I’ve received
lots of requests for the engagement story and finally, here it is – sorry it took me so
long!
Some notes before I begin with the story:
I’ll note a few
examples of things that should have been Red Flags for me, but they went over
my head. Some did not occur that day, so I’ll share them all at the end. Also,
according to Michael, I “played in his hand so well” so I’ll note those things
too as “Jenni making it too easy for Michael.”
Also, let me
preface this story with this: Michael was totally normal and relaxed all day. I
was so impressed with his secret-keeping skills because he usually sucks at it.
The Engagement Story
Saturday,
December 17 started out like any other Saturday. Michael and I woke up and went
to the gym. We stopped on our way home
to see if Michael could get a haircut, but they couldn’t fit him in for a few
hours so we decided to go home and then Michael would go back later in the day
and I’d stay home.
Jenni making it
too easy for Michael Moment #1
On our way home,
I said how nice the weather had been so far this year and that we hadn’t been
to Lake Harriet, our favorite MN lake and where we run in the summer, in a long
time. I asked if we could go there soon. Little did I know what he had planned
there in 12 hours…
Back to the
story…
Once we were
home, we ate lunch and then I hopped in the shower and Michael went and got his
hair cut. When he got home, we watched a little TV and then got ready for the
night. He had asked me over Thanksgiving weekend if I wanted to do another
“Christmas-y” date night this year, since we had done one last year in Chicago and
it was so much fun. We had planned it for that evening, so I didn’t find it weird at
all that we got all dressed up for dinner. In fact, we have done that so times
in our two years together that it seemed totally normal to me. I just thought
we were going out for dinner like all our previous ones.
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| Self-portrait right before we left for dinner |
Jenni making it
too easy for Michael Moment #2
As we were
getting ready, Michael asked me what I wanted to do after dinner, since the
reservation was at 6pm so we would be done by 8pm. I said we should go look
at Christmas light, as we had planned to go look at Christmas lights the next
week, but we had a Christmas party come up the night we were planning to go. Again, I had no idea what he had
planned for the night so it worked out perfectly for him.
Back to the
story…
I asked Michael
to surprise me with where we were going for dinner, just for the fun of it. We
went to our favorite restaurant in the cities, Ciao Bella. Other than me
feeling a little sick (random stomach ache) and our server being kind of slow,
it was a wonderful dinner.
After dinner,
Michael and I walked out to his car, and as we approached it, he said “I don’t
think I want to take this car.” And I said “What?” and he said “I want to take
THAT car” and pointed behind me. I turned around and there was a limo. He said
we were going to go look at Christmas lights in the limo!!! I was so excited! At
the beginning of our relationship, I told Michael the story about how my
parents once surprised my sisters and I with a limo to look at Christmas lights
when we were kids. At this point, Michael told me he had been planning it for
awhile so it worked out perfectly when I suggested going to look at lights
earlier in the day. Michael shared with me that his parents were picking up his
car at the restaurant later that night so we wouldn’t have to go back there,
and that we had the limo until midnight.
Side note - I wish I had gotten a picture of us with the limo...
Our driver took
us all over the suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul, and we saw some great lights, like this tree:
We listened to Christmas music and talked, held hands, and enjoyed champagne;
it was so perfect! As we drove back toward the city,
Michael suggested that we end at “the lakes” (Lakes Harriet, Calhoun, and Isles), which I
was all for, since I had suggested going to Lake Harriet earlier that day.
We
drove around Lake Harriet and as we approached the band shelter, Michael told
me that he had asked the driver to stop there so we could get out and go look at the
lake. We stopped and got out of the limo,
walking arm in arm toward the lake. Michael then started steering me more
toward the Shelter and I said “Where are we going?” and I think he answered with something like “Let’s go the Shelter.” This is when I started to think
something was up. The rest of the walk only lasted about 3 more seconds so I didn’t have much time
to think through what was going on, just that it seemed weird.
When we walked
up the stairs to the Shelter and onto the stage, I saw a table with flowers,
champagne, and candles, two chairs and a blanket. The next few minutes are sort
of a blur. I remember sitting down but Michael stayed standing, so then I stood
up. I remember standing in each other's arms, and I remember Michael telling me how
much he loved me and how he always will. I don't remember all the specifics though - I wish I did. But for those of you who have been engaged, you know what I mean when I say that there is just so much emotion going on that you cannot remember everything afterwards. Then Michael got down on one knee and said
“Will you do me the honor of being my partner for life?” and opened a box with
a ring. I was instantly in his arms, kissing and hugging him.
Time out – I have
to say how great I think it is that he asked me to be his partner. I seriously
have the BEST fiancé ever!
Then he put the gorgeous ring on my finger and then we stood there
in each other’s arms for a few minutes, hugging and kissing and sort of crying but mostly just hugging and kissing. We took this quick picture too about we finally both stopped shaking:
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| Moments after we got engaged |
I was getting cold so we sat down so I
could put the blanket on me, and then I made Michael tell me the whole story.
