XOXO

We always set up surprise date nights for each other. Well, Al set up a surprise date night weekend. He took me to Yosemite for the weekend. We camped one night and climbed Half Dome the next day. I thought we were camping again that night and I was thrilled to find out we had reservations at a bed & breakfast for that night.

It took us longer than we thought to get to the B&B so we missed our dinner reservations. I thought we'd just shower and go, but AL insisted on hanging out on the hot tub before dinner.

(to give you the needed history, hot tubs have a special significance. The night we first got together, a friend of ours was having a hot tub party - we had strawberries and choclate liquour and were drinking in the hot tub. Al was giving me a massage and writing on my back. He wrote 'you are so incredible sexy' - and thats the first time I knew for sure he was interested! Our first kiss was later that night.)

back to engagement story - we go outside to the hot tub and he has candles around, and strawberries and chocolate liquour (again). He's giving me a massage and he starts writing on my back - 'I love you, will you marry me?' When he wrote the 'W' I was suspicious, when he got to the 'M', I was shaking. I let him finish and then turned around with tears in my eyes and he reached for the ring, and I said yes! Then he actually asked me and put the ring on my finger.

Then we went to dinner

We called my parents the next morning - My mom freaked out she was so excited and then beat on my dad when she found out he knew it was going to happen for a week! Everytime the phone rang he thought it'd be us...

(When we were in NY the week before, Al asked my dad...or maybe he told my dad that he was going to propose - neither of them remember it too clearly. He was really nervous)

We were spending Christmas in Ireland & he was being so mushy the whole day. It was on Christmas night as we were lying in bed talking he asked me if he could ask me a question. (Usually that meant can you get up & get me some tums ) So I said we don't have any tums. Then he said no I want to ask you something else. So I said go ahead. Then he asked would I marry him. I didn't know if he was really serious until he leaned over & got the ring box from the window sill. Of course I said yes right away. Seeing that I was 3,000 miles from my brothers & sisters he said go ahead & call everybody. And I said not until I tell Patrick (our son) The next morning we told Patrick (he was 5 months old & didn't seem to care) Then I had to track down my 5 brothers & sisters to tell them the news!!

Dave and I have a long history together. (Today is our 8 year anniversary!). We also say movie lines back and forth to one another. One of the first movies we saw together was 'My Blue Heaven' starring Steve Martin & Rick Moranis. There's a line from the movie that we have said over and over. 'I'm wit you' (in a bad Italian accent).

On April 28, 2001 (Saturday), Dave and I make plans to have dinner at one of our favorite places, the 56th Fighter Squadron in Farmingdale. He tells me to make sure 'that I look nice' and that he would do the same. I thought that was odd, but I just blew it off as nothing. I got a little more dressed up then usual and we headed out to dinner.

We went around 5:30 and the service was unusually slow. Dave is tapping his fingers on the table and acting very nervous. At this point, I had a feeling something was up. He asks me if I want to go to the beach to watch the sunset. (I have asked him to do this about 50 times in the 7 years that I had known him and we never did it), SO I knew something was up. We ate fast and sped on over to Jones Beach.

We're walking along the beach (it was a hot & sunny day and beatiful at night) and it was packed. We kept walking and walking until there was no one around.

He then says 'I'm wit you' and I said 'I'm wit you too' and he says, 'But I want to be wit you forever', he gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him.

I start screaming and crying and making a big scene. It was perfect. I then told him that we have to run to my house to tell my parents and he said that they already knew. Dave went to my house 2 nights earlier and asked my father for my hand in marriage...ahhhh

So, there you have it. I think I've had a smile on my face everyday since.

Karen

We went to Colorado last year (I already knew it was coming, b/c his mother told her friends that he bought the ring and they said congratulations to me :) )

He was going to put the ring in the golf hole, but we got in so late, we couldn't get a tee time...so he was freaking...he tried to put it on my finger while I was sleeping, but I was sleeping on my hands...then he put it in my shoe, but thought I might not wear that particular pair...so as we were eating breakfast in bed, watching cartoons no less...I turned around for literally a second laughing and turned back and it was there!!! So even though I knew...he surprised me!!

My FI told my sister to tell me that he was bummed that we didn't go out to his favorite restaurant - Don Pepp's - for his birthday. So my sister tells me & says 'Don't tell Bryan (my FI) that I told you' So of course, later that night, while we were driving I ask hm to go to Don Pepp's...and he says 'Where's this coming from out of no where...' So of course I spill the beans about my sister -- and he calls my sister on his cell phone & starts screaming about 'I can't tell you guys anything -- You're sister can't keep a secret..you tell each other everything...' And I'm apologizing like crazy - so anyway - we decide to go to the restaurant. But first, we've got to get my Mom from the airport & drop her off at home where my Dad is waiting. So when we get their she starts asking us to stay for dinner (being pushy as only a Mom can be) and the phone rings -- while I answer it, my Dad gets my Mom in the living room & is telling her 'Shut up you idiot! He's going to ask her to marry him..' So I get off the phone and my Mom's like 'Oh so you guys are going to the restaurant -- well you'd better get moving' and practically kicks us out the door.

