The Proposal

Here's a fun one! The story of how I proposed to the most gorgeous woman I've ever laid eyes on! 

Michigan Trip

Back in January 2019, we went on a short trip to Michigan (go Green!) to visit some of her relatives and let her relish in whatever nostalgia could possibly sweep over her. You see, she was born in Michigan and spent a majority of her childhood there. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been back for at least six years (something she reminded me of every other day for four years!). 

She finally wore me down and in December we booked our flight. 

During the month leading up to the she told me all about Michigan and the places she wanted to visit. She wanted to relish in the nostalgia and show me all of her favorite spots (e.g. Bell’s for some pizza and Biggby for her Butterbear). Eventually she even had me hyped up for the trip (don’t tell her), especially for the food and the snow. 

Anyway, we ended up visiting several nostalgic places (old homes, schools, restaurants and such) and spent plenty of time playing in the snow. I even got to experience a new sensation: -21°F (with the wind chill)! Prior to this, the coldest temperature I had experienced was approximately +25°F. The weird thing was that the cold didn’t seem quite as bad as I thought it would be, despite the huge temperature delta. Either way though, it was a lot of fun experiencing the cold for the first time and reaffirming my belief that I would rather be in cold weather than hot weather!

Beyond the places and the weather was something much more important to her and the biggest reason for the trip: family. Most of her family still lives in Michigan and she was missing them desperately. 

Her aunt and uncle graciously hosted us during our stay and were extremely accommodating. They took us around town, to shops, and did pretty much everything they could do in order to make sure that she (and I) had a good time. The best part about everything, and what made me most satisfied, was seeing the utter elation in her eyes when they reminisced with her.  

I can still see her looking back at me over her curl-draped shoulders. She had this look on her face that told me that she felt home and finally relaxed; the love in her eyes and the gentle, pleased grin she wore, seemed to all but stop time. If ever there was a picture of beauty, this would be it. 

She is the one for me. 

When To Propose?!

Finally! I was finally able to see what my heart had been telling me for a while: she is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I wanted her as my wife. What made it better was that I knew that she wanted it just as much as me. But I had to find the perfect time to actually propose! I can’t mess this up or miss my chance. It had to be perfect.

I started thinking about how on our anniversary each year, we reflect on our time together and express how we felt about the years past and what we look forward to in the next year. This reflection has become a part of our anniversary tradition. This was my opportunity. I decided to propose on the night of our 4th anniversary.  

What Kind of Ring Does She Want?

Alrighty. So, the ring she wants is the one that I give her; she'll only accept the one that I think is perfect. Terrible news indeed! You see, while many people may think that's easy, because now all I have to do is find one that I like and give that to her, but the trouble comes in finding one that I actually like (let alone one that I would find perfect). 

I'm picky about material things like this and she knows that. It'd be so much easier if she just told me what she wanted. Instead, she gave me a challenge. Well, my dear, challenge accepted! 

What Fits My Ideal Ring?

The search for the perfect ring was no less of a challenge than expected. The more I learned about rings, the more I realized how little I knew about them to begin with. I hadn’t the slightest idea just how many types of stones and materials are usually put on them, let alone the colors, grades, cuts, or quality. Ideally, I would find a ring that would remind her of me, because the ring had similarities to me. I wanted it to be relatively straightforward, very clean, and maybe even a little bit subdued. 

I started with the stone and the things that I knew: she likes sparkly things and diamonds tend to be sparkly. So, I started looking at diamonds. Long story short, I didn’t like them and ended up looking toward different stones. There were a ton (e.g. sapphires, moissanite, and aquamarine). Eventually, we stumbled upon some white sapphires in person and I loved them. I wanted one for her. 

But what kind of cut do I want? There were a few styles that she liked (round and tear-drop, for example). I also knew that she’d accept a heart-shaped one and love the ring, but it wouldn’t be perfect for her. If it’s not perfect for her, it’s not perfect for me. What was perfect for me was a solitaire (simple and clean, just like me!). I figured that, in going with a solitaire, I should get a stone that she’d love looking at: shiny and a nice size, but not obnoxiously large (like me!).  

After the stones passed, I realized that I also needed to learn about the different materials that are commonly used for the ring itself (e.g. metal, colors, quality, style). Although there were plenty of options for the material,  I had a leg up, as I already knew what I didn’t want. Thankfully, my darling fiancée likes the same metals as me. White gold it is! 

