the pier and back, and then when we were almost back at the beach entrance, I suggested we take a self-timer photo, since we were all dressed up. In hindsight, I was playing right into John’s plans!! He set up the camera, then walked back over to me, cool as a cucumber. We posed, and then broke away after I assumed the shutter had snapped. Turns out it hadn’t, though, since he has set the camera to video, not photo, which meant the proposal that happened next was caught on film!

And that’s pretty much that! We had an amazing dinner, more ice cream, an amazing brunch the next day at Beaufort Grocery (you MUST go there if you’re in town!), and then headed home. We wanted to wait to spread the news until we could tell my parents in person, which we did over the Fourth weekend, so now I’m so happy to be able to share the news with y’all!

Check back on Monday — I’ll be sharing a little bit more about my engagement ring!