Wedding Engagement

Well, the big news that all of you know now is that I’m engaged! Yay. I popped the questions to Anna yesterday between our entrée course and dessert.

I have been trying to come up with an idea for a wedding proposal for some time and after toying with a number of ideas, decided to go with something simple and not too outlandish. When we went to Joel and Kathy’s for dinner in November, Anna saw a Vermont Teddy Bear that Kathy had and fell in love with it. At the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to incorporate the bear into the engagement. So, through the wonder of websites, I ordered the bear online and on the right paw had them engrave her name and yesterday’s date. The deal with Vermont Teddy Bears is that the bears are all hand made in Vermont and it’s top notch quality bears. They also come with a lifetime warranty so if for some reason some were to come off, all you need to do is send the bear back and they will try their best to rehabilitate the bear or just make a new one. I also got a sash that said, “Will You Marry Me?”

There were a number of restaurants to choose from, but for logistic purposes, I needed a restaurant where I could leave to get the wrapped present without Anna suspecting anything. That’s the reason Flemings was chosen. It also helps that we both love Flemings. I called the restaurant and spoke to the general manager just to make sure things were A OK on their end and he assured me it would be fine.

My plan was to slip out of the restaurant between the entrée and dessert course and grab the bear from the trunk which is what I did. The present was left at the hostess’ table and she motioned to have the server deliver the present to Anna. When the present was delivered, Anna pretty much knew something was up and as soon as she saw the sash, she said yes. So technically, she said yes to the bear and not to me!

After she lifted the bear from the box, I told her that the bear was missing one thing and that was when I went down on one knee and proposed using her full name which I thought was neat. Her answer was yes, of course. By then, the staff at the restaurant were all looking to see how things were going to take place and once she said yes, they clapped. A number of staff congratulated Anna and the female staff asked to see her ring. They all thought it was stunning. She managed to catch her breath and finished dessert. On the drive home, she called her parents and sisters. The rest as they say is history.

It helped that I had the day off from work because I met up with Sr. Carola for breakfast and we chatted for a couple of hours. That definitely calmed my nerves. I was supposed to drop by Ann’s office, but over the weekend she had car trouble so she did not make it into work. Ann was pretty bummed about it.

Looking back, I know I had butterflies in my stomach yet at the same time, Anna commented that I was not all fidgety so she really did not know I was going to propose. She had an inkling because I was pretty insistent on going out to dinner for our four month anniversary AND the fact that I made dinner reservations for a Monday evening. Oh well, I guess I could not really surprised her all the way.

Now, the fun of planning a wedding begins. She’s going to be pretty busy this week with a choir festival this weekend, but I’m sure we’ll be talking quite a lot in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned!

Be happy for me, that’s all I can ask of you!