So, we had three things sorted out: the type of stone, the number of stones, and the material that the ring would be made from. I started searching around to see if any of the local jewelry stores had anything that I fit what I wanted. Unfortunately for me, none of the ones I visited had exactly what I wanted. Off to the internet, I went! I checked out several websites, but a lot of them didn’t seem… reputable. I ended up heading off to Etsy and found an Etsy store that made exactly what I wanted. All I had to do was save up the money to actually order it!

Money for Her Ring?

As fun as saving money tends to be for me, I just as much enjoy paying down debt. That said, I had been paying off debts and didn’t have a ton of money immediately available. I decided that I needed to reduce my unnecessary expenses and save as much as I could so that I’d have the money in time to propose. Easy enough, right? The not so easy part was using my savings to pay for unforeseen expenses, because, of course, life doesn’t always go as expected and we tend to run into unexpected costs (who would’ve thought, right?). It put a damper on my savings and by the time I had the money to buy her ring, we were already just three weeks away from our anniversary. Yikes!

Will It Get Here In Time?

So, already within three weeks of our anniversary, I placed the order and had a promised a two-week turn around. So long as they were able to ship the order within two weeks, the ring would be here by the time we went off for our little vacation!

So, the week of our vacation came up. We were set to leave on Friday, but the Monday prior, the ring still hadn’t shipped! Fantastic! I started going over different scenarios to make sure I was able to propose around our anniversary. 

Whatever happened, I was determined to propose that weekend! I thought that if the ring came while we were out of town, I would simply drive home overnight, pick up the ring, then get back before she woke up! Worst case scenario, I would just propose when we got back home.

Thankfully by Tuesday, the ring finally shipped and was delivered on Wednesday evening. Maybe it helped that the store I purchased the ring from wasn’t too far from my home? Either way, I was incredibly relieved to finally have the ring in my hands! Now the anxiety of actually proposing started to set it!

How Should I propose?

I wanted the proposal to be special (doesn’t everyone?). I thought it would be wonderful to propose to her on the beach, just before sunset. Maybe a little cliché, but I still thought it was a good idea and that she would like it. Now, I just needed to figure out the day that I wanted to propose! Our anniversary would be perfect! It would help us stay consistent with dates and give us less separate dates to remember! Besides, since our anniversary is also the anniversary of our very first kiss, proposing on our anniversary would be an amazing way for us to welcome the next chapter of our life together!

The Proposal

  So Friday comes and we set off to our weekend getaway! We made it to our hotel rather quickly and, being so excited, we decided to immediately exchange gifts. 

Now at this point, I was overcome with nervousness, the likes of which I hadn’t faced before. It was overwhelming! Why? Great question! I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she wanted to marry me just as much as I wanted to marry her; we have spent hours over the past year talking about marriage and what our life would be like. I was confident, 100%, that she would accept my proposal. But even then, I couldn’t shake the nerves. 

I ended up letting my nerves get the better of me, caved, and, after pacing about the room for a few minutes, asked her to close her eyes because I had one more gift. 

She complied, closed her eyes, and waited patiently, while I nervously stumbled about, trying to recover the ring, looking back every couple seconds to ensure her eyes were closed. Having retrieved the ring, I then positioned myself on a single knee before her, began pouring my heart out to her before asking her to open her eyes. I told her I had a question for her and that she could open her eyes. 

When she opened her eyes, they welled up with tears as I made my proposal. Without hesitation, she accepted! All of the nerves immediately dissipated.  She looked at her ring, resting lightly on her finger, tears streaming down her face. While glancing back and forth between her ring and her new fiancé, she asked “Are you sure?” I affirmed: “More sure than I’ve ever been before! I even bought you a ring!” You silly girl, I could not possibly express just how certain I was of this decision, nor just how much I love you! Proposing was more than just something I wanted, it was something I needed. I needed to start us on the path toward marriage and enter the next chapter of our lives. 

Not Quite As Planned

So, there you have it, boys and girls. A brief (?) overview of the journey she and I took toward getting engaged. Was it quick, easy, and painless? No. Was it worth it? Yes. It was worth everything and so much more! Did it go as planned? Not in the slightest, but that’s okay, because it is now a part of our history, so for us, it’s perfect.