Take me out to the ballgame!

In Jessica's words:

"I met my fiancee when we both were hired as summer interns for a minor league baseball team. We worked long hours and hardly ever had a day off. We started seeing each other and then just couldn't be apart. We ended up moving to Boston and living for a year (going to plenty of Red Sox games..) and then moving to Baltimore where my fiancee bought season tickets for the Orioles. Throughout the last year I knew that some time soon he was going to propose but I just didn't know when or where. I thought maybe Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day then New Years even, Then Valentines day....none of which happened. So it was the last thing on my mind as we were getting ready to enjoy opening day at Camden Yards. It was rainy that day but we got our beers and walked around and ended up at this spot that overlooks the field. The sun came out for a brief moment and he put his drink down and started talking. As he was talking I knew what was happening and couldn't believe it. He got down on this knee (in front of tons of people!) and asked me to marry him. It was amazing. I found out that he had called my mother and my father (my parents are divorced) and asked each of them permission to marry me. So my family and his family all knew about it beforehand. Right after I finished calling my friends to tell them it completely DOWN POURED! We had to run inside and spent the rest of the day talking about who would be in our wedding and planning the details. Needless to say, we didn't watch any of the game.

When my grandparents passed away they left me my Grandmothers engagement ring. That's the ring he used to propose - then he let me pick out my own engagement ring - I couldn't have imagined it being any better!"

Tameyer and Quinton - PJ Sparkles seals the deal...

On Friday, December 5th 2009 Q and I had made plans to go to the Kindred concert with some friends. After some creative planning, he tricked me into thinking that he lucked up on a nice rental car and that his luck extended to reservations at Capital Grille in Buckhead. Little did I know that he had planned this whole evening and had went as far as to carefully orchestrated the entire proposal with the help of the wait staff and the hostesses at the restaurant. All of the employees were in on the surprise. After a fabulous dinner Quinton ordered the cheesecake for desert with "extra sauce". I later learned that ordering the desert was the cue to put the wheels in motion. Our waitress brought out a box that she said had been delivered for me. I figured it was just some flowers. I opened the box to find PJ Sparkles. This was a doll I had in 1988 that I absolutely adored. It was the victim of an unfortunate incident in 1998 and I had been looking for another ever since. He found the doll on eBay and bought her clothes that came along with it. He tied the ring around her neck in a red ribbon and when I pulled her out of the box I immediately noticed the ring. That's when he got down on one knee. I began to shake, the tears began to stream and all I can remember doing is nodding yes. The waitress had been given Q's camera so she was able to catch some fantastic shots of him being on one knee, me crying and him placing the ring on my finger. Then, the flowers came out, the wait staff cheered and brought us champagne. We then went to the concert and got to meet Kindred The Family Soul in person. We took a photo and they signed our CD. It was the perfect ending to the most perfect night ever. Well, it was the most perfect night until September 19, 2009 when I was able to marry him and begin a life that will be lived happily ever after.

Nick and Jane, A Picture Can Say Everything...

Okay, here's our proposal story:

Nick and I had been dating for about 3-1/2 months. We were going to take a few days off work to go away for a mini snowboarding vacation. The night before we left we were at my house packing for our trip. We were talking about how excited we were to go away for a few days and how happy we were, and how in love, et cetera. Nick pulled out a wrapped box. Now, I have to say, I wasn't expecting a gift. ALSO, I have to add, that Nick LOVES videotaping things. We have all kinds of video tapes of us hiking, skateboarding, snowboarding, on vacation, etc. So he had a video camera set up so he could "capture" my reaction. So I opened up the gift, with the camera on me. It was a digital picture frame! We had already taken 2 trips together and had hundreds of digital photos, and had often talked about getting a digital frame to display them. I was so excited! I noticed that there was a memory card already in one of the slots. He said he had already preloaded some pictures so we could "test it out." I turned it on to get a better look.