I'm oblivious and notice nothing.

So we finally get to the restaurant and I wait in the car as my FI put our name on the list to get a table. He hands the Matre d' a ring to put in our dessert & explains that he's asking his girlfriend to marry him. When he comes back out he tells me it'll be a while and asks if I want to go to a bar for a drink... because of course he's a nervous wreck and needs a drink very badly

I'm oblivious and notice nothing.

So we go for drinks and get back to the restaurant and eat our dinner -- and dessert comes. So the waiter puts the tartufo (an Italian dessert that's basically a ball of ice cream covered with chocolate), split into 4 pieces, on the table. But I'm in mid-conversation with Bryan, so it's just sitting there. Now meanwhile, right next to us, in my direct line of sight, is a table full of waiters and a woman. It ends up that this woman had overheard Bryan speaking with the Matre d' so she had set herself up with a good seat for the big moment. Of course I figure, it's the end of the night, they're just kicking back waiting for the last customers to leave.

I'm oblivious and notice nothing.

Finally the waiter comes over and says 'what are you doing? Your dessert is going to melt...' And I tell him how much I love my boyfriend and how he's not just good looking - he also makes great conversation.... But then I take a piece of the tartufo and put it on Byran's plate and then put another piece on mine....

And I notice something in the ice cream.... and my first thought is -- 'What's this piece of cr*p doing in my ice cream...'

Then I notice that it's a ring ....and my second thought is -- 'Maybe it's one of those 'find a ring - win a free meal' kind of things...'

Then I look over at my boyfriend....and he starts telling me how much he loves me.... and my next thought is 'Holy S**T!!!! This is it - this is the most special moment of my life - a moment I've dreamed about since I was young...' And I was so shocked I couldn't even focus on what he ws saying... and I looked down at the ring...

...And it was the ugliest ring I had every seen. Small & plain & cheesy looking -- completely different from the dream ring I had seen at Fortunoffs and told my sister to tell Bryan that I loved. But then I thought, 'Ah well, we can always exchange it' -- and I slipped it on my finger.

And so I'm completely in shock, when one of the waiters from the other table yells 'GIVE HER THE REAL ONE.' And I look over at my boyfriendand he's holding up the dark blue Fortunoffs box and says 'Baby, don't you know I'd get you what you want' And there is my dream ring glinting in the light...

I screamed jumped into his lap and started crying... and the entire restaurant stood up and was clapping....and he just kept saying over and over again 'I just wanted to do something special...I just wanted to make it something you'll always remember.'

It was absolutely perfect! I couldn't stop smiling -- the muscles in my face actually started hurting.

My FI had originally asked me back in Dec 2001 while we were in the Poconos. We were away for a long weekend at our favorite romantic resort. Our room had a big heart shaped heated pool in it. We both went in for a dip. While we were in the pool hugging & kissing he asked me if I would be his wife....of course I said yes! But he said he didn't have a ring yet. So I told him that he would have to propose all over again including getting on his knee.

Christmas approach and I thought for sure I would get a ring then but I didn't.

Valentines Day was coming near & since I knew I would eventually get a ring from him I thought maybe for Valentines Day but I refused to get my hopes up so that if I didn't I wouldn't be disappointed. The week of Valentines Day he was staying at my house all week.

He sent me a dozen long stemmed roses for Valentines Day which were delivered the day before to me at work (he said the florist told him it was possible). All the girls were admiring them.


The next day we had reservations to go to dinner at a nice place near my home. On my way home from work I called him. He told me that he had gotten very sick at work & passed out on the bathroom floor so we might have to cancel our plans. I was very worried about him but very upset too. He was driven by coworkers in a company vehicle from Manhattan to the train station by my house (Huntington) so he could get his car and then they followed him to my house to be sure he got there ok. When he got there he looked sooooo sick.

So we sat on my couch in PJ's. I didn't eat dinner that night. After he rested a bit after getting sick again I gave him his valentines gifts. I went in the pother room to get something and sat back on the couch with him & he put his hand in his sweater he was wearing and said 'I really wanted better circumstances but.......'. He then pulled a ring box out and opened it and I just started crying. Heslipped it onto my finger and thenfound enough energy to get off the couch & down on his knee & asked me 'Will you you marry me? Of course I said yes AGAIN!!!!

We eventually did get to go to the place we were supposed to go to that night.

