Oh Boy! Here We Go

[SVRider]

Cant believe I'm actually gunna propose. We have been dating for 7 years the end of this month (high School Sweethearts now outta College) so I allways figured we would get married but now that I'm going through the process I'm getting nervous.

Here is my idea. How does it sound?

Background:
When I was a kid we used to go to this Cider Mill every year. It was really cool, its an old water wheel powered mill that has a very sceanic Hiking trail next to a river that goes back about a mile. Well about about four years ago I took my girlfriend there and we would go for a long walk on this trail after we did the usuall drink cider and eat donuts. When we were back on the trail we found this old tree that had fallen down and carved our names in it, and every year since returned and put another date on the carving.


Here is the Proposal:
We would get the normal cider and donuts and then take our walk down the trail. We would get to the tree where we would carved our names and I would either

1. Have previously carved "Will You Marry Me" in the log by our names and as soon as she saw it get down on one knee.

or

2. Carve our new date in again and then get down on one knee and ask her to marry me.

Here's the Twist:
I know she would love to have our family there to see everything but I kinda want to do it off by ourselves. So what I want to do is have all of our family and friends meet out at the start of the trail after we head in so she doesnt know they are there.I would like to have pictures of her reaction so I'm gunna have my Dad covertly follow us and take pictures of the big moment from a distance. Then when we come back out have all her family be there so she doesnt have to make a bunch of phone calls to tell everyone the news.

I ran this by her friends and they all agreed that it sounded nice but they said she is so anxious to get engaged I could ask her anywhere and she would say yes.

 

[rae]

SVRider - I think this is really sweet. I like the idea of having the "Will you marry me" (and even date, if you are confident you can get there on that date! weather etc) already carved into the tree..... and glad it's a "dead" tree, not a live one....

The photos of the reaction, well....... just a personal thing, but for me, I would be happy with just our personal memories.... I wouldn't want my boyfriend's Dad following along taking photos of the actual proposal, or my reaction (OR the kiss following the "yes"!!).... so I would prefer it to be just the two of us (or two of you, in this case

)... but it sounds like that scenario will work in your situation, so I hope you get some fabulous shots!!

Best of luck, and do let us know how it goes!

 

[UCLABelle]

This is so very cute....I love the idea...

 

[SVRider]

Date: 9/19/2005 12:42:20 PM
Author: rae
SVRider - I think this is really sweet. I like the idea of having the 'Will you marry me' (and even date, if you are confident you can get there on that date! weather etc) already carved into the tree..... and glad it's a 'dead' tree, not a live one....

The photos of the reaction, well....... just a personal thing, but for me, I would be happy with just our personal memories.... I wouldn't want my boyfriend's Dad following along taking photos of the actual proposal, or my reaction (OR the kiss following the 'yes'!!).... so I would prefer it to be just the two of us (or two of you, in this case

)... but it sounds like that scenario will work in your situation, so I hope you get some fabulous shots!!

Best of luck, and do let us know how it goes!

Yeah maybe the covert operation is a bad idea

. Hmmmm

Maybe I can have him just take pictures after when she is suprised by all of her family.

The best part about this whole idea is that I came up with it last Thursday and this weekend she was going through some old pictures and she found som we took at the mill a long time ago. She said we should go back there and I said "Yeah we have to carve our names in the tree again"

. So that right there tells me this is a good idea. Almost makes me wonder if there is some information being leaked out

 

[jorman]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of having "Will You Marry Me" carved in the tree before you get there. I think you should keep your tradition of carving the date in together. She is going to LOVE IT!
Take lots of pictures so we can see the tree, the ring, her big smile....
Oh and Congratulations!

-Janna

 

[SVRider]

Will do. Now all I have to do is coordinate a date with all of our families to get them all in one place at one time. If all comes together ok it should be this weekend or next.

Getting nervous, picking up the ring tommorrow

 

[ame]

Date: 9/19/2005 12:11:41 PM
Author:SVRider


Here is the Proposal:

We would get the normal cider and donuts and then take our walk down the trail. We would get to the tree where we would carved our names and I would either


1. Have previously carved ''Will You Marry Me'' in the log by our names and as soon as she saw it get down on one knee.


or


2. Carve our new date in again and then get down on one knee and ask her to marry me.

.

Ohhh that''s tough. You don''t want her thinking that carving won''t be from you so Im leaning towards 2.

I love that yo uwill have an accomplice taking photos. I regret not getting any photos from our proposalS.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

My family was there when my FI proposed. My sister took pictures. I LOVE looking at those pictures and reliving that moment. I get to see my reaction and his. Honestly when he was proposing it was kind of a blur. I tried to concentrate and remember everything but that just didn''t happen. For us the way he did it was perfect. She wasn''t moving around and getting really close to us. She was very subtle about it. I really like carving "will you marry me" her name insert here and maybe THEN put the date so you can combine both ideas. Good luck and post pictures!!

 

[kalela]

I love the idea of carving "will you marry me," her name, and the date. That is so sweet & sentimental! I''m sure she would just love that. DH & I are high school sweethearts and we had etched our name into a viewing tower at the beach when we first started dated. If he had asked me to marry him the way you''re planning to do it, I would''ve melted on the spot!

I''m a photographer so I definitely would want someone to capture the moments either by photo or video, but that''s just me. If your soon-to-be fiance'' is the private type then I would think twice.

I think you are doing so well on your own! Keep us posted!