OMG! Nick had taken a picture with a digital camera of EVERY PAGE OF TEXTS on his iphone since about a week after we started dating (when he first got the idea). I got all teary & hugged him. Then we sat together (with the camera still rolling), and read each other ALL of our texts! Some of it was funny, some sweet, some boring (well, the day-to-day stuff), but it all brought back so many memories. Now, Nick apparently had no idea how long it would take to read THOUSANDS of text messages because part way through we had to stop & change tapes. After almost 2 hours of reading, we got to the very last messages from earlier that day. The last screen contained an unsent message from him that said "Will you marry me?"

Of course I said yes and we hugged and kissed and cried. :)

Nick didn't give me a ring when we got engaged because he wanted me to help pick out the ring, and he wanted it all to be a surprise. So instead, we bought 2 plain, matching silver bands and had "Jane & Nick 12/12/07" (the date we got engaged) engraved on the inside, and we both wore them on our ring fingers. We set the date that night: 6/12/2010, exactly 2.5 years away.

I loved our proposal and everything about it. The only thing I would have changed was I wish I looked better in the video that night. When it all started at about 10pm at night I had already changed for bed: I had my hair in a ponytail, my old, ugly glasses on, and was wearing a baggy t-shirt & shorts. If I had known in advance it was our proposal & it was being taped, I'd have worn something less embarrassing to show other people!

Shannon and Sean - A Memorable Thanksgiving

Shannon & Sean - Engaged November 27, 2008
Wedding Date: January 16, 2010

Sean & Shannon were very excited for Thanksgiving 2008. For the past two years, Sean had to go into work around 4pm, so they would eat an early feast, watch some football and submit to the food coma, and Sean would go to work and Shannon would drive home to Massachusetts. Sean called Shannon the Saturday before Thanksgiving to tell her he didn't have to work this year! Since he had the day off, they had talked about going into NYC to spend the rest of the day hanging out, possibly ice skating or seeing a show. They had been wanting to skate in Central Park since their first date had been to see Serendipity, and much of the movie revolved around that rink.
Shannon got up early to make a delicious feast. She thought maybe there was something going on with Sean, but shook it off to enjoy dinner. After the meal and clean up, they went to the train station to head into the city. It was a chilly day and Shannon couldn't understand why Sean wouldn't let her warm her hands in his coat pockets! But soon they were in the city and they walked up Fifth Avenue, looked at all the gorgeous window decorations and displays.
They made their way up to Central Park, commenting on the delightful smell of the horses and carriages (yuck!), and kept making their way to the skating rink, stopping to take some pictures along the way.
They got to the rink, and it was very crowded, so they decided against skating. Shannon probably would have knocked over many small children. She wanted to keep walking, but Sean suggested they go over to the observation deck area and watch the skaters for a little while. That sounded like a lovely idea! They found an empty space along the railing to watch and take pictures. Shannon had just taken the picture above...when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and Sean said "Shannon? I have a question for you..." He got down on his knee and opened a small black box with a ring in it, and asked "Will you marry me?" It took her breath away. And of course she said yes after jumping up and down!
It was the most perfect, romantic, memorable day they have ever experienced.
So after the important phone calls were made (it was hard to actually get a hold of most people since it was dinnertime on Thanksgiving - duh!), they walked down to Times Square and got tickets to see Avenue Q, a delightfully politically incorrect musical starring puppets. It was the perfect way for them to end the day, laughing together, unable to stop grinning from ear to ear.

"When you find the one you know right away." ~ Rebekah and Adam

Rebekah and Adam...
In March I helped my sister and brother in law move to a new town about 45 mins from our home town. I stayed down there a few nights a week to help her unpack and get situated. Anyway my sister was always looking out her back door and I couldn't figure out why. A few weeks later she mentioned this really good looking single guy that lived right across the way. Her husband over heard that and it caused a very big fight. Anyway, I saw him once or twice and he never seemed to be looking anywhere but where he was going. This got very frustrating as I was continuously putting myself out there and he never responded. So then I finally got him to smile at me when I was doing something in my car, and right then I knew he was special. Within the next week my sister told me to leave a note on his truck. I did so, but all I said was that I hoped he knew how beautiful he was. No name, nothing. The next day, after tossing and turning all night because it hadn't accomplished anything I decided to leave another note. But in this note I told him that I had left him the note the day before and left my name and number. He got the note in the late morning, but didn't call me until 7:30ish that night. So of course I thought he wasn't going to call. Well he did and we talked, me sitting on my sister's back porch and him sitting about 10 feet away on his front porch for a couple of hours. I invited him to hang out at the pool with us the next day, but he didn't show so I wrote him and asked if he still wanted to hang out and we did later that day.