Well, my story may not be as romantic or dreamy as some of the others but still very special to me.

Jodi

ok here goes...
john and i lived together and we talked about getting engaged for a while..i assumed it would be christmas...i knew he was paying off my ring ...we booked a trip in july, to go to aruba in september for 8 days. well our trip was booked for sept. 23rd and after the wtc incident, the last thing i wanted to do was fly, but my now MOH talked me into it so i got the courage and still went. (she knew i was getting engaged but of course didn't tell me!)
we get to aruba, rented our jeep and drove towards downtown to call everyone to let them know we arrived safely. while driving to the hotel in the jeep, i went to rub his leg and he jumped, i thought this was strange but i swear i was clueless (ring was in his pocket!) we got to the hotel, changed into comfy clothes when he asked what i wanted to do (it was like 5:45 pm). i said lets take a walk on the beach and watch the sunset. he kept telling me to bring the video camera and i said 'we have 8 days here to video tape and we've been here before and i don't feel like unpacking it' so i won, lol, and we went down and walked on the beach. the sun was setting and as we walked with our feet in the water, he told me, like always,how much he loves me, and what i mean to him. i didn't think anything of it since he always does this (my baby!). the next thing you know he is down on one knee...i saw the ring and when he asked me to marry him, i was in such shock, i couldn't answer him! he was like 'well are you going to answer me or what?' i screamed 'yes yes yes!!' then wouldn't you know, we had to go back downtown to call everyone again to tell them we got engaged. my dad & best friend already knew, only he told them he was going to wait till the day after we got there and propose on the natural bridge but he was so nervous about holding the ring, he couldn't wait!

In November we had to go down to Disney for our friends' wedding. Well at this point in time I was pretty sick of weddings because it was the eleventh wedding we had been to in the past year and a half. And I had been dating Mike on and off for 7 years and there was no ring in sight But who can be upset in Disney World??
We had dinner reservations at Cinderella's Round Table for 4pm. We had spent the day in the park with this brother and his fiance and his parents. Everyone disappeared at 3:30. hhhmmm. He turned to me and said he wanted to check out 'this castle' So we walked up the path to the front of Cinderella's Castle . .he was pale white (whiter than usual) and his hands were clammy. we finally got up to the front entrance and at 3:46pm NOvember 16th (2days before my bday). . .
. . .He said'I love you' and I said 'I love you too' then he got down on one knee and asked 'Will you marry me?' (I used this part for my engagement invites)

It was the PERFECT proposal for me because I am a fairy tale fanatic!!

We had planned a trip to Sandals St. Lucia last June, which it just so happened that our anniversary fell in the time of that trip. I suspected that we would get engaged there, but I just couldnt wait to know, so I kept bugging him 'what are you getting me for our anniversary?' He kept saying 'wait and see'. So I was sure it was the ring. The night before our trip, he gives me my gift, which was a beautiful necklace and matching earrings, but of course I was really disappointed inside because I wanted the ring. I couldnt help but say to him that I was hoping we were getting engaged. He asked me to bear with him a little longer and it was coming.
So we go on the trip and on our anniversary, we go to the pool all afternoon and drink margaritas and get really sunburnt (we both have the Irish skin!!)
We are supposed to have 6:30 reservations at the nicest restaurant at the resort. But because we were drunk and sunburnt, we went and took naps and overslept. We get up and I go to take a shower and I was like I dont feel good and end up throwing up a few times (combo of the sun and margaritas). He said are you sure you want to go out still? I said, I'll try its our anniversary, I dont want to be sick in the room all night. We got all dressed up and went to the restaurant, they told us to come back in an hour. Meanwhile, I feel like garbage, my stomach hurts so bad, Im walking doubled over. So we went and sat in a gazebo and were talking about life and the future and then he asked me. Well, I forgot all about my stomach ache, I said YES!! We went back to the room where I made $300 in phone calls back home to everybody (I didnt read that it was something crazy like $11.00 a minute for phone calls).
We ended up going to the restaurant, and had a great night.
The only sad part was that we had Sandals staff take our picture right after and it didnt come out...

Ok here's my story: we had not done anything for Valentine's Day because I had a class on Thursdays that ran until 8:30 and we had to work the next day. So we ended up going to a restaurant and had a few drinks. I also told him not to get spend money on flowers, so we just exchanged cards on Valentine's day and decided to go celebrate V day on Saturday and go out to dinner. Well on Saturday, we were supposed to leave at 6pm and he shows up at my house at around 5:50 (I was pissed because I was thinking-doesn't he know I have 10 more mins to get ready-hahha). So I open my door and there he is with three flowers. He says 'did you really think I wouldn't get you flowers for Valentine's Day'?. So he gives me the roses, he says the white one is for the past (we used to go out 6 years ago and we got back together last year; we were each other's first loves-he lives next door); the pink one for the present and the red one for the future. So I go upstairs and start putting the roses in a vase. When I finally get to the red rose(the future one) and unwrap it, my ring was attached by a ribbon to the red rose. I turned around and said 'you've got to be kidding'. He says 'If you'll have me'. Of course I said YES YES YES!! He's soo cute
I have never seen him so nervous. He didn't get on one knee but I didn't mind because i'm sure he would not have been able to get up. HAHAHAHHAHAHA!