 

[SVRider]

I''m sure she would like pictures since she is sentimental like that (and I want some too cause I''m sure I won''t be able to decipher whats going on

). The only problem is hiding the camera man. I want him to follow us at a distance but how he can get close enough with out her seeing might be hard.

Well I asked her parents last night and they ok''d it and I''m all set to propose this Sunday. Man asking her parents made me more nervous than I''m gunna be proposing.

I''ll get ring shots for you guys real soon, I know how everyone likes those.

 

[ame]

OH YAY! Sunday is only 2 sleeps away!!!

Congrats and I hope it all goes off as you want it to!

 

[fountainfairfax]

What a wonderful idea & great proposal plan! I love anything that has special meaning and history.

I like the idea of having everyone waiting at the very end and taking photos there, telephoto shots seem a little creepy to me

Good luck, I''m sure it will all be perfect and can''t wait to see the ring!

 

[Jelly]

The carving on the tree is so sweet and sentimental...JUST OOZING WITH ROMANCE! I love it!

I can imagine having a beautiful black and white photo taken of the carving and framed in your home together. Something you can show the grandkids. PERFECT!

 

[SVRider]

She said Yes! (Not that I was worried).

Short Story:
Everything went off great. We got there on time, all of our families got there in time and were out of sight and it didn't rain

.

Long Story:
Saturday morning I went to the cider mill with my friend to carve the tree but we could not find the our original names so I had to make a new spot. I tried not to take long cause I was supposed to meet up with my GF to go to her Moms house to visit, but she ended up calling me and I had to scramble with an excuse. I came up with a pretty good one (I am buying a new car and told her I was going to the dealer to check) and she bought it even though she was mad cause I was way late but I knew she would forgive me

.

The plan was to leave around 1 to go to the cider mill and have everyone else leave at 1:30. I gave everyones phone number to my best friends so he could make sure everybody knew when we were going in and when we were coming out so they could get together at the right time.

We got to the cider mill and she says she wants to walk down the trail first, I thought she might be on to me cause we usually get cider and donuts first but I said ok. So we walk down the trail and look for the log to carve our names and I play around like I'm looking for it but couldn't find it. I didnt want to do it right away cause I knew everyone wasn't ready. So we agreed we couldn't find it and kept moving down the trail, I was hoping I would be able to get her to go back without being suspisious

. As we heading back towards the start of the trail I said lets try one more time on the tree. So as we get back to the tree another couple is walking up too and they sit down on the log and start eating cider and donuts

, I was like "OMG you have got to be kidding me". So I pretend I'm looking for our names and eventually the other couple leaves. I made my way over to the carving while she was looking where the other couple was sitting. I pointed to the "Amanda Will You Marry Me" and said haha look at this, she came over and looked and said "Oh isn't that great" thinking it was for a different Amanda. At that point I got down on one knee and gave my little speech and proposed while she just went into shock and cried and said yes.

We talked a little about everything and then started back towards the mill while she called all of her friends. Then as she we were coming out of the trail (her still on the phone) she saw all of our families and just lost it (me too a little bit

), it was great. Her family was crying, she was crying, even her manly outdoorsman type dad who won't show emotion was crying a little, it felt so wonderful cause everyone was so happy.

We all stayed and talked and took pictures and we all walked back to see the carving and take pictures of that. Then we made trips to the rest of her family that didnt know and broke the news. After we topped it all off with dinner at a Japanese steak house and went back home.

Oh yeah and she loves the ring thank you pricescope.

I promise to get ring shots soon. I have lots of pictures I just gotta put them up.

 

[rae]

SVRider, that is a lovely story and I am SOOOo glad everything turned out beautifully for you!!!! I am sure your girlfriend (whoooops - fiance!!

) appreciated all the effort you went to....

Congratulations to you both, and all the best.

 

[kalela]

Congrats! I was wondering & waiting all weekend to hear the story. I am so happy for you! What a perfect proposal--did you get lots of pictures?

This makes me want DH to do it over again! HA!

 

[Scintillating]

That was an absolutely wonderful proposal!
Very sweet. Very touching.
Sounds like everyone will remember it forever.
Congratulations!

Don''t forget those pcitures now

Scintillating...

 

[curlygirl]

Oh wow, I just read this story and I have tears in my eyes!!! What a wonderful proposal!!!!! I''m so glad it all worked out for you. Your fiancee is very lucky to have a thoughtful guy like you who took such time and effort into making it all perfect. Congratulations, I''m very happy for you!

 

[ky6]

Great, great, great proposal! Cant wait to see the pics.

 

[Rube]

Wonderful proposal! Congratulations to you both!

 

[Daniel B]

WOW! I almost thought you had to scrub the proposal for the day because of that other couple!

That is an amazing story, i wish i can come up with something sentimental like that too! CONGRATULATIONS!!!~!!!!!!

 

[SVRider]

Trust me I thought long and hard for something sentimental. Being that we were High School sweethearts and in college most of the relationship there wasnt much traveling or really cool first dates involved so I had to think. This place ended up being great and she had absolutely no ideah. She even said "I can''t believed you pulled this off and I didn''t figure anything out".

I finally have pictures up Click here to see them

Thank you guys so much for the kind words. I didnt take any pictures of the proposal cause I couldn''t take a camera with me but I''ll see what my family has of the suprise.

 

[bopitaddict]

dood, what an awesome proposal!

congratulations and best of luck with the rest of your journey!