For the past few months Nick has told me that he wanted to plan New Year’s, like where we were going to stay and go out to dinner.  He said, “that I always do all the planning and he wanted to do it this time,” which was fine with me.  So we go down to the city on Friday night and when we get to the place he asked me to stay in the car because he didn’t want me to find out how much the room was when he checked in.  I said ”ok,” I waited outside.  When he came back outside he gave me the key to the room and gathered all of our bags.  When we got to the room I opened the door and it was beautiful.  There was a fireplace lit, and candles all over the place, and dozen roses on the counter, and rose petals all over the bed and the floor.  This was the best surprise; I was shocked and of course began to cry.  At this time I had to get ready for dinner because my parents and my sister and her boyfriend were on the way for dinner.  Nick surprised me by taking me to one of my favorite restaurants in the city Roy’s.

After dinner we went to Penns Landing to bring in the New Year by watching fireworks.  When the fireworks were done we went back to the room where Nick had a bottle of champagne delivered to the room along with strawberries.  We made a toast and hung out for a little bit and then my parents left.  Before we went to bed Nick told me that he had purchased brunch for the next morning and we had to be there by 10 because it closed at 11.  I didn’t think anything of it and went along with it.  The next morning we woke up and got ready to go to brunch but Nick’s stomach started bothering him (or so I thought.) On our way downstairs he asked for the room key just incase he had to leave in the middle of breakfast. 

So, we got downstairs and began eating breakfast and after ten minutes or so he asked to be excused.  After he left, a man came up to me and pointed to a picture I had of Nick on my bag and asked me if I was with him.  I said, “yes,” and he said then this is for you and gave me a yellow rose, my room key, and a card that said go up to the hotel room.  By this time I was so confused.  But I gathered my things and went up to the hotel room.  When I got up there it was dark and I began calling Nick’s name but he wasn’t there.  I then noticed a present on the bed and another rose that said go to the front desk, open present.  But I was confused I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to go downstairs and then open the present or if I was supposed to do it there, but I did open it.  It was a picture frame but it had a piece of cardboard over the frame so I couldn’t see what it was. 

I started doubting myself so I didn’t open the rest of it. I went downstairs and looked around for Nick.  But the guy at the front desk said you are supposed to come here.  He handed me my jacket and another yellow rose and another card that said go to our spot.  I knew where this was since Nick and I to Penns Landing ALL of the time.  So I began walking there.  On the way I decided that I was going to open the picture to see what was going on.  It was a certificate of a star that he named after me that he had framed.  At the bottom of it he wrote a little poem and ended it with Will you marry me?  Oh my gosh I didn’t think that I going to be able to make it to Penns Landing my legs were shaking so bad.  But I did make it there (tears and all) and looked for him, but it was so sunny that it was hard to see.  Until he stood up and I noticed he was wearing a tux (pink, which he never wears) and a dozen red roses.  When I got to him he got down on one knee and asked.  I was so shocked and crying so much I guess I didn’t answer him because he was like well…. and I said ”yes.”

Proposal Story By:

Angela Wagner 

Langhorne, PA

Over the Fourth of July weekend Shawn (my boyfriend of seven months) invited me to go up with his family to the cabin, located in Cascade, Idaho. On the morning of the Fourth of July, Shawn casually asked me if I would like to go for a drive and a hike. I agreed, but I couldn’t help to wonder why we were leaving everyone else behind. We drove up near Goldfork Hotsprings and we started walking down towards the river. We ended our hike at this beautiful river setting complete with a rushing waterfall.

Shawn handed me a book, that was wrapped with beautiful silver ribbon and asked me to read it. The book was a collection of letters Shawn had written to his future wife (me!), letters to me after we had met and a chapter entitled "our story". After I read the part he asked me to read, I gave him a big hug as I tried to hold back tears.

He then got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. He opened the little black box that revealed a lovely princess cut diamond ring, and attempted to put it on my hand. I was shaking so much he couldn’t even get the ring on my finger. He put the ring on half-way, and I had to finish putting it on. We spent time just enjoying the moment together, sitting by the waterfall. We then started hiking back towards the car. I told him that I should call my parents. He had a goofy smile on his face and I guessed that he knew something I didn’t know. When we arrived back to the cabin, my parents were outside the campfire with Shawn’s entire family. Shawn had asked for their permission two weeks prior while I was out of town and asked them to drive up the morning of the fourth. We had lunch together with both of our families and that night we sat with each-other under the beautiful mountain sky and watched the Cascade firework show from across the lake, it was a perfect day!

Jennifer Bokenkamp

Meridian, ID

When I met Matt, I was a student at Utah State University.  He had just graduated and was starting his first job in Boston.  He lived alone and was looking to connect with someone.  I had hour long breaks between my classes and was looking for someone fresh to email while I killed time in the computer lab.  We found each other on penpal.net.

We began writing to each other.  At first I only found him fun and interesting to talk to.  Within a month, I knew I was falling for him.  We wrote about two word processed pages to each other every day.  We had not exchanged pictures and we did not communicate by phone.  This went on until the computer labs were closed for Christmas break.  Since I didn’t own my own computer, we decided to call each other so that we could continue to have contact with each other.

