July 26, 2019

Eze, France Engagement (5.29.19)

The summer has flown by but I figured this was worth sharing later than never. Michael and I are engaged! If you follow With Wildflowers on instagram you may have seen that this is shaping up to be a pretty big year for the two of us. We bought our first house in March and have been undergoing a total renovation (#beetytakeover), recently got engaged, and are planning a wedding for the Fall! More on those later…but for now I wanted to share some pictures from our engagement and the amazing day that Michael planned for me.

I knew Michael had something special planned for me on our last trip but I had no idea what it was and how amazing this day would turn out to be. All he told me was that I needed a fancy outfit for dinner and we were going somewhere I had never been before. After spending an incredible week and a half in the South of France with his family in Gordes and St. Tropez we packed up for a “surprise adventure”.

We started our day with a stop in Cannes for lunch and Michael brought me back to the same restaurant we went to together years ago. After lunch on the beach and a quick walk along the water we were back in the car and off to the mystery destination.

I saw road signs for major cities like Monaco, Antibes and Nice but before I could try to figure out where we were going we started winding up this cliff with the most mesmerizing, almost dizzying, view I had ever seen.

We got higher up until we were as high as the road would go with a panoramic view of French Riviera surrounding us. We were in the small town of Eze and Michael stopped outside a hotel called Chateau de la Chevre D’Or.

Any expectations I had for what my surprise was going to be were immediately blown out of the water as we walked along the cliffside gardens to a patio for a welcome drink.

I am not exaggerating one bit when I say this was the most beautiful view I have ever seen, and the most stunning hotel too.

After we checked into our suite and got ready for dinner Michael suggested we get a glass of wine before going on a walk. He said we didn’t have to go anywhere until 6pm but our 30 minute window quickly flew by and it was time to go.

We went into the lobby to ask for directions to the exotic gardens and I could see Michael’s face sink when the concierge told him the gardens were closed. The man said we might be able to make it if we hurried so we started power walking up the cliff in our formal wear.

Of course when we got to the entrance there was a line of people still being let in so the panic was for nothing and we were able to wind our way through the gardens looking at the beautiful flowers and an even better vantage point of the view below us until we made it to the top.

We talked for a few moments and soaked up the view then the mood shifted. Michael looked at me and said “Eden” and I immediately got teary eyed and knew what was happening. I’ll keep his little speech between the two of us but a couple minutes and lots of crying later I was engaged to my best friend!

After catching my breath we turned around and Michael introduced me to a photographer who he had hiding in the distance capturing the whole thing.

Michael knows I am a freak about photos and documenting everything so it was very thoughtful of him to have this set up with an engagement shoot to follow. We spent the next hour walking around the beautiful scenery taking photos and soaking in the incredible feeling of being engaged before sharing the news with family and friends.