Within the next week I knew he was the one I was meant to be with for the rest of my life, but instead of telling him that I decided to ask him if he was seeing any one else. I remember the dread I felt when he asked me if I though we were, I told him I didn't know but wouldn't mind trying. So we did, a week later I told him I was falling for him, and that next week he told me he loved me. I moved in that week. Fast I know but we just knew it was right.

Months passed and finally in September I asked if I could start planning the wedding because I could save more money in the long run. He said yes and I planned for October, a few weeks later after I made the announcement that we were going to get married October 2010 he decided he wanted to get married in June instead. I began looking at venues and what not and found one I really liked. My parents came down to look since they were the ones paying for it, so Adam, my parents and I went and looked then went to lunch. On our way home from lunch he asked me if I wanted to go to the mall and I said sure. Little did I know we were going to look at rings. So we stopped by our home and were off again, we went directly into the jewelry store where I found and fell in love with my ring. He bought it right there, and with the force of the woman selling the ring he got down on one knee and put the ring on my finger. Still to this day he has not "asked" me to marry him. But to me that was proposal enough. The day we got engaged was November 1st, 2009. And the day we started dating was less than 6 months to the day we got engaged, we always say: "when you find the one you know right away". And how true that is for us.

Rebekah and Adam

Melissa and Vincent - sometimes all you need is time!

Vincent and I have known each other since high school. He was the star football player, captain of the wrestling team and homecoming king, I was also a cheerleader. That should spell out typical high school couple right? The only problem is we only had one or two classes together in our entire four years in high school and we never spoke two words to each other. After high school we went our separate ways. Three years later I reconnected with him. Within a week of talking with him we were dating. Strange how things work, four years of seeing each other daily and not a word being said and three years later we were dating.
Within a few months I knew he was the one person I would want to be with forever. As we began our second year together I began longing for more of a commitment. I was planning on proposing on our second year anniversary if he didn't propose sooner, and that's when he began to hint at an upcoming proposal. I anxiously awaited a proposal from him for about two months when I began thinking he wouldn't do it. Right as I began thinking he wouldn't propose this year, on Halloween he poped the question.
Now many people I tell this to think the proposal was creepy or not at all romantic as it was on Halloween but for me it was the sweetest thing he could ever do! We got invited to a costume party on Halloween and of coarse we had to go. We picked out costumes and we began to change into them. As I started doing my hair he went into the bedroom and closed the door. I thought it was odd but went about my business, finished my hair and makeup then put on my shoes. I started thinking he that Vince was in the bedroom for a rather long time and we had to get going so I knocked on the door and asked if he was alright. He said yeah and told me to come in so I open the door and there I see a bunch of lit candles everywhere. I walked in a little confused and asked what he was doing. He said that Halloween seemed to be an important holiday to me and he just wanted to do something nice. I smiled and gave him a few kisses and then he asked if I had any questions for him. I of coarse said no and that's when he said well I have one for you. He then got down on one knee and said "will you marry me." I squealed and jumped up and down saying yes. It was perfect. :)

Laura and Gary

Laura and Gary..

I do not think I have ever been one of those girls that dreamed of their wedding when they were little. I did not dress up pretending to get married and never had a dream wedding in mind. I think the closet was loving Cinderella and wanting to live at the Prince's castle. However, when I meet Gary in 2003 I thought that he was the one for me. Mind you we did not start dating until 2004 and were not exclusive until 2005 (after I graduated college). Gary always puts the 2005 date out there so I am not in college, but really I go by July 2004.
Our relationship, I would say, moved at a good pace. We moved into a new apartment in 2006 that was ours and then in 2007 we purchased a condo together. Gary really wanted to purchase a house before we were engaged. I would have liked it the other way around, but in the end it all worked out.
Now, our condo is right in the center of the town we live in and has a nice deck that overlooks the main street. We can see lots of action from it. I mention this as it was the place the proposal happened.