After five months of writing, Matt flew to Salt Lake City to meet me.  We had only recently exchanged pictures and I was nervous that I wouldn’t know him when I saw him.  I knew his height and that he had brown hair, but it seemed that every man who got off that plane was tall and dark!  When I saw him, I knew instantly that I’d found the right guy (he was wearing a Burger King crown, which kind of gave him away).  He met my family and we talked a lot during that whirlwind trip of two days.  On the way back to the airport I asked him, “What are we going to do?”  He said, “I don’t know about you, but I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”  That was the first of two proposals that he made to me.

The rest of the story was not without bumps or challenges.  I went to visit him in Boston the following month and to meet his family.  He had only recently told his parents about me, and they treated our relationship as a simple lark.  Events conspired to change their opinion about us.  During that visit I became terribly ill and was admitted to Quincy Hospital.  The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with me, but I was raging with fever and vomiting.  Matt stayed with me through the whole experience: ice beds, antibiotic after antibiotic, spinal taps, the hallucinations and bags of IVs.  I was diagnosed with Toxic Shock Syndrome.  I was in the hospital for 10 days, including 7 days in intensive care.  My mom and brother flew to Boston to be with me because there was a very real concern that I might not survive.  They saw how well Matt took care of me and how very much he loved me.  Any reservations they had about Matt melted away.  The experience was also a wake up call to his parents.  No more could they consider us a lark.  

Matt came to visit me in April and again in May.  We began to make plans for the future.  In May I graduated from USU and on the day I was supposed to be walking across the stage for my diploma, I was packing my car for a cross-country move.  We had decided that there were more opportunities for us in Boston than in Idaho, so I moved there to be with him.  

A short time after we arrived in Boston, Matt drove me to a local mall.  We went inside to a jewelry store and picked up a parcel.  Outside, in the parking lot, he helped me into the car and knelt down beside the passenger door.  He opened up the box and showed me what was inside.  It was a beautiful sapphire and diamond engagement ring.  He grabbed my hand and asked, “You’ve gone this far for me.  How about we do the rest of life together?”  Of course I agreed!

We encountered resistance from his parents, but that only delayed us about a month.  We were married in Massachusetts on August 14th, 1999, less than a year after our first letter on penpal.net.

Proposal Story by:

Jill Fisher

Iowa City, IA

I met my husband George one evening at a 12-step meeting. From across the room we kept catching each others’ eyes and holding those gazes just long enough to say more than just hello.

Following the meeting we exchanged verbal hellos and then goodbyes. A few days later he called me – where he got my number is still up for debate! However we were inseparable from then on. Seeing each other daily and remaining on the phone hours on end.

Within weeks we had that ‘knowing’ about each other. We even talked of marrying soon. One of our dates found us at a local jewelry store where we looked at some rings and I had found a favorite. Nothing more.

About 3 weeks later, I was at George’s apartment researching directions on his computer for a date we were planning. I didn’t realize it, but the ring he had purchased for me was next to the mouse I was using. I never saw it!

Three days later we were in the Singles group at our church and George took center stage. He then took out a piece of paper from his pocket and professed his great love for me. He then got down on one knee, put the ring on my finger. We were both excited, he was so excited in fact, he forgot to ask me to marry him.

Later in the car, I said, "By the way, yes!" I was so blessed by his proposal in front of so many of our friends.

And he selected the ring I loved…only he selected the one 1 carat larger! I am not a material person, but I did notice that!

This November 2008 will be our sixth anniversary and our love is going strong. For better or worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part!

Proposal Story by:

Bridgett Ford

Friendswood, TX

Please bear with me as my story exceeds the 750 word limit, but due to the way the proposal happened the story can’t be told with less words and still tell the whole story. Thanks for the consideration.

The story begins a few weeks prior to my girlfriend’s graduation from nursing school at UNCW in Wilmington, North Carolina. There is a tradition among nursing graduates where the newly minted nurse has her closest family and friends join her on the graduation stage and pin her with a nursing pin.

Brooke, then my girlfriend of seven years, had requested that I join her parents on the stage to pin her. I had declined because I wanted to let her parents have the moment. She is the first in her family to graduate from college.. After making sure that I was okay with sitting out, she agreed to let her parents be the only ones to pin her.

Now we fast forward to the day of the actual ceremony. Except for her grandma, Nana, every close family member of ours and her closest friends shown up in their Sunday best and are waiting in the dim shadows of the auditorium seating. We’ve taken up an entire row of the center section, a few rows from the back. Mom has the left isle seat.

The only people not on our row are Brooke’s mom and dad. They’ve been seated in the left section of seating with everyone who’s going to appear on stage. They’ve been organized by last initial to make the procession to the stage as orderly as possible.

The ceremony begins with some obligatory speeches and miscellaneous awards before moving to the actual pinning ceremony.

