I had considered other, more traditional approaches; during a nice dinner out, come home early and surprise her...even slipping it on her finger as she slept. But when I finally decided to pop the question on the same day as AJ's Birthday, I thought the Marry Me Cake would be the best way to go.
We had already agreed to make spaghetti for AJ's Birthday, so I knew Joy would be home cooking. Thursday before the big day however, I find out she has a hair appointment at 9 am. This actually turned out to be a good thing though. While she'd be getting her hair done, I would pick up the cake, set it up and wait for her to get home...perfect.
But what's a good proposal story without some hiccups! Friday night, one night before the proposal, we go out for sushi to celebrate some friends' birthdays. I was hesitant to even go to the dinner in the first place because A) all her friends knew I was popping the question the next day because I pre-invited them to a small engagement party to be hosted by my parents and B) her loud girlfriends mixed with sake would almost guarantee a slip up! But I was wrong as everyone was on their best behavior and stayed sober enough not to spill the beans.
Joy on the other hand was not, what you would say, of right mind. After a bunch of sake bombing, she was pretty f-a-d-e-d. After dinner, I picked up my dad from the airport while Joy was passed out in the back seat from "a long work day", not alcohol! I dropped off my dad at my sister's house, where Joy's car was. Joy was a bit too tipsy to drive home so we left her car there and I drove to her house.
So now it's Saturday morning, Joy's car is at my sister's house, she has a hair appointment at 9 am and wants me to drop her off at the salon and wants me to start cooking the spaghetti. If I drop her off at her hair appointment and have to pick her up afterwards, that leaves me about only 45 minutes to pick up the ring at my sister's house, pick up the cake from Safeway, setup the cake, start cooking the spaghetti and wake up Archie (our camera man!). It wasn't easy, but I convinced my fiancée-to-be to get her hung-over butt out of bed early so she could drive herself to and back from her highlighting session. Problem averted - she was off to Visual Image and I was free to prepare.
Now I'm at Joy's house; the cake is ready to go, Archie is out of bed, camera battery charging and I'm cooking spaghetti. I'm so nervous that I literally feel like barfing, so I'm thinking I should propose right when she gets home. But then I realize that if I propose right away, she might be too distraught to finish cooking and my sister is counting on that dish! So I decide to wait.
Joy's back from her hair appointment - hair all blow-dried and combed so I think to myself, she'll be happy her hair is nice for our timeless after-the-proposal-picture. She says nothing about the big pink cake box on the table. My assumptions were right in that she would automatically think the cake is for AJ's party. We get started on finishing the spaghetti and I start feeling bad for Archie, who is abnormally up early on a Saturday morning after a night of drinking, watching cartoons. Finally the cooking is complete and we can get on with the show.
She never asks about the cake so I have to make it happen. Finally, I walk over to the table and ask her to come check out AJ's cake. She approaches, stands at the edge of the table and I open the big pink box to reveal a big cake with a large red heart and the words "Joy, Will you marry me?".
Joy's confused at first. After a series of gradually intensifying "what?" questions, she realizes what's going on! I grab the ring from atop the cake and begin the proposal. Side note - when we first started dating in high school, Joy and I were pretend-married at one of our Valentine's Dances back in 1996. Ten years later, I still have our pretend marriage certificate and use it as part of my proposal. Before I ask the big question, I read her the marriage certificate:
"On this ...day...may your love prosper through the years."
With the ring in my hand, I get down on one knee. Now I don't remember verbatim what I said after that, but in a perfect world, I would imagine I said something along the lines of "10 years ago, we were fake married at a high school dance. And the marriage certificate we received hoped for our love to prosper. After these 10 years of being best friends, I think it's safe to say our love has really prospered. I love you. I can't imagine spending the rest of my life with out you. Joy, Will you marry me?"
Okay maybe that's not exactly what I said. When the pressure's on and you're in the heat of the moment, you say what ever comes to your head. But if we were remaking our proposal into a movie, that's what I would have said! Either way, the out come will always be...she said yes!
1 comment:
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW....
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