And the story goes...


It was Christmas Eve 2007 and nothing was stirring not even my desire to make dinner. So Gary stopped at the store on his way home from who knows where and picked up things for dinner. He also stopped to get some bubbly and Chambord to make Kir Royales my favorite drink! When he got home I was lounging on the couch waiting for his arrival and the start of dinner making. I watched something on television while he prepared the food. Then I got involved and starting making drinks for us. It was a great meal, chicken and some fresh veggies. We then maded our way to the couch to finish our drinks. It was very nice. However, Gary was acting very strange the whole night. Then it was time to get ready to go to DJ's (Gary's best friend) house. It is tradition that all of his friends get together there on Christmas Eve. So as Gary does he thought I should change into something a little more nice. I was fine in what I had on so Gary picked out and outfit for me. I changed, put on some make-up and then wanted to clean up from dinner. While I was doing this Gary kept going outside on the deck and had all the lights on in the house. It was very strange.
I continued to pick up the dishes and then finished getting ready. On my last walk from the bedroom to the kitchen Gary called me outside on the deck. From the deck we could see the main street all lit up with Christmas lights and the town hall's bell tower lit as well. It was beautiful! A perfect night. Gary then started acting very weird. As if the one drink we had was a little too much for him to take. He made some comment about being something, hugged me, said "Your dreams are about to come true," and then got down on one knee.
We both started crying. It was not until after that I even looked at ring, which was beautiful. It was one of the best nights of my life. I will always remember it and it kicked off two years to remember. Everything from planning a wedding, dealing with illness and now a new little boy. And to think back in 2003 when I first met Gary that here we would be 6 years later with a beautiful little family.

Uncle Steve and Aunt Laura

My wonderful uncle who said he doesn't know how to blog but wants to share his story of proposing to my aunt asked me to post it for him.

This is what he emailed me:
"I did propose to your Aunt 3 times before she accepted. The first 2 times she said I would have to do it sober, even though I thoroughly remembered the following morning. She did accept the 3rd time as I was cold sober and told her I totally meant it the other times."

This is what Aunt Laura has to say:
"I knew he meant it every time, but it's really nice to hear it, especially from someone with as beautiful eyes as my Steve. We still laugh about it, even today, after 16 years, and that's part of the secret, always remember to have a good time with each other."

I think after hearing all these amazing stories from people, it is not at all about the proposal, the location, the timing, it's a huge stress for the person who asks, but what it comes down to is the person.

Lauren and Cathy's Story

Lauren emailed me over the weekend to tell about how she proposed to her wife, Cathy. Lauren shares in her words the beautiful and realistic story of proposing to Cathy. (Cathy is in the dress on the left and Lauren is on the right).

Lauren and Cathy, in Lauren's words:

