QOTW - Week of 1/30/2011 - Proposal Story

iamjoesgurl · January 2011

I can't believe it is almost February already! This week, let's hear about your engagement story. When did it happen? What's your story? Did he ask you or did you ask him? If he asked you, were you surprised? Was anyone else there or was it just the two of you? I am looking forward to hearing your stories. Have a great week!!

(Since I started these on a Wednesday, I'll leave last week's post for a few days as a sticky. I'll try to post the new questions on Sundays.)

iamjoesgurl · January 2011

We met through one of my friends who had given him my email address because she was hoping that we would get together. (She is a very good college friend of mine and is married to his cousin.) We emailed each other for about a month and then he asked if it would be okay for him to come meet me in person. We lived about 350 miles from each other so he planned a flight to come see me. I say this all to explain that the first time we met was in an airport when I picked him up for that visit.

By the time we had been dating for a year, I felt that he was "the one". I thought that he felt the same and was hoping that he would ask me to marry him the summer after we had been dating for a year and a half. There were so many good opportunities for him to pop the question (at least I thought so!) that summer and when the summer came to a close and we had spent Labor Day weekend together but there was still no proposal, I was very disappointed to take him back to the airport without being engaged.

I placed a special note in his suitcase before we left for the airport and after he had checked it, we went over to a bench right outside of security where we always went to spend our last few minutes together before he left. I told him that there would be a surprise for him in his suitcase when he got home. He told me that he had a surprise for me too. Then he pulled something out of his carry-on bad and opened it and said "Will you marry me?". I was stunned! I didn't say anything but hugged and kissed him and put on the ring.

His joke is that I never said "yes" (which I did - but it took me a few minutes to get it together). My joke is that he asked me at the airport just before he went through security so that if I had said "no", he could leave and never see me again.

fpaemp2011 · January 2011

The whole entire story is part of the "Our Story" link next to my bio, but here's my attempt at CN:

Valentine’s Day 2010 (almost a year!!) All he would tell me is that we were going to church and that I should eat breakfast because he didn’t know when we would eat dinner. After church, he told me to drive across the street to the coffee shop where he had asked me to officially be his girlfriend 13 months earlier. He also gave me one of the fortune cookie slips he had used when he asked me.

He then had me drive to the house I lived in when we started dating. That’s where he told me he loved me for the first time, and that’s where we had the discussion where we committed to saving our first kiss for our wedding day.

Next, we drove by the theater where we saw our first movie together in Nov 2008, and where we had our first date. He gave me the ticket stubs from both of those, and from the play we saw on our first Valentine’s together. We drove on campus and he had me go to the dorm he used to live in, which is where he told me he liked me, and then we went to the main academic building.

We headed up to the computer lab and sat on “our” couch. We talked about some of the discussion we had there and then he gave me a letter (full text in my bio) and he got up, told me to wait for the next person to show up, and walked away. At this point, I was pretty sure I knew what was going on.

Next thing I know, his best friend pops around the corner and has a photo of Fletcher & I with 1 Corinthians 13 on it. After he read that, he lead me around the hallway where Fletcher had placed some of our mutual friends who all had a picture of us and a quote about love (Again…all quotes are in the bio).

We ended up outside of the classroom where Fletcher & I met. Standing outside the door was one of our classmates, who was friends with Fletcher. He read his quote, and then opened the door.

Fletcher was sitting in his seat. On the board, he had written: “Lesson #1: Men are like planets,” which comes from the first time we got together to study for an English test, and I had a typo in my notes that he, as you can see, still mocks me for, and has earned him the nickname, “Planet.” We talked for a bit, remembering the first time we met, and when he turned around and said, “Hi. I’m Fletcher,” that I looked like a deer in headlights.

He told me not to look for a second, and then, over my shoulder, was another fortune cookie that he used when he asked me to be his girlfriend. This one said, “Your wish is about to come true."

He said , “Last January, my wish was that you would be my girlfriend, but I have a confession to make. That wasn't my wish. My wish {he starts turning me around} is that {he gets down on one knee} you would be my wife. {He pulls out the ring box} So, Emily, will you marry me?"

I stopped shaking long enough to pull my hand away from my mouth to say "Yes!" and then saw that the guys had been taking pictures and video the whole time. After we thanked them, we drove to my hometown to tell my parents, and called/texted/facebooked for the next few days.

So much for cliff notes.

