I did it this weekend!
Here is how it went.....
Her birthday was last week, and as part of her gift I got her a massage at Ettore spa in Center City Philadelphia. We were intending to go to a Winery Grand Opening above New Hope afterwards, so I drove her to the spa and said I would just hang out in Starbucks for the hour. I had worked all this out with the spa ahead of time so they played it cool all day. They had her get in a robe and slippers after the massage to relax with a mimosa. (she thought it a little odd she had to put on a robe to do this) They then informed her after the mimosa that she would be spending the rest of the day with them. She then got an hour long facial, an hour manicure, hour pedicure.
While this was going on.. I went home and picked up her outfit and stuff for the next morning etc (she would have noticed if some of the stuff was missing that morning), I checked into the Lowes Hotel and got a corner suite with an awesome city view (I have a friend thats a manager there). I decorated the room with 250 roses, some in 6 vases around the room, some on window sills, some on top of the end tables, bathroom sink, tub, chairs, pictures etc. I "paved" a path from the door to a chair by the corner window with roses, tea candles and petals. I placed a radio with my Ipod playing softly hidden in a corner with a small play list I prepared.
After the pedicure the staff of the spa presented her with 2 Hat boxes that I had put 2 dresses and 2 pairs of high heels in. One outfit was new that I bought the other was one of hers that I knew already fit her, which was good because the dress I picked out was a little too small
(she is between a 2-4 dress and 8-8.5 shoe) The note said to pick an outfit and get dressed. The spa then did her hair and makeup for her. They had her go out into the lobby(they called me right before to tell me they were sending her out and I came up behind her in a full suit. (her other clothes etc were picked up by a friend)
I gave her a kiss and we got a cab to the Bellevue Hotel and took her to the 19th floor. We ate dinner at XIX www.nineteenrestaurant.com , and had some cocktails. She admitted she thought it was coming right here.... but I said I hoped you liked your birthday surpise, but we better get home to see the game(PSU vs. OSU). We took a cab back to the Loews Hotel I told her I parked there. While walking through I said lets see if Alex (our friend) was working. I gave him a call and had a fake convo with him. This was his cue to light all the candles in the room. He came down and met us in the lobby and asked Meg how she liked her "birthday" surprise, at this point she was totally thrown off. He suggested we go upstairs and check out the view of the city, it was awesome tonight with the near full moon and clear skies. We said OK and since we have done this several times before she thought nothing of it. I even pretended I didn't know where the room was right away when we got off the elevator.
I opened the door and let her go in first... the 50 candles light up the room and as soon as she say all the flowers etc she turned and looked at me in amazement. I took her hand and led her through the room along our candle lit rose path. I set her down in the chair and gave her a single rose. I knelt down on one knee and took out the ring that was tucked just under the bed. I made my little private speach and asked her... she said of course and we kissed and she cried for a minute. She finally realized that she hadn't let me put on the ring and we did.. after a slow dance, some champange and some kissing we had Alex come up and take some pictures for us. We called our parents and some select friends etc....
It went perfectly... the spa staff was amazing. She said the spa was buzzing with talk of her "surprise" and customers and staff were talking to her all day about it. With the help of Alex I was able to keep her from really being sure this was it untill the last second. We both woke before sunrise the next morning because we were so excited, which worked out awesome because we took pictures of the sunrise and the refection of it off the mirrored glass buildings in the skyline. We ordered some room service and relaxed before meeting our parents for lunch.
It was a great weekend and week(I forgot to mention, a bid we placed on a house was accepted Thursday night!
Oh I took a ton of pictures through the night.. mostly in the room so I'll try to add some of them on to here.
Here is how it went.....
Her birthday was last week, and as part of her gift I got her a massage at Ettore spa in Center City Philadelphia. We were intending to go to a Winery Grand Opening above New Hope afterwards, so I drove her to the spa and said I would just hang out in Starbucks for the hour. I had worked all this out with the spa ahead of time so they played it cool all day. They had her get in a robe and slippers after the massage to relax with a mimosa. (she thought it a little odd she had to put on a robe to do this) They then informed her after the mimosa that she would be spending the rest of the day with them. She then got an hour long facial, an hour manicure, hour pedicure.

While this was going on.. I went home and picked up her outfit and stuff for the next morning etc (she would have noticed if some of the stuff was missing that morning), I checked into the Lowes Hotel and got a corner suite with an awesome city view (I have a friend thats a manager there). I decorated the room with 250 roses, some in 6 vases around the room, some on window sills, some on top of the end tables, bathroom sink, tub, chairs, pictures etc. I "paved" a path from the door to a chair by the corner window with roses, tea candles and petals. I placed a radio with my Ipod playing softly hidden in a corner with a small play list I prepared.

After the pedicure the staff of the spa presented her with 2 Hat boxes that I had put 2 dresses and 2 pairs of high heels in. One outfit was new that I bought the other was one of hers that I knew already fit her, which was good because the dress I picked out was a little too small

I gave her a kiss and we got a cab to the Bellevue Hotel and took her to the 19th floor. We ate dinner at XIX www.nineteenrestaurant.com , and had some cocktails. She admitted she thought it was coming right here.... but I said I hoped you liked your birthday surpise, but we better get home to see the game(PSU vs. OSU). We took a cab back to the Loews Hotel I told her I parked there. While walking through I said lets see if Alex (our friend) was working. I gave him a call and had a fake convo with him. This was his cue to light all the candles in the room. He came down and met us in the lobby and asked Meg how she liked her "birthday" surprise, at this point she was totally thrown off. He suggested we go upstairs and check out the view of the city, it was awesome tonight with the near full moon and clear skies. We said OK and since we have done this several times before she thought nothing of it. I even pretended I didn't know where the room was right away when we got off the elevator.

I opened the door and let her go in first... the 50 candles light up the room and as soon as she say all the flowers etc she turned and looked at me in amazement. I took her hand and led her through the room along our candle lit rose path. I set her down in the chair and gave her a single rose. I knelt down on one knee and took out the ring that was tucked just under the bed. I made my little private speach and asked her... she said of course and we kissed and she cried for a minute. She finally realized that she hadn't let me put on the ring and we did.. after a slow dance, some champange and some kissing we had Alex come up and take some pictures for us. We called our parents and some select friends etc....
It went perfectly... the spa staff was amazing. She said the spa was buzzing with talk of her "surprise" and customers and staff were talking to her all day about it. With the help of Alex I was able to keep her from really being sure this was it untill the last second. We both woke before sunrise the next morning because we were so excited, which worked out awesome because we took pictures of the sunrise and the refection of it off the mirrored glass buildings in the skyline. We ordered some room service and relaxed before meeting our parents for lunch.
It was a great weekend and week(I forgot to mention, a bid we placed on a house was accepted Thursday night!


Oh I took a ton of pictures through the night.. mostly in the room so I'll try to add some of them on to here.