Brooke’s last name falls towards the end of the alphabet and as names are called and the tension mounts I begin to reconsider my decision not to be on the stage with Brooke. Images of the last seven years of our lives careen through my mind like the windows of a speeding subway car. With sudden, slightly frightening, clarity I realize that my place is on the stage with her. I’ve been the one with her all the way through both of our college years. She’s the person I’ve spent the last seven years of my life with and she’s the one I want to spend the rest of my years with too.  

My palms break into a cold sweat as I decide to act on this epiphany. I lean over to my father who is seated between myself and my mother and I whisper, "Dad, tell Mom that I need to borrow one of her rings."

Dad gives me a confused look before his eyebrows climb to the top of his forehead with a smile. He whispers back, "Are you sure?"

To which I immediately respond, "Yes." I succeed in keeping the tremble from my voice as my adrenaline jumps up a notch because I have just revealed my intentions to another person. It makes them more real.

He smiles his excited dad smile and says, "You’re going to have to ask your mother about that."

With an expectant twinkle in his eye, he leans out of the way so that I can whisper to my mother, "Mom, I need to borrow one of your rings."

Her face lights up as she immediately catches on to what I’m asking for, and why. She asks, "Really?"

I smile trying to not to laugh as my adrenaline ratchets up a notch because I’m about to have an engagement ring in my hands, "Yeah really."

Mom slips off one of her rings, it glitters with a hoard of rectangular diamonds, small individually but collectively they have impact. I take the ring in my hand and realize what comes next. I have to ask her father’s permission before he makes it to the stage.

I step past Mom and Dad with that penguin-esque movie theater shuffle and out into the isle. As I walk to where Brooke’s parents are sitting, I look back over my shoulder to see word of my decision quickly move down the isle in a frantic chain of whispers.  I find Brooke’s parents fortuitously seated in front of a wheelchair access row. At least there’ll be no more shuffling down rows.

I kneel down in front of the railing, lean over her father’s shoulder and whisper, "Lenny, do you mind if I marry your daughter?"

He looks over his shoulder with a bewildered expression until I hold up the ring for him to see. He starts to smile and shakes my hand, "Thanks for asking my permission." he says.

I smile back, thinking that the hard part is over and turn to my left to speak to Brooke’s mom, Lisa, who sees the ring and immediately breaks down into tears of panic and disbelief saying, "No you didn’t. No You’re Not! OH MY GOD!"

Lisa immediately jumps out of her seat and hurries around the end of the isle, crashing into me with a hysterical hug. I reassure her with a slew of "Yes, Really"’s  and Its Okays. Through her sobbing, She tells me how happy she is and that she can’t believe I’m springing this on them now.

I tell her, "I didn’t know I was going to do it until a minute ago."

She just shakes her head with a happily rueful expression and starts to pull herself together. We hear the last names beginning with S start to be called. Brooke’s name will be following the S’s shortly.

I leave her parents to compose themselves. I wait at the end of their isle where they’ll be called to approach the stage. I fidget with the ring and can see parts of the audience who caught on to what is happening grinning at me conspiratorially. I smile back and try to keep my hands from shaking.

Finally, the ushers ask the families sharing the first initial of Brooke’s last name  to stand and get in line. I fall in with Brooke’s parents and we begin the slow stop and go procession to the stage.

I count and recount how many students remain until we’ll be on the stage with Brooke. All the while my mind is racing, trying to envision what will happen on the stage but the scene keeps restarting  about a half second into the action.

Without realizing that we’d arrived at the stairs it’s time to ascend the stage. I follow her parents up.

She gives me a confused look as she sees me out of the offstage shadows, but clearly doesnt suspect my intentions. Lisa reaches Brooke first and begins trying to pin her with shaky hands, whispering, "You just don’t know Brooke. You just don’t know!"

To which Brooke responds, "It’s ok Mom, it’s ok", Thinking that her mom is just nervous about being on stage or freaking out because her daughter is graduating.

Once Lisa manages to get the pin attached, Lenny takes a step forward and tells Brooke how proud he is and that he loves her while giving her a big bear hug.

As he lets her go and goes to stand with Lisa, obviously ready to watch the spectacle, I take two steps forward and drop to my right knee. Brooke gives me a confused look for a moment (She tells me later that she thought I tripped and fell). Then she sees the ring I’m holding in front her and jumps a few feet into the air and lands on her heels screaming, "NO WAY!"

For a split second my hearts stops and I can’t breathe….until it registers that her response of "NO WAY!" is an expression of disbelief and not an answer to my question. She regains her balance and crashes to her knees with me, kissing me in the middle of the stage to the thunderous applause of the entire auditorium.

We both have tears in our eyes and I’ve suddenly got tunnel vision. There is no periphery to what I’m seeing, just Brooke, and the only sounds that are distinct among the roar of the crowd are the words coming out of her mouth as she laughingly says "Yes" and "I love you" over and over again. I don’t know how long that went on for, it felt like a long time but the crowd never stopped cheering.

Proposal Story by:

Jason Fogleman

Raleigh, NC