An Engagement Story

To set the stage:
Over Memorial Day weekend this past spring, the Architect and I headed down to New York to visit the Architect's cousin. At this point, we had been ring shopping a few months previous, and I was definitely expecting a proposal soon. I even had reason to suspect that the ring was currently residing in our apartment (!) . However, I certainly didn't think that the ring was making the trip with us to New York on what was supposed to be a weekend for visiting the Architect's family. This thought actually put me strangely at ease. While I had been pining for a proposal for quite some time, knowing that this would not be the weekend allowed me to just sit back, have fun, and enjoy the time hanging out with the Architect's cousin and his very pregnant wife. Afterall, this would be our last time hanging out with them before they became a family of 3! However, upon arriving in New York, certain events made me start to question whether a certain ring might have come on the weekend trip with us afterall...

Hint # 1 that something was afoot:
We spent the day on Saturday walking around NYC with cousin N and his wife S. For some reason, walking around cities always makes me hungry, and I was RAVENOUS. I mean, I couldn't stop eating all day. Huge sandwich for lunch? Sure! Ice cream in Central Park? Ok. Dinner? Yep, and while we're at it why don't we add on a yummy cocktail to that... and a HUGE dessert b/c I'm STILL hungry. (Did you ever read the Eric Carle book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" when you were a kid? On this particular day I was the caterpillar. But I digress...)

Ice cream. Yum!

Despite the fact that I spent the day literally eating my way through the city, the Architect seemed surprisingly out of sorts and wasn't eating much at all. I kept asking him if he felt ok, and he always responded that he was justfinethankyou. So, I decided to ignore his lack of appetite. Instead, I may have helped him finish off his lunch... and his dinner. Which leads us to...

Hint #2 that something was afoot:
After dinner the Architect decided to announce that he had a surprise for me. What was the surprise, you ask? Tickets to the Broadway production of "Wicked". I was psyched. Then I asked if N and S would be joining us, and the Architect said that, no, N and S would be returning home, and the show was just for the 2 of us. Did N and S already know this, I asked. Yes. Ok, well just one more question -- how were we going to get back to N and S's house after the show, since we had all taken the train into the city together in the morning? The Architect said that everything was fine b/c he had a train schedule with him, and we would call N to pick us up at the station when we got back that night. Wouldn't it be late?... The Architect seemed unconcerned, as did N, so I dropped it at this point. We grabbed a cab and hurried off to see "Wicked".


Hint #3 that something was afoot:
Ok, at this point I was starting to get suspicious. I mean, really suspicious. After the show was over (and btw, it was AMAZING), the Architect got on his cell phone while I made a quick trip to the lady's room. When I asked him who he had been calling he said he was calling a cab to make sure that one was waiting for us. Hmm... I have never EVER heard of calling a cab on the phone in NYC. Afterall, cabs are readily available on every street corner, so why call? Well... when we exited the theatre I learned that the Architect hadn't really been calling for a cab at all. What he had actually been doing was calling the limo that he had hired, to find out where it was parked outside. Yes, you read correctly. The Architect had hired us a limo.

At this point the gig was up. I totally thought I knew what was going on, but the Architect kept me waiting for a while longer while we took the limo over the Brooklyn Bridge to a park on the Brooklyn side with an excellent view of the nighttime Manhattan skyline. It was beautiful. The night was warm. The park was romantic. The view was to die for. ...and then the Architect pulled a ring box out of his camera bag (he had been carrying it around all day), asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Squee!

The view back towards Manhattan

Under the Brooklyn Bridge

OMG! I'm engaged!

The happy couple (picture taken by our friendly limo driver)

After spending a little more time enjoying ourselves in the park, the Architect and I took the limo back to Manhattan, where we spent the night at the Waldorf Astoria. It turns out that the Architect used some of his excellent work connections to get us an amazing room for the night. Of course, I had only been counting on spending the day in NYC, so I had no supplies for the night or clothes to change into for the following day. Luckily, it turned out that the Architect had thought of everything. He had had an overnight bag sent to the hotel ahead of time for himself... and for me he had bought a brand new dress, and some really cute heels. We had a brunch reservation for the following morning, and I got to wear my new (white!) strapless dress for the occasion.

This is the best picture that I have of the dress/shoes that the Architect bought for me. Sorry!

The Waldorf-Astoria

The dessert spread at brunch. Let the eating continue!

After brunch on Sunday morning, we headed back to N and S's house where they were eagerly waiting for us. They had, of course, been in on the entire plan, and they were ready to congratulate us. The weekend was more than I ever could have hoped for, and I was on cloud 9 :-) I'll leave you with a picture of the ring...


Did your fiance surprise you with a proposal? What lengths did he/she go to to keep it a surprise?

* All photos taken by the Architect unless otherwise noted