I should have posted this a while ago, but things have been so crazy with the wedding planning/honeymoon planning that I really haven't had time to make a proper post/story for my proposal. I haven't been a huge active member in this forum, but I did post my idea and got some wonderful feedback from people on this board. So I though I would share my story and hope that it can help just 1 person with some ideas.
Talking to her dad was interesting. I mean, I have met her dad plenty of times before and went to dinner with her family a bunch of times. However, when you ask a man to marry his daughter, it seemed more intense then it should have been. Either way, I figure that being nervous is just part of the deal and everything went fine with her dad and he said he would have anyone else marrying his daughter.
When I was planning this whole deal to propose to my fiance, the biggest problem was getting her to block out a bunch of time and not have her know OR think that I could possible be proposing to her. I had to create a rather LARGE white lie to get her available all day on Saturday. My lie was a pretty clever one, at least in my book. I told her I was going to be a major speaker at an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Convention, and I wanted her to be there to hear my first big speech. She bought it hook, line and sinker. The proposal so far is a go and everything is looking up.
Next came the ring itself. Picking out the type of stone was easy; size, cut, clarity. The biggest problem was the setting. There were really nice settings, and there were plain settings. However, I had to pick something that should like forever. I paniced me to no end, because when we did look at an occational ring shop, she was all over the place with what she liked and what she didn't like. So I told the jeweler to give me a white gold solitare setting with nothing else but the 1ct Diamond showing. We came to the conclusion that after I gave her the ring, she could come back in and pick whatever setting she REALLY wanted and he would re-set the stone in the new setting.
Then came the preperation for the day itself. I have been thinking of new an interesting things to do for a proposal for awhile now. The first thing I did was make a collage all the things in our relationship that meant something to us in sort of a timeline fashion. The timeline when around the outside of the square puzzle and left the center open for me to put a picture of a ring with the caption "Will You Marry Me?". I got the puzzle online from a website called, Positively Puzzled. The owner is a wonderful person to work with and I would recommend her to anyone who is interested in doing one of these puzzles. There is an attachment of the completed puzzle at the bottom of the proposal story.
After the puzzle, I had to make 4 audio CDs. Since this day was a surprize and I wanted to get the most build up out of the day as I could, I had to make audio CDs to explain the day as she experienced it. I will explain more about the CDs when I run through the events of the actual proposal day.
When the day finally arrived, I was a mess. The night before my fiance complains about being sick and I start to freak out. She even called me at 3am the day of the proposal to tell how crappy she feels. When the clock showed 8am, I made final phone call to her mother before I went and cancelled everything I had already planned. Her mother convinced me that she would be fine and that as the day went on she would feel better and better. SO the day continued as planned and I started my proposal.
First, I went to her house to drop of a package. This was a pink bag that had the following contents: 1 Audio CD, 1 Picture Frame for the Puzzle, and 10 Puzzle Pieces for the Top Left of the puzzle. The audio CD explained that I lied to her and that I had an extremely special day planned for her. The CD also stated that a limo would be coming to pick up her and her mother and take them to a day spa where they both would get a massage. Finally, the CD told her that she is not allowed to contact me and ask me questions. Before the limo came to pick them up, I met up with the limo driver and loaded up the limo with girly magazines, snacks and medicine.
After they both received massages, they returned to the limo to find another pink package. This package contained another Audio CD, 10 Puzzle Pieces and 2 Envelopes with different Cash Amounts. The CD explained that she was going to a beauty salon to get her makeup and hair done. The puzzle pieces in this batch were for the upper right of the puzzle.
After the beauty salon, her and her mother got back into the limo and received another package. This package contained another Audio CD, 10 Puzzle Pieces and 1 Envelope with Money. The CD explained that she would be going to the mall to pick out a nice dress and some shoes for tonight. The puzzle pieces in this batch were for the bottom right of the puzzle.
After the mall, her and her mother got back into the limo and received a final pink package. This package contained another Audio CD, 10 Puzzle Pieces and a Packet of Paper. The audio CD explained that she was going to be dropped off at home and drive down to San Diego to meet me. The packet of information was 10 MapQuest printout to eliminate the problem of her getting lost. Plus the audio CD stated that at this time she could call me for direction help ONLY. The puzzle pieces in this batch were for the bottom left of the puzzle.