"Our engagement story is a little different as we are both women but someone asked someone else to marry em’ so the general idea remains the same. My wife Cathy and I had been together for two years and living together for almost as long. She and I met while we are Umass, driving buses for the school. I was pretty sure she was the one right after we started living together and apparently Cathy thought I was the one the first time she set eyes on me in the bus garage.
Our first date was on February 16th 2004, right after Valentine’s Day. This is a key fact to know because it allowed me to be sneaky when planning how to pop the question. We had discussed getting married and thanks to the great state of Massachusetts, our dream could become a reality. I wanted to be the one to propose but it would have been fine if Cathy had asked me first.
I wanted to surprise her so I told her we were going to do something special for our anniversary/Valentine’s. This gave me the perfect cover to plan something elaborate without making her suspicious. I booked us a fancy hotel next to Quincy Market in Boston and made reservations at an Italian place in the north end. We were living in Worcester at the time and I told her I was taking her out to dinner and to hang out in the city. The hotel was going to be a surprise. Mother Nature had different plans however.
The day before we were supposed to go, it’s all over the news, giant blizzard is coming in Saturday night, the very night we are supposed to go out! This storm is a problem for Cathy because as far as she is concerned we have to drive back after dinner. We’re arguing on the phone about going or not and she is not budging, its not safe to go, we’re not gonna go. I had no choice but to use a little white lie and I tell her I wanted to make it a surprise but I just booked us a room at a whatever hotel on priceline. This was not true, I had the hotel room for months, it was not cheap and it was a very nice place. Shhhh!
The drama was not over though as New England is a cruel mistress and the storm’s timeline gets pushed back into Sunday. Its Saturday morning and of course we’re in a stupid fight. I know part of the fight was the storm was going to be a problem but we were fighting about something else too but I couldn’t tell you what. (She can’t tell you to this day either.) As we’re packing our bags and getting our nice outfits together we’re yelling at each other and she says; “That’s it! I’m not going!” In my head I think; “Oh you’re going, you don’t even know how much you’re going. We’re getting in the car and we’re going!” Of course I didn’t say this, I let us cool down and finally talk her into going.
As always after all our stupid, meaningless fights, we have a wonderful time. We get into the city, take a trolley tour, check into the hotel, get all prettied up and go over to the restaurant. Dinner was amazing and we were having a great time. My original idea was to walk down to the pier and ask her there but with the storm coming in it was awfully cold and windy so that idea was out. The hotel room had a balcony over looking Quincy Market so I decided to do it there as soon as we got back from diner.
You might be asking yourself; “Where’s the ring?” Well I didn’t have a ring. As I said before we had discussed marriage and had even been ring shopping once. It was our first and last time as spending several thousand dollars on a ring just didn’t seem practical to me and although she would have liked a ring, Cathy agreed. I wasn’t empty handed however has her favorite gold chain had just broken, I had a new gold chain with a gold heart pendant to give to her as an engagement present. It was in the inner pocket of my coat all night so I wouldn’t lose it.
Now I’m starting to get just a little bit nervous. I was never worried for one second that she would say no but still as the moment approached I had a few butterflies going. I was eager to get back to the hotel and ask the question! Cathy had other plans though. “I want to pick up some wine before we go back to the hotel” she says. Ok, no problem, we pass a liquor store on the way back, pick up some white wine. When we arrive back at the room she says “Oh we need some ice for the wine.” Once again I think, all right no big deal, I’ll go down to the ice machine. Turns out this was a big problem, there is no ice machine. My two-minute walk down the hall turns into a 20-minute search for ice. The hotel is too fancy for an ice machine; you have to call the concierge to bring the ice to your room.
Now I am getting antsy! The box is burning a hole in my pocket, but I still can’t ask because now we have to wait for the wine to chill! I am lying on the bed clutching the box in my pocket not daring to have it fall out where she can see it. She keeps asking me to take off my coat but I keep putting it off saying I might as well keep it on for when we go out on the balcony to enjoy our wine.
Finally the wine is chilled we pour some glasses and head out for a toast on the balcony. Remember we are celebrating our anniversary and Valentine’s so this is still not hitting the radar. We could see all of Quincy Market still lit with holiday light and half the city from the balcony. It was a perfect place to ask. After we had a toast to our love I started to fumble with the wine glass and ended up putting it in the flower box attached to the railing. I got down on one knee, took out the box and asked her to marry me. She said yes right away! I of course started yelling to the few passersby below; “She said yes! She said yes!” Cathy said she had no idea I was going to ask until I started looking for a place to put down my wine glass. Operation surprise was a success!
The next day the blizzard hit Boston and shut down the entire city! It took me 10 minutes just to walk to Dunkin Donuts down the street for our morning coffee. Our drive home that afternoon was long and harrowing but we made it safe and sound and we were engaged at last! It wasn’t perfect, but it was funny and romantic and gave us a cute story to tell. We got married in the Berkshire’s two years later and the rest is history."