Joy Proposal Story: Stephanie & Daniel

We were neighbors, she was the real life ‘Girl Next Door’!

I had a big idea planned, but my big idea went up in smoke! Stephanie’s cousin and her boyfriend were planning a holiday to Riviera Maya – Mexico. I was going to surprise her with a trip to go with them and told her cousin I was planning on proposing there. She was prepared to film it and get photo’s and was so excited! I’d planned the booking, got the dates sorted, even emailed Stephanie’s boss to get her time off. But, when I got the email confirmation through (and there’s a theme here), I got too excited and told her about the trip! She had no idea about the proposal though, I still kept that quiet. A couple of weeks after receiving the confirmation for the trip, I started thinking about engagement rings and started doing some research online. Man, what a minefield! Different categories, different stones, the cut, the carat, the clarity, the color, the cost – there was so much. I figured out what I was looking for, and more importantly – what I could afford. The next thing was to figure out what band to put it on! I had no idea where to start with that. What would she like, what style would suit, white gold, rose gold, yellow gold, platinum, traditional, modern – another endless list of choice! I figured the best way to get an idea, would be to try and get her by a jeweler (without raising suspicion) to see if she picked up on any rings. I figured that was the best plan- we would go to the mall and I’d plan a route to pass a jeweler and subtly guide her towards the engagement rings. I’d stand looking at the watches close by, see if she started looking at rings, and figure out what she liked. More importantly though, I needed to find out what she didn’t like! After a few ‘jeweler’ passes, we were getting somewhere. So, I had an idea of what I should get.

Off I went, with the ring pictured in my head, imagining proposing on the sun soaked beach in Mexico. I went into so many different stores and looked at so many different rings until I chose one I was sure she’d like, or so I thought. A couple of days before I was due to collect the ring, we were out shopping and happened to pass the jewelers that had the ring I was going to purchase, on display. We wandered over, doing the ‘jeweler pass’ I’d become accustomed to. There I was, looking at the watches like before, waiting to see if Stephanie commented on any rings. She was looking at them when I asked her which one she liked, in hopes she’d point out the one I’d already chosen. She didn’t. She pointed out one she liked and I asked her what other rings she thought were pretty in the case. Again, she chose a different ring. Now, I was starting to panic. I was nervous, so I pointed the ring out that I chose and said “Oh, that one’s nice, isn’t it?” and paused for a second, waiting for her response which was “Oh no, no not that one. This other one is much nicer”. So there I was, thinking I’d bought the perfect ring and she’d just said it wasn’t nice! Back I went to the jeweler, again and again, to find the right one. In the end, I oddly ended up in a store that looks after the Queens crown jewels, Mappin & Webb @ Reaid & Sons Newcastlte, UK. The jeweler told me stories of Prince William shopping at the London branch for jewelry while she showed me rings and as she spoke one of the rings kept catching my eye. I couldn’t take my eyes off it and knew right away that was it, that was the ring I was going to get her!  Now, I’m on the right track. I’ve got the ring and the vacation to Mexico. Everything was going according to plan, right? Nope, Wrong.

I went back a couple of days later, and bought the ring. I was so excited, so excited I couldn’t contain myself. The jeweler brought me a glass of champagne and congratulated me on getting the ring. They asked me about the proposal, how I was going to do it. I told them about Mexico and the plan with her cousin, but half way through the story I ended up stopping. Right there and then I decided I couldn’t wait, I had to do it that day! I was too excited, similar to the Mexico Vacation, I just had to had to tell her, I had to propose! I thought about it and knew that I only had one goal with the proposal- to do it when she least expected. I thought I would go home and treat the night like normal, and I would propose there. We would sit down and eat like any normal night and she wont expect a thing. Stephanie loves Disney, in particular, Snow White.I went to the Disney store, picked up a snow white figurine, and a Disney princess blanket and know she loves Disney, so why not put on a Disney film that we can sit and watch and I will propose.

So, I planned that we should watch Frozen. During the film, Anna and Hans are singing ‘Love Is An Open Door’ and in that song Hans sings to Anna ‘Can I say something crazy, will you marry me?’, Anna replies with ‘Can I say something crazier. Yes!’. I would pause it right here, when Hans asks the question, and then I was going to propose.  I would get the Snow White figurine, have the Princess blanket underneath with the ring hidden below and get down on one knee to ask the question myself just like in the movie – ‘Can I say something crazy, will you marry me?’.  That was it, the plan had changed and I’d settled on that! I went back the jeweler to collect the ring and told them all about my updated plan.  They were just as excited as I was, so excited, that they gave me a bottle of champagne to celebrate for when I asked her. I had it all planned out. I rehearsed what I was going to say in the car and had it all prepared- I was going with proposal version 2.0. The only problem with that plan, was me!

I’d gone from being so excited and ready, to being nervous. So nervous I felt sick! I made dinner, but couldn’t eat it – I’m typically a big eater, so Stephanie knew something wasn’t right. I was sweating, wasn’t talking much, my heart was beating a thousand times a minute. We finished eating and I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew I had to do it now, in that moment, and I couldn’t wait any longer. Right after dinner in the kitchen, I pulled out the figurine and princess blanket with the ring hidden underneath. I got on one knee as she opened the blanket, I was shaking with nerves but tried to say what I’d rehearsed and I couldn’t speak- the words just wouldn’t come out of my mouth! I ended up mumbling random noise, I don’t think they were even real words! She cried, opened up the ring box not saying anything (for what felt like an eternity) until she stopped crying enough to say “yes!”. We were engaged!  I’d spent all that time planning both proposals and it all went up in smoke! I ended up proposing after we are an oven cooked pizza, in the kitchen. Looking back, I wouldn’t change the proposal for the world. And neither would Stephanie (thankfully!). It’s doesn’t matter where, or how you propose. It only matters who you’re proposing to. That being said, our Mexico vacation is this August, I could always propose again, right?

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