Anywho...I didn't know for sure it was happening that day until I saw his best friend. He had gone home with me about 3 weeks prior to talk to my dad...apparently that's a whole special story in itself. My brother had kinda caught on as to why Fletcher had come home with me, and decided to leave the gun cabinet in the guest room wiiiiide open. (He's 2 1/2 years younger...but still my "big" brother).

I did not know that he actually bought the ring over Thanksgiving Break. When I found that out, I was actually surprised he had held on to it that long. Apparently he left it at his parent's house after Christmas, and then asked them to bring it down after the talk with my dad went well. (I thought they were just coming down to visit and go out with us and my parents for lunch) Of course, they came down right after Maryland had a 20 inch snow storm on top of a 20 inch snow storm and almost didn't make it. I couldn't understand why Fletcher was so stressed...I told him it wasn't THAT big of a deal if his parents couldn't make it down that exact weekend. Poor thing actually had a reason to be stressed, though.

dordtgrl4 · January 2011

I love this idea by the way! I'm finding out so much about everyone.

Here's our proposal story. Hopefully it doesn't get too lengthy.

We had been discussing marriage and our future for awhile. I knew it was coming soon. However, for some reason, I just didn't have a clue that it would happen when it did. We were about 3 days away from going back to college. It was 8/9/10 and his family always takes us out to dinner before we leave home (California) to go back to college in Iowa. So when plans were discussed that we were going to a semi-fancy restaurant soon, I thought nothing of it. That's how they say their goodbyes. I had made plans to hang out with my friends one last time before I left and I told them that I hoped that the dinner wouldn't be that night because I had plans. Little did I know what the dinner REALLY was for and maybe I wouldn't have tried to postpone it.

Anyways, I canceled hanging out with my friends and dressed up slightly nicer than usual. Stephen had made reservations that night for us and his family (mom, dad, sister and her fiance) and when we got there, we dug right in to the awesome food. (So basically I stuffed my face, again...not realizing everyone knew what was coming...) Well the end was coming and I had to use the restroom. I almost foiled the plan a second time by asking Stephen to show me where the restroom was. His sister jumped in because she knew Stephen needed to finalize the details with the manager. While we were gone, he had the chef write "Will You Marry Me?" in chocolate sauce on the plate for the dessert. When I got back the waiter tried to put the dessert plate in front of me but I kept saying "I didn't order dessert! This isn't mine!" AGAIN with the trying to foil his plans. I saw Stephen move out of the corner of my eye and he got on his knees and asked me to marry him!! I was shocked and it took me awhile to say "Of course I will!" His sister and her FI were quite the papparazzis with the camera and flip cam and caught it all. I finally read the chocolate sauce and we enjoyed dessert together.

He had been hiding the ring for over a month and somehow I never figured it out. I also called him a "trickster" because he tricked me into thinking it was a "going away dinner" but that aside, it was the perfect evening.

AnnaW11 · January 2011

We got engaged in Rome, Italy. My FI is better at writing, this is what he said for our wedding page for those who want more details:

After a year of dating Joe knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Anna was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. So Joe started planning a special proposal for when he and Anna were in Rome, Italy with the Wake Forest Concert Choir, enlisting the help of his best man Josh to explore Rome while studying abroad and check out some of the best spots.

A couple trips to the local jewelry stores with Anna was all it took for Joe to have a great idea about the engagement ring. He purchased a beautiful ring that had caught Anna’s eye, but wanted to do something special to make it a unique symbol of his affection. Joe was very fortunate to be given the diamond from his grandmother’s engagement ring and had the beautiful diamond set in place of the standard center stone. Joe’s grandparents had been married for over seventy years, a long and happy marriage that Joe hopes he and Anna will also be able to share!

A couple months later, Joe and Anna were safely in Rome for a spring break tour with the choir. It was a beautiful spring day and the group had just taken a tour of the Colosseum and Roman Forum. The couple then departed from the group and hit the metro, bound for the Piazza del Popolo in the north of Rome. After getting lost briefly and crossing a couple of busy major streets (twice!) they found the Piazza. From there they climbed the steps to the Villa Borghese where they enjoyed a stunning view of St. Peter’s Basilica and the Tiber. Leaving the crowded overlook they took a stroll through the gardens as Joe searched for a picturesque location to pop the question.

Eventually they settled down on a little park bench and started to converse. Anna could tell that Joe was about to ask her and started to get very excited. All of a sudden, out of the corner of her eye, Anna saw a man approaching carrying a large handful of roses. “Oh wow,” she thought, “Joe planned ahead to send me flowers!”