During this whole day, I had been in transit to San Diego to secure the hotel room over looking San Diego Bay. The Marrott in Downtown San Diego was perfect and my room had a balcony over looking the ocean. The room had a safe where I put the ring and the final 8 puzzle pieces. I had to make sure she couldn't even see the safe and possible ask questions about it so I made sure my bags were in front of the safe and closet was shut. I got ready as fast as I could and started my walk to the resturant. I had to test out the walk to make sure it was not going to take to long. The walk was about 10-15 minutes and was the perfect amount to walk after a nice dinner.
Once I got to the resturant and checked in, I had to do the most difficult thing of the day, WAIT. I had been fine up to this point, coordinating with the limo driver, hair salon, and whatever else I need to do that day. But at this point, everything was working, I had nothing else to do but what for my soon-to-be fiance to get their. TORTURE. After about 15-20 minutes, seemed like an hour, I get a phone call and she tells me she is close, So I go outside on the corner and wave her down because she doesn't know the resturant that we are going to. After valleting the car she releases we are eating at one of her favorite resturants, the Palm Resturant. Nice place and I recommend that to anyone. Dinner was excellent, and to my surprize, I remained calm and collected. I am sure if was the bottle of wine we shared over dinner that did the trick.
The walk back was nice, not to cold, just right. When I left the hotel earlier, I had the conceirge run up a dozen chocolate strawberries, a nice bottle of champaign, and throw some rose pedals around the bed. Upon entering the room, she was impressed with the view, so I told her to go check it out and I would meet her out their after I went to the bathroom. As she slowly walked through the room, I hurried to open the safe and get the ring in my pants pocket and put the remaining puzzle pieces in my shirt pocket. I even flushed the toliet so she wouldn't suspect anything. So James Bond of me! Anyways, I get out to the balcony and she has her unfinished puzzle in her hand. I take the puzzle from her and open it up so I can start filling in the rest of the puzzle. As I am filling the puzzle I tell her that life will present a lot of challenges, problems and puzzles like the one we have here. I continue to tell her that her and I alone might not have all the pieces to complete the puzzle, but together, we can finish anything. At that point the puzzle is completed and I tell her to close her eyes. I set the puzzle on the table, tell her to open her eyes where she finds me down on one knee and I ask her to marry me.
She started to get teary eyed and said YES. I got so happy and gave her a huge hug that I forgot to put the ring on her finger. Just gives her something to tease me about.
WOW, that was a lot to type, but I don't think I have ever typed out the whole process before. If anything sounds confusing or you have a questions, just post it here. I would love to help anyone else out in their current proposal situation.
Talking to her dad was interesting. I mean, I have met her dad plenty of times before and went to dinner with her family a bunch of times. However, when you ask a man to marry his daughter, it seemed more intense then it should have been. Either way, I figure that being nervous is just part of the deal and everything went fine with her dad and he said he would have anyone else marrying his daughter.
When I was planning this whole deal to propose to my fiance, the biggest problem was getting her to block out a bunch of time and not have her know OR think that I could possible be proposing to her. I had to create a rather LARGE white lie to get her available all day on Saturday. My lie was a pretty clever one, at least in my book. I told her I was going to be a major speaker at an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Convention, and I wanted her to be there to hear my first big speech. She bought it hook, line and sinker. The proposal so far is a go and everything is looking up.
Next came the ring itself. Picking out the type of stone was easy; size, cut, clarity. The biggest problem was the setting. There were really nice settings, and there were plain settings. However, I had to pick something that should like forever. I paniced me to no end, because when we did look at an occational ring shop, she was all over the place with what she liked and what she didn't like. So I told the jeweler to give me a white gold solitare setting with nothing else but the 1ct Diamond showing. We came to the conclusion that after I gave her the ring, she could come back in and pick whatever setting she REALLY wanted and he would re-set the stone in the new setting.
Then came the preperation for the day itself. I have been thinking of new an interesting things to do for a proposal for awhile now. The first thing I did was make a collage all the things in our relationship that meant something to us in sort of a timeline fashion. The timeline when around the outside of the square puzzle and left the center open for me to put a picture of a ring with the caption "Will You Marry Me?". I got the puzzle online from a website called, Positively Puzzled. The owner is a wonderful person to work with and I would recommend her to anyone who is interested in doing one of these puzzles. There is an attachment of the completed puzzle at the bottom of the proposal story.
After the puzzle, I had to make 4 audio CDs. Since this day was a surprize and I wanted to get the most build up out of the day as I could, I had to make audio CDs to explain the day as she experienced it. I will explain more about the CDs when I run through the events of the actual proposal day.