We were in Nantucket visiting Roland's family for Thanksgiving. I had a feeling that he would ask me while we were there because my birthday was two days later on Saturday. We went to his uncles house for Thanksgiving dinner and after dinner Roland told me that his dad needed him to go home and get his medicine for his back because it was acting up, and he asked me if I wanted to come along for the ride. When we got back to the house he couldn't open the safe (yes his dad keeps his medicine in the safe because a worker had stolen some before and they are pretty expensive pills). So I asked him if he wanted me to try to open it and he quickly replied NO. He called his mom on the phone and I couldn't understand why he was getting so upset but I just figured that his dad's back must have really been bothering him. His mom was just about to get in her car to come back to the house to try the safe when Roland got it open (I was sitting in the other room at this point waiting for him). On the drive back he asked me if I minded stopping before we had to go back and do the family thing...so we did. We stopped at the the beach, it was just about sunset. We walked up to the lighthouse and I was just chatting away...I had said something about finding some pretty shells (little did I know I set it up perfectly for him) and he said well what about this shell? When I turned around he was on his knee he had the ring in a purple scallop shell (he had planned that part before hand!) and he asked me to be his wife. I started crying and of course I said yes!!

On the ride back to his uncles I called my parents and my mom just screamed with excitment. When we got back to his uncles house they were all at the windows watching as we pulled up.

He told me later that he had actually planed to ask me the next night (Friday). He had made dinner reservations and everything because he said he wanted it to be it's own special day but he said he couldn't wait.

99 days to go

These stories are so great! I thought I was the only one left 'dangling...'

MissLinda - Your story made me laugh -- cause the weekend before my FI asked me to marry him, we were going to a wedding -- and I was in the WORST mood ever - and he was like 'what crawled up your butt?!?' And I was like 'I don't know...I just don't want to go to any more weddings!' And he started laughing and told me 'Don't worry your doomed' because, of course, he had already ordered my e-ring from the jeweler...

Here is mine...
The night before he proposed, we got in this HUGE fight. I mean bad!! He took over an hour and a half to show up at my house and stunk of lets just say 'bad' things. It was pouring outside and I had just gotten home from an orthopedist appt-which I waited over an hour for the dr., missed my train, had no umbrella and he shows up late to my house. Doesn't call and let me know what is going on, doesn't leave me a voice mail at work, cell or home. So I was livid and paranoid thinking he is in a car accident. PLUS we had argued about this before-always contact the other if you are running late. Well his story was that he was going shopping for my b-day gift. So I found it unacceptable that he couldn't have picked up a payphone and called me. Well he gets to my house reaking and looking all retarded and acting as if nothing is going on. My dad opens the door and lets him in and I didn't want to see him. I couldn't even look at him b/c I was angry he came to my house this way. He eventually leaves trying to convince me to go to his house and I said no, no, no. The next day, I speak to my friend and tell her the story while FH is e-mailing me: Can you come over, can you pick up your phone (we have call id at work).... He e-mails me about 20 times continously and finally I speak to him. He then gets mad at me b/c he has to beg me to come to his house and after a while between speaking to him and my friend I was convinced to go to his house. All this time I am asking him why did he do what he did and come to my house the way he did and all I kept hearing was please wait till we get home. So patient that I was-waited. We arrive to his house and he goes back out to walk our dog. I am watching tv in his room and the dog comes running in as usual. FH says look at what Benji has for mommy and at this point I am not that mad. I look down at Benji and he has this blue ribbon on his neck. I notice FH turns off the tv and I sit there pulling the ribbon and a box falls in my hand. When I grabbed the box I was thinking wow this is a beautiful box. I look at FH and he is on his knee! I still didn't get it! I open the box and there was my ring!! I was so shocked I started cackling (a laugh I have never done so FH says) and he took it out of the box and proposed. The night before he had gone to pick up my ring in the city from the jeweler, was stuck in traffic to and from the city, left his cell phone at home, his windshield wiper broke and was so stressed of thinking of an excuse to tell me that he did bad things to calm him down. All that crazy drama the night and day of the proposal for me! Then I apologized and said I am sorry for being such a b****!! BTW FH and my friend were calling each other left and right trying to convince me to go to his house. So she knew all along!