Making It Happen - Down On One Knee
Posted by: Dan on Aug 04, 2007
Proposing to the one you love, your heart and soul, your one true love is a major test to your nerves. Now I know people who’ve said they weren’t nervous at all, and to those people I say – man you’re lucky.
I knew I wanted to propose to Brooke on Saturday August 4, 2007 at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Everything seemed to line up. When we first started seeing each other we went to the faire on August 3rd. Later that night (after midnight) we made it “official” that we were a couple. This year when we planned to go back to the faire it just so happened the day we picked was August 4. 4 years to the day.
Now mind you I had a number of other ideas in my head on where, when and how to propose. However, nearly all those other ideas would have me proposing in late fall or early winter (even late winter for one). I knew Brooke wanted a summer wedding so if I had waited to propose we would either have to rush with wedding plans or wait for more than a year. Plus – the Renaissance Faire idea seemed more romantic to me.
Days before we went I spent a lot of time working on just what I wanted to say. I actually practiced reciting my speech out loud a few times in my apartment. I knew how I wanted to do it, when I wanted to do it and where exactly at the faire I wanted to do it. Of course it didn’t go off as planned.
First I needed to sneak the ring with me into the faire and not have Brooke stumble upon it. For this I used my camera bag. I took the ring, wrapped it in a lens cloth and placed it in an old film canister, which sticks out like a sore thumb since my camera is digital. It didn’t matter though since I wasn’t going to let Brooke look inside anyway.
The plan was to wait until near the end of the faire when we were getting close to leaving. There’s a small “pond” on the opposite end from the entrance that I though would be perfect – there’s even a little garden there. I’d get down on one knee and recite what I had been planning. Well that’s not what happened.
Maybe an hour after we were at the faire I couldn’t hold back anymore. I wanted us to be a bit away from a large group so I had us head towards that pond I mentioned earlier. The reason that “pond” is in quotes is because it was more like an algae pit – not as attractive as I had remembered. I mentioned to Brooke that I wanted to get some good pictures of her over by the jousting area. We get over there, I get out my camera and take a few pictures, and this is how it unfolded (following quotes aren’t exact)…
Dan: “The pictures aren’t turning out. They’re too dark. Could you go inside my camera bag and get my little light meter. It’s in the film canister, just grab it and hold it up.”
At this point Brooke grabs the film canister and holds the whole thing up. At this point I thought she knew what was coming.
Dan: “No it’s inside the canister wrapped in a towel.”
Brooke opens the canister, unrolls the lens cloth and I hear…
Brooke: “Are you kidding me?” (in a good way)
It’s at this point where everything I wanted to say goes right out of my mind. I’m nervous, I can feel my voice shaking and sadly I can only stammer out something along the lines of, “You know I love you. Will you marry me?” I may have uttered a few more words but it wasn’t the eloquent speech I had prepared.
Whatever I said I just remember hearing the two words that hoped I would hear, “Of course”.
People ask me if Brooke cried when I asked her. The answer to that is ‘no’. She didn’t cry until I mentioned to her how I asked for her parent’s permission. Luckily I brought along some tissue just in case.
We sat there for a while talking, hugging and being couple-ly for a while. It was nice to hold Brooke in my arms for the first time as my fiancée.