Very public proposal: Raines lined sidewalk with photos, put sign on Square before popping question

Published 2:09 am Saturday, September 8, 2018

Yyler Raines set the bar high for engagements Thursday night when he decorated the square completely with rose petals, candles and signs to propose to his girlfriend of almost a year, Hayden Nall.

Raines had photographs of the two of them enlarged, and lined them on the sidewalk from Big Mike’s to the square.

“Each picture had a quote on the bottom,” Raines said. “Then when we got to the big set-up at the square, there was a sign set up as a centerpiece that said ‘With My Whole Heart for My Whole Life.’”

Raines said that he wanted his proposal to be meaningful for the both of them.

“I had a lot of other ideas in my head,” Raines said. “But they were in crazy situations and off in a different place. I knew I had to go back to the basics. I wanted to include something that we care about and we are both from here and love this city so to have it in the center of Andalusia was perfect.”

One of the portraits had the quote, “For the two of us, home isn’t a place, it’s a person and we are finally home.”

“Tyler travels all over the world for work,” Nall said. “So when we are together whether it be in Texas or wherever he is, we always feel at home.”

Nall said that she was completely surprised by the entire proposal.

“I was in such shock during the whole thing,” Nall said. “I couldn’t talk, cry or even walk I was just in complete shock.”

She spent the entire day away from the setup and was banned from the square.

“I had no clue what he had planned,” Nall said. “I spent the day at our friend Stuart and Whitney Studstill’s house because they just had a baby so they kept me entertained. He even sent me to get my nails done with Whitney and she stayed away from the square.”

Raines made sure to even have both sets of family members included in the festivities.

“When the proposal was done, we walked back to Big Mikes to eat,” Nall said. “And both sets of our families were there to celebrate with us.”

“I knew that I wanted to have our families there,” Raines said. “That was very important to me.”

Now the couple is hard at work trying to plan the upcoming wedding.

“We have already spent all day today looking up different venues,” Nall said Friday. “Tyler leaves for work on Sunday and doesn’t come back until October so we need to have everything ready.”

Raines works for Electrical Talents, a company that services plants that are getting remodeled, and Nall works for Main Street Urgent Care.

In their free time, the couple enjoys traveling as much as they can.

“Hayden deserved everything that she got last night,” Raines said. “I knew I just wanted to make it meaningful for the both of us.”