He hadn’t. The couple spent the next few minutes trying to appease a very enthusiastic Bangladeshi flower peddler who was intent on giving Anna many lovely “gifts." A few minutes and 13 Euro later the couple wandered off again. This time Joe was intent that their moment would not be interrupted.

The moment came shortly after that at another nearby overlook. Looking out over the lights of the city, Joe said to Anna “This place is going to be special for us. We’re going to want to come back here.” Anna asked him why, to which Joe responded, “Because I’m going to do this…” He got down on one knee and asked Anna to marry him. Tears came to her eyes and she said yes!

The couple then strolled hand-in-hand back through the gardens to the Piazza where they enjoyed an exquisite dinner in the Café Rosati. They spent the rest of the evening wandering the streets of Rome, taking in sights of the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. They returned to their hotel and were shocked that news had spread through the group, even to their professors! It truly was “the worst kept secret ever.”

sessionswedding · January 2011

I copied this from our wedding website:

Amanda and Matt attended the Mystics of Time Mardi Gras ball in Mobile, Alabama, on Saturday, February 13, 2010, along with some of Matt's family. In the car on the way to the ball, Matt's mother was holding a rather large bouquet of assorted red flowers in a rather large vase. She kept saying that the flowers were for the wife of the MOT society member who had gotten us tickets to the ball. As getting tickets to a Mardi Gras ball (especially the MOTs) is not quite as simple as heading down to the local TicketMaster, this seemed likely enough. One would want to thank the person who gave them such an honor as inviting them to their society ball.

Upon our arrival at the venue, Matt's mother checked the flowers in at coat check. The family split up, deciding the meet back up at the front doors to the ballroom at midnight to "see how we all felt" about going home at that point. So Matt and Amanda went off and did our thing.

At midnight - which made it officially Valentine's Day - we went back to the ballroom doors, and there was Matt's whole family waiting for us, with the aforementioned bouquet. Everyone smiled and laughed and asked Amanda if she had known all along that the bouquet was for her, and she had no idea! So she read the card that was in the bouquet. It was a poem from Matt. It read: "In life I have a few tasks / Pertaining to you and me / One is I get to bask / In the beauty in you I see." This part was all on the front. Amanda stopped there and reached out to hug Matt, thinking that this was the end of the poem and he had given her a very sweet Valentine's Day present. But she was urged by everyone around to turn the card over and keep reading. The back of the card read: "To go one step / further I have / to ask..."

Matt got down on one knee, pulled out a ring, and said, "Will you marry me?" Amanda was genuinely surprised! After taking a second to realize what was going on, she said yes, and the rest is history!

LeahVB2011 · February 2011

Love this idea!
Nathan and I had been talking about marriage off and on for a few months before he popped the question. I was wanting him to propose before the summer that way I had something to keep my mind off of while we spent 3months apart. Well that came and went and we started our summer jobs. Mine in Fort Lauderdale as a summer missionary and his as a summer youth pastor in Georgia. It was a hard summer but I still mentioned marriage here and there. He spent the entire 3months convincing me he wanted to wait for awhile before we got married. What I didn't know was when I got my friends together to meet Nathan, he asked my dad's permission. That aside, as the summer ended, I thought I was in for a long wait.

Well I got sick at the end of the week before my mission trip was up. I had pink eye and an ear infection in both ears. I came home on a monday and that friday I got the shock of my life. I was on the couch still somewhat out of it and playing with my nephew when Nathan comes through my living room...two weeks early than what I was expecting. He had flowers, a few movies and soup. He spent the whole day taking care of me and cuddling. At one point I thought I knew why he was here but I let that leave my mind quickly because I knew I would be waiting at least year.

Anyways that night after dinner, we were hanging out in the living room when Nathan told me he wanted to go out on the back porch and talk. We talked about my summer and what I had learned when Nathan asked me "Do you think you are ready for ministry and all the God will have in store" (not a direct quote). I told him yes and I'm ready for it. It was at this point that he pulled out the ring and said "well with that said, Leah will you marry me?'. I was shocked thanks to being sick my squeak was only audible for dogs so Nathan sat there for a few seconds not realizing I said yes. He did figure it out and he put the ring on my hand and for the first time, we kissed.

I love his proposal because I know he's willing to take care of me and love me even in a fragile state. Also he accidently followed the tradition of my dad and brother in law by not getting down on one knee when he proposed!

QOTW - Week of 1/30/2011 - Proposal Story

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