How I got engaged

[finzup]

Here's how I got engaged to my lovely fiancee Matt:

 

Our five year dating anniversary was coming up on June 18, 2009. Matt had asked me if I had plans that night (I think he thought that I didn't remember the date) so I played along and said, "No, I don't have any plans, what do you have in mind?"

 

He said he'd like to take me out to dinner, and I accepted. Typically Matt has a bit of a hard time choosing a location for dinner so he leaves it up to me. This time, however, he said that he'd pick a place and make the reservation. In hindsight, that should've been my first clue that something was up.

 

So on Wednesday he informed me that we'd be going to Local 121 in Providence. It was a restaurant that I had taken Matt to on his birthday, and we both enjoyed it there. Plus, they have the single most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in. I know it's a weird fact to mention, but they are that comfortable.

 

Thursday arrives and we head to dinner. We got there a bit early so we had a drink at the bar. We then got seated at our table. After relishing at how comfortable the chairs were, we dove into the wine list and menu. We ordered some wine and our dinner and then held hands across the table. Our wine arrived and we toasted to our five year anniversary. All was well. (Apparently, throughout all this Matt was quite the nervous wreck).

 

So there we were, sipping a delicious Louis Latour pinot noir, holding hands, and gazing romantically into each others eyes. The appetizers arrive, and I'm eyeing my amazing looking scallops, about to dive in when I hear Matt say, "So today is our anniversary and I didn't get you a card, so I wanted to tell you how I feel in person." I look up from the scallops now, quite interested in this line of conversation.

 

He goes on, saying such nice things to me, that I almost welled up with tears. Thankfully, before the tears spilled over and ruined my mascara, he pulled a ring out of his pocket, and said, "...so I have one thing to ask you Katie, will you marry me?"

 

It was only a split second, but in that split second I felt a range of emotions, shock, excitement, happiness, incredulousness (is that a word?), and amazement. It was really happening! I recovered from my shock/excitement/happiness/incredulousness/amazement quickly and any tears that were in my eyes dried up. I was so happy I almost forgot to say yes. (I did manage to remember though).

 

I was glad that he didn't get down on one knee in the restaurant - I wouldn't have wanted to be a specacle for all to see. The way he did it, it became our private moment that we shared, right under everyone's noses, but they were none the wiser. We had this incredible moment and it was all our own.

 

The ring fit - and it was gorgeous -- even in the dim light I could see that it was amazing. We ordered some champagne and toasted to our new future together.

 

It was a great night.

[breeze616]

So sweet!! My FI proposed in a restaurant too, but I had a good idea it was coming Congrats!

[Ginalyn]

Cute story!! June 18 must be a good day for love It's the day I got married. Congrats to you!

[MsZ]

Great story- congratulations!!

[sn0048]

How romantic! Congrats

[jk1101]

Awwww - very romantic - congratulations!

[finzup]

Thanks!

Want to hear his side of the story?

[finzup]

I think I'll just post it

 

 

Matt's version of the proposal:

So I didn't actually plan the proposal date until about a week earlier.

 

Since late February, I had been researching anything and everything about diamonds and engagement rings, leaving no stone unturned (pun intended!) Due to various circumstances and events, I didn't pick out and purchase the ring until a week before. After making a decision (there was soo many to choose from), they let me know that the ring would be available as soon as Saturday, June 13th. I'm thinking, "Perfect! We have plans for dinner for our anniversary, what better timing!"

 

Luckily (or not so lucky), I was elbow deep in bathroom remodeling for the house all weekend... so I had to take a half day off work on Tuesday to keep working on the bathroom. Well this gave me the perfect chance to pickup the ring without trying to come up with some crazy excuse to be away for a while. Upon coming home and basking in the beauty of the PERFECT ring, I quickly stuffed it away in the back of my dresser to avoid anyone accidentally finding it.

 

All week long I was still debating on which restaurant to choose, there were so many options.

I clearly wanted to choose something special but nothing so fancy as to give away my agenda or raise any suspicions. I toyed with the idea of Pot Au Feu... Best.French.Bistro.Ever. But we just went there for my birthday a month ago. Then I thought of the Remington House, a place that we have had a few romantic dinners, but decided that it wasn't quite fancy enough and had a tendency to be a bit noisy.

 

I wanted to go with something "tried and true" rather than attempt a restaurant I never visited before and it hit me.. what about Local 121? Katie took me there for my birthday a year ago and we absolutely loved it! I made the reservation on Wednesday night with the only requirement that we were seated away from the center of the room (to keep things quieter and less noticeable to wandering eyes of patrons.)

 

Thursday night was here before I knew it. While Katie was fine-tuning her hair and makeup (and fretting about what shoes to wear or which handbag to bring, I can't remember), I quickly scooped up the ring and put it in my pocket making sure to leave no other items in there so that it won't accidentally fall out. (the ring box was way too big for a pocket, although it would have looked quite hysterical if I tried to hide it!)

 

Anyway, we made it to Local 121 a little early and had some cocktails to start the 5th year anniversary celebration. I was only nervous about the ring as I was constantly feeling my pocket every couple of minutes. I had no worries about proposing... I had only been reciting the whole event in my head for two days.

 

After finishing our drinks, we were escorted to our table. I took notice of everyone in the dining room and it seemed a bit more crowded than I imagined, especially for a Thursday night. Shortly after, we ordered a bottle of wine and placed our food order.

 

We held hands and talked about anything and everything... our day at work, ideas for remodeling our kitchen... you know, less important stuff. The whole time my eyes were still darting around the room to get a feel for the crowd and also occassionally checking the ring in my pocket.

The waiter dropped off our appetizers and made sure that we didn't need anything else.

 

This was it. Now is the time. The waiter won't interrupt for at least another 10 minutes. It's go time!

 

While holding hands, I managed to get the ring out of my pocket while hopefully not looking obvious. At some point, I had to wedge the ring between my leg and the seat so I could switch hands. So I had casually interrupted Katie (trying to find a break in the conversation) and started my often recited speech.

 

Of course, nerves kicked in INSTANTLY. The whole time I was debating about doing the "one-knee" bit. I knew that Katie would be embarassed but if no one was looking, I was going to go for it.

Wouldn't you know that as soon as I even began to speak, the gentleman at the next table over gets up and stands directly beside our table! WTF! Why is he standing there!? Needless to say, no knee was used.

The speech wasn't word for word as I envisioned, but my points were made. Katie had clearly wanted to spend her life with me and had many aspirations for our future. Before we could continue, I just had one question for her...

Her eyes completely lit up at the sight and immediately said yes. We stood up and quickly gave each other a quick kiss (gotta stay incognito).

 

Not long after, the waiter came back again to check on us so we ordered two glasses of champagne to celebrate.

 

For the next few minutes, there was some feverish text-messaging by Katie. While we enjoyed the rest of our evening, Katie's phone continued to buzz away as all of her friends replied back.

 

The rest is history

[LIW]

Congrats. Great story.

[YaelM]

aww so fun! I loved hearing both sides of the story

 

congrats to both of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!