Telling the world (Brooke's version)

Posted by: Brooke on Aug 06, 2007

So, the funniest part of the proposal day is that on the way to the Renaissance Faire, I was telling Dan about the dream I had the night before. In my dream, I was being proposed to. However, the gentleman that was proposing was a dwarf who was bald and had a beer belly and was wearing a wife-beater shirt. As we laughed about it, Dan made a comment which pretty much made me realize that the proposal wouldn’t be coming for quite some time. That was fine with me, since I was enjoying the dating process.

After he proposed (which was perfect!), I spent the day just looking down at my gorgeous ring and then looking at my amazing fiancee. I couldn’t believe that my time had come! I was going to marry the man of my dreams! I was going to be the bride! I was going to have my happy ever after!

As Dan mentioned, I hadn’t shared the news with anyone in my family yet. When we woke up the next day, I was eager to tell my parents but I wanted to tell them face to face. I found out that they were going to be gone all day. I’d have to wait until later that evening to tell them. I was a bit bummed.

Later in the afternoon, I had called Bettina. She was upset with me because I borrowed a movie of hers. She apparently had wanted to watch it, but I swear she told me I could borrow it. Well, needless to say, we argued a bit. I decided to take the movie back to her. When I got to the apartment, I gave her the movie and then showed her the ring. She was pretty excited! She was the first one that I shared my news with! After that, I decided I could tell my other sisters. On the way to my parents house, I called Brae at work. She was very happy! Becky had a different response. “It’s about time!”

I got to my parents house and was standing in the hallway (as to hide my ring). I told mom if she had heard….that friends of the family had a baby (I was trying to distract her). Then I told her that’s another reason why I was there. She looked a little curious…which is when I jumped out and screamed “you know why!” And she screamed “Yes I do!” and we hugged and laughed! Dad gave me a hug too while mom ran upstairs. She brought down an engagement gift that she had bought earlier that week. It was a wedding magazine, a quote book, a candle and candle holder, and a wedding organizer. It was my first engagement present and my first wedding magazine! Mom had mentioned that she had been holding this secret in for over a week. She even cancelled plans with me because it was too hard to see me and not share the secret. How cute is that?!

The next few days involved calling friends and family. I also made a visit out to where some friends work and surprised them with the news. Nothing beats sharing the best news with the people you love!

Telling The World (Dan's Version)

Posted by: Dan on Aug 05, 2007

After I proposed to Brooke she mentioned needing to make a ton of phone calls. The process of telling the world our good news had begun. There was one little snag though, neither of us had brought out cell phone with us into the (Bristol) Renaissance Faire.

At first I was a little bummed out but that was short lived. While I wanted to tell everyone it just felt right that Brooke and I had the chance to enjoy the moment by ourselves for a few hours.

When we left the faire and went back to the car I thought Brooke would start making calls, but rather than doing that we did some wedding planning in the car. Okay so it wasn’t planning as much as tossing ideas around, but it was pretty darn exciting.

On our drive back home we were close to my dad (Glenn) and step-mom’s (Cheri) house so we decided to stop by and tell them the good news in person. We stuck around there for a little while after we told them and were congratulated but then it was time to get some food so we went back to my apartment.

It’s funny because even though I was dying to tell everyone, as I’m sure Brooke was, we didn’t make any calls that night (Saturday Aug. 4). Sunday was a different story.

I’m not sure what time it was but my phone rang and I saw on the caller ID that it was my sister (Jen). I pick up the phone and say, “Hello” but I don’t even think I got to finish that before I hear her shout, “What the hell?!” Turns out she talked with my dad who told her the news. I was going to call her later that night because she was suppose to be up north with my mom (Carole) and some of my aunts and cousins for a “girls weekend.”

The conversation with my sister was difficult – mainly because of all the questions and not having any answers yet. What day? What church? Where’s the reception? And so on. The roughest question was “Who’s going to be standing up for you and Brooke?” Now Brooke had mentioned to me that she was going to ask Jen to stand up but I couldn’t say anything about it. So I had to dart around the question.

The next on my list of who to tell was my mom. I called her but got her voice mail (as always). I tried to be all normal about the message so she wouldn’t have a clue. When she eventually called back I told her, which she then proceeded to tell my aunts and cousins who were with her. So in the back ground I hear a lot of noise and a few, “tell them congratulations”. Of course after that I got the list of questions once again.

So here’s a tip…

When you’re set to tell everyone you’re engaged be ready to do one of two things. The first option is to have a lot of details ready so you can tell them where the wedding will be, what day, what time, where the reception hall is, who’s standing up, etc., etc., etc. – It’s highly unlikely you’ll know all that so your only other option is to be very prepared to say, “We’re not sure just yet” a whole lot.

From then on I decided that I was going to take my time letting people know the good news. I made a few calls a night to people just in case they wanted to talk for a while – which usually was the case. I don’t remember the order I told people but I do know that after a while it gets tiresome.

Please don’t read anything into that. I don’t like being the center of attention – I find it difficult and I become awkward. Plus I’m not a phone guy, in fact I hate being on the phone. And of course that’s how I told the majority of the people.

That’s my side of the story – I left out how Brooke went about it just in case she feels like she’d like to share that with everyone.

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.