When the day finally arrived, I was a mess. The night before my fiance complains about being sick and I start to freak out. She even called me at 3am the day of the proposal to tell how crappy she feels. When the clock showed 8am, I made final phone call to her mother before I went and cancelled everything I had already planned. Her mother convinced me that she would be fine and that as the day went on she would feel better and better. SO the day continued as planned and I started my proposal.
First, I went to her house to drop of a package. This was a pink bag that had the following contents: 1 Audio CD, 1 Picture Frame for the Puzzle, and 10 Puzzle Pieces for the Top Left of the puzzle. The audio CD explained that I lied to her and that I had an extremely special day planned for her. The CD also stated that a limo would be coming to pick up her and her mother and take them to a day spa where they both would get a massage. Finally, the CD told her that she is not allowed to contact me and ask me questions. Before the limo came to pick them up, I met up with the limo driver and loaded up the limo with girly magazines, snacks and medicine.
After they both received massages, they returned to the limo to find another pink package. This package contained another Audio CD, 10 Puzzle Pieces and 2 Envelopes with different Cash Amounts. The CD explained that she was going to a beauty salon to get her makeup and hair done. The puzzle pieces in this batch were for the upper right of the puzzle.
After the beauty salon, her and her mother got back into the limo and received another package. This package contained another Audio CD, 10 Puzzle Pieces and 1 Envelope with Money. The CD explained that she would be going to the mall to pick out a nice dress and some shoes for tonight. The puzzle pieces in this batch were for the bottom right of the puzzle.
After the mall, her and her mother got back into the limo and received a final pink package. This package contained another Audio CD, 10 Puzzle Pieces and a Packet of Paper. The audio CD explained that she was going to be dropped off at home and drive down to San Diego to meet me. The packet of information was 10 MapQuest printout to eliminate the problem of her getting lost. Plus the audio CD stated that at this time she could call me for direction help ONLY. The puzzle pieces in this batch were for the bottom left of the puzzle.
During this whole day, I had been in transit to San Diego to secure the hotel room over looking San Diego Bay. The Marrott in Downtown San Diego was perfect and my room had a balcony over looking the ocean. The room had a safe where I put the ring and the final 8 puzzle pieces. I had to make sure she couldn't even see the safe and possible ask questions about it so I made sure my bags were in front of the safe and closet was shut. I got ready as fast as I could and started my walk to the resturant. I had to test out the walk to make sure it was not going to take to long. The walk was about 10-15 minutes and was the perfect amount to walk after a nice dinner.
Once I got to the resturant and checked in, I had to do the most difficult thing of the day, WAIT. I had been fine up to this point, coordinating with the limo driver, hair salon, and whatever else I need to do that day. But at this point, everything was working, I had nothing else to do but what for my soon-to-be fiance to get their. TORTURE. After about 15-20 minutes, seemed like an hour, I get a phone call and she tells me she is close, So I go outside on the corner and wave her down because she doesn't know the resturant that we are going to. After valleting the car she releases we are eating at one of her favorite resturants, the Palm Resturant. Nice place and I recommend that to anyone. Dinner was excellent, and to my surprize, I remained calm and collected. I am sure if was the bottle of wine we shared over dinner that did the trick.
The walk back was nice, not to cold, just right. When I left the hotel earlier, I had the conceirge run up a dozen chocolate strawberries, a nice bottle of champaign, and throw some rose pedals around the bed. Upon entering the room, she was impressed with the view, so I told her to go check it out and I would meet her out their after I went to the bathroom. As she slowly walked through the room, I hurried to open the safe and get the ring in my pants pocket and put the remaining puzzle pieces in my shirt pocket. I even flushed the toliet so she wouldn't suspect anything. So James Bond of me! Anyways, I get out to the balcony and she has her unfinished puzzle in her hand. I take the puzzle from her and open it up so I can start filling in the rest of the puzzle. As I am filling the puzzle I tell her that life will present a lot of challenges, problems and puzzles like the one we have here. I continue to tell her that her and I alone might not have all the pieces to complete the puzzle, but together, we can finish anything. At that point the puzzle is completed and I tell her to close her eyes. I set the puzzle on the table, tell her to open her eyes where she finds me down on one knee and I ask her to marry me.
She started to get teary eyed and said YES. I got so happy and gave her a huge hug that I forgot to put the ring on her finger.
Just gives her something to tease me about. WOW, that was a lot to type, but I don't think I have ever typed out the whole process before. If anything sounds confusing or you have a questions, just post it here. I would love to help anyone else out in their current proposal situation.
300x240.png)