Here’s what I learned:
- He
started the whole process in early November. That means he kept the secret from
me for six weeks, which is really good for him because he’s usually not so good
at that.
- He
did everything at work and on his work email and phone so I wouldn’t accidently
come across anything.
- He
got the diamond from his cousin’s husband’s friend in AZ, who is a diamond rep. Apparently, the guy
wasn’t very good at returning Michael’s phone call so that led to some
stressful times.
- He
never saw the diamond before he bought it – he was just told the specs and had
to make a quick decision.
- He
hired a currier to deliver a cashier’s check to the diamond rep, who then overnighted the diamond to Michael at work.
- He
dropped the diamond off at the local jeweler’s where we had gone and looked at
rings in August on December 5, and they said they’d have it ready by December 15.
- He
asked my parents if he could ask me to marry him on December 10, when they came
to town at his request (and he asked them not to tell me they were coming). Michael
told me he had to work so I went to yoga while he "worked," a.k.a. ate lunch with my parents.
The best part of that story is that when he got home at 3pm, I asked him if he
had eaten any lunch and he said no and I MADE him eat. So he had two lunches
that day J
- He
actually picked up the ring from the jeweler on December 12 and I happened to
be hosting Girls Night at our house, so it presented the perfect opportunity for
him to go show the ring to his parents since he usually tries to be out of the house when I host girls night. Then he came home and since my friends
and I were all sitting around the kitchen table, he had plenty of time to hide
the ring.
- He
hid the ring in our safe, which we both often use so he’s really lucky I didn’t
go in it at all that week.
- While
I was in the shower the morning we got engaged, Michael took advantage of my
absence by doing a bunch of prep work, including getting the ring out of the
safe – that I ALMOST went into that day so good thing I didn’t! – and loading a
table and chairs from our garage into his car. When he left for his
haircut, I was still blow drying my hair so I didn’t notice he drove away with
a trunk full of furniture.
- His
parents set up all the stuff at Harriet that night.
- His
original plan was to propose to me at the ice skating rink at a local park at
the end of the limo ride, since we went ice skating on our first date. But the
weather had been so mild that there wasn’t any ice so he had to rethink his
plan the week of and decided on Harriet just a few days before we got engaged.
We sat and
talked for about 20 minutes before hoping back in the limo and finishing the
ride, though I don’t remember a ton of that because we just kept smiling and
talking about how excited we were.
We called my
parents – they knew it was happening that night – but no one else that night. I
didn’t want to chance it and wake up the S family kids and I didn’t want to
tell one sister and not the other. So instead, I text them at 6:30am the next
morning, like that was any better :-)
As I said
earlier, there were several things that should have been red flags for me:
- The Sunday before we got engaged (the day
after Michael met my parents for lunch), we were over at Michael’s parents’
house and his dad asked me “So your parents were in town?” I said “No. They have
been in Colorado visiting my sister and seeing the new baby.” He quickly
realized I had no idea they were here the day before and said something like “Oh,
I must be mistaken” and let it go. I never thought twice about it until he
brought it up the day after we got engaged.
- On Friday night, the night before we got
engaged, Michael’s mom was acting weird. She was very smiley, but I thought it
was b/c M’s sisters were both home. She apparently does not have very good game
face.
- On Friday night as we left his family
after going to dinner, his mom said “See you Sunday!” I should have asked
Michael what she was talking about b/c we didn’t have plans to see them on
Sunday but I just let it go b/c we see them all the time so I just assumed we
end up stopping over there on Sunday.
- We ran into Michael’s dad and sister
Molly on Saturday when we tried to get his haircut. As were talking, his dad
said “I saw it up on Facebook already” and both Michael and Molly made weird
faces. Molly literally screamed at him “What are you talking about?!” which I
thought was weird. And his dad quickly and awkwardly said “The picture from
last night. Jenni put the picture from Hollidazzle last night up on Facebook.”
There was apparently a look of relief that washed over Michael and Molly’s
faces, though I missed that, as they thought he was referring to Michael
proposing to me.
- We have NEVER gone to dinner at earlier
than 7pm. We actually usually go around 8 so I should have thought a 6pm
reservation was odd.
- During dinner, Michael excused himself
for a minute to “go take care of something,” and walked toward the front door of the restaurant,
not the bathroom. He has phone calls for work and stuff all the time so I just
thought he was doing something with that. He actually went outside to tell
the limo driver we would be done in about 15 minutes.
It was such a
romantic night, and honestly, my dream proposal: winter, Christmas lights, a
limo, and just us when it happened. It could not have been better, and I am so
lucky that I have such an amazing partner.
And one of my favorite things happened Sunday morning, as Michael told me to go open the door to the advent calendar. He had updated the day's activity a bit:
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| It says "Smile, we're engaged! Now kiss me." |
So that's the story. Again, so sorry it took me so long to relay it to you. Next week, look for a wedding post about how we settled on our date and venue. We can't wait!
235 days!