Making It Happen - Getting Permission

Posted by: Dan on Jul 29, 2007

I wouldn’t say I’m a guy who always follows traditions but when it comes to engagements and weddings I guess I’m just old fashioned. Which is why I thought it was best to ask Brooke’s parents (Kurt and Cyndi) for their permission to propose to Brooke.

I thought this was going to be rough. And I was right about that. Don’t read anything into that – I really like Kurt and Cyndi, they’re both two of the nicest, sweetest, easy going people I know. They’ve welcomed me into their family a long time back – I feel comfortable around them and enjoy their company. However, asking for permission was almost more nerve racking than actually proposing to Brooke (almost).

I wasn’t worried that they would say no. To be honest I’m not sure why I was nervous, I just was. The best I can explain it is like this. Think back to a Christmas, birthday or some event where you really, really wanted something. Then you knew that you’d be getting it soon. You know nothing is wrong or could go wrong yet you still get nervous with anticipation. That’s what it was like.

Anyway, before I drag this out any more, I was lucky enough to go along with Brooke and her family on vacation (July 27 – 29, 2007). Her parents were there so I thought it was the perfect time to ask. We stayed in a condo up at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells – great place by the way. My thought was that I could catch Kurt and Cyndi at a random time and simply ask them. Turns out that wasn’t easy.

The problem that I didn’t see was trying to find some time alone with Kurt and Cyndi while we all shared the 2 bedroom condo. It turned out that on Sunday morning I got my chance. I woke up early, went for a walk and when I got back everyone was up. Brooke’s parents were heading some where so I said, “I going to walk down with them and take some pictures.” I thought I was free and clear until I heard Brooke say, “Do you want me to come with you?”

Now I couldn’t say, “No stay here” and seem like I didn’t want her around. I couldn’t say, “Sure come along” because then I wouldn’t be able to talk with Kurt and Cyndi. I think I spat out something like, “If you want to. I’m just going to take a few pictures and be back up.” Kurt and Cyndi were already out the door so I had to high tail it out there still not knowing if Brooke was coming or not. I actually caught up with them on the stairwell and just blurt out a quick question. Something along the lines of, “I didn’t want to have to rush this but I wanted to ask you two a question. I was wondering if I could have your permission to ask Brooke to marry me?”. Now in my head I had a whole different way to ask them but I wasn’t sure if Brooke would be rounding the corner any time soon or not.

So the question was out there and I had to wait for a reply. In reality it came rather quickly but in my mind it took forever. And I think it’s obvious that they did give me permission.

I also remember Cyndi asking me when I was going to propose to which I said, “Next Saturday [August 4th] at the [Bristol] Renaissance Faire“. I think I put her in a tight spot with that because I told her that they were the only two who knew or would know about this. And I have to say Cyndi (and Kurt) did a great job keeping my secret – no one knew.

Picture of the sun setting behind the trees up at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells.

Making It Happen - The Ring Purchase

Posted by: Dan on Jul 23, 2007

If you’re going to start a story you need to start at the beginning. I won’t go into our whole relationship here, rather I’ll start with the thing every man needs to propose – the ring.

After a few months of dating Brooke and I went to look at rings. We only looked at one place – Kesslers Diamonds. We looked over the huge selection and managed to find 3 different rings. I believe one ring Brooke really liked, another both her and I liked, and finally one that was similar to the two we liked but picked by the jeweler. I didn’t care for it and of course it was the most expensive.

I don’t remember too much from that day other than I enjoyed the lady who helped us, she wasn’t pushy and listened to what we liked. We left the store with a little folder which I held on to. This was the best thing I could do.

Fast forward a bit. Okay fast forward a lot. More than 3 years later after a lot of highs and a few lows I was ready to purchase a ring. I had no clue where to start. I didn’t remember that the folder we received was full of information. When I finally figured that out I checked the folder, hit the Kesslers website and tried to find the rings we originally liked. I could only find one – the one the jeweler picked out which was our least favorite of the bunch. I browsed the website and picked out a few that I liked and could view in better detail at the store. Now there was only one thing to do – head to the store.

I was amazed when I made it to the store. Again they were helpful but one thing blew my mind. They had all our information still in the computer – including Brooke’s ring size. That was huge since I wasn’t sure how to go about getting that without being obvious. I could ask for some help from her family but I wanted this to be a surprise.

I was able to look at two rings and instantaneously I knew which was the right ring. After that it was all about diamond shopping – the hard part. There’s too much to know and unless you’re a jeweler it’s hard to know what to look for. I just wanted something that would look good on the ring. Nothing small that would be lost in the ring. At the same time not so big it made the ring look awkward – plus I know Brooke’s active enough that too large of a diamond could end up catching on a lot of things.

I knew the cut I wanted so I was good there. I knew the general size so I was good there. I had a range for the clarity. And I even had a budget. I thought I was set. However when you combine all that you still end up with a lot of choices. So how did I decide? Simple – I looked at what seemed like a countless number of diamonds. In fact I only looked at about 10. I checked them in all different lights, from different angle, on the ring – off the ring, and so on. Finally I just went with what I thought looked “just right”. I think I did a good job.

From there it was a matter of putting some money down and then going home to wait for the ring to get done. Plus there was the matter of working out a few details on the actually proposal part. But that is another story that is best told at another time.

Picture of the ring… after the proposal since I didn’t take a picture of it before then.