Meg's Musings

This is VERY Long Engagement Post

This story is a little twisted and out of order, but it really went quite well (perfectly, in fact).

Sometime over the past several months he figured out he wanted to marry me (I was ahead of the game. I’d known for a while. And known I wanted to marry him. Tee-hee!). This led to ring shopping and all sorts of fun joking around and discussing what we might do where and when.

He kinda wanted to get married at the lake he spent a lot of time at as a child in upstate New York, but that was rather inconvenient and lacking plumbing. I kinda figured Lansing simply because that’s what would be expected. Then we realized Cincinnati is way cooler than Lansing and Delta Airlines’ hub. Just for fun, I looked around on the knot and found The Bell Event Centre at the Verdin Bell and Clock Museum. Wow. Everything we wanted.

But by this point we were talking about setting a date and all they had were Fridays in August and September. Teachers don’t do non-school things in September and late August seemed like we’d be running it a bit close with the startup activities too. We’d picked out the ring and it was on its way, it was only a matter of time….. Hence, when an opening June 2 came up, we jumped at it, engaged or not. By 9am we had it booked, by 10:30 we were calling our parents. At one point, I asked if we were formally engaged. He looked at me and pointed out we had set a date, rented a room and were busy letting everyone know—-You don’t get much more engaged than that. So that was that.

Then we walked down to the local video store to return a video and he had me walk one block further. There was a massive billboard advertising a bridal show for the next day and he said he thought we should go. Turns out I love planning a wedding with him. He has opinions on everything, but is so much help that it’s not a problem. We really are planning it together. Which is good. There’s only four months.

So in about 24 hours, I went from being quite single to committed to marry with ceremony & reception site chosen, officiant, attendants, possible flowers, mostly decided on guy’s attire, invitations chosen, a guest list, an appointment with a photographer, bridesmaids’ dresses chosen except for the color and I had my dress picked by Thursday. But really that’s not the end of the story. He knows me and knows my needs. My fabulous boyfriend (opps! Fiancé) who doesn’t really plan things hatched a doozey.

First off, he didn’t have a car for the last two weeks (an axel broke), so I believed him when he told me he couldn’t drop off the ring in time to get it back by last weekend. When I got down there this weekend we were busy with picking a photographer and other nonsense (we’d had our heads filled with nonsense all week), so it didn’t surprise me when we were out at Jungle Jim’s (a really cool grocery store) and he suddenly remembered he needed something from work (which happens to be on that side of town). So I said sure, I’d grab what we needed and sit in the store’s Maggie Moo’s and wait for him.

Later that night, in a fancy outfit as I had been instructed, he took me out to Primavista for fantastic Northern Italian food. It’s at the top of a hill and overlooks the city. We were seated right at 5:30—he’d planned it so that we could just see the sun go down and the city lights come up. Dinner was delicious, but dessert was the best. Our very chatty, very accommodating, server just handed me the menu and ran off.

Pasted over the menu was another menu-- our history in words and in pictures. Appetizers were the time when we were just figuring each other out, side dishes as little things we’d done together dating. The main course as what he’s hoping we’ll be in marriage and dessert was his actual proposal. I barely had a moment to look at this before he was getting down on one knee, pulling a box out of his pants pocket (you’ve probably already guessed he ditched me at the store to collect the ring) and saying , “Let’s get hitched.” Without missing a beat, I smilingly replied, “Try again.” At which point he laughed and said, “Will you marry me?” and I said yes.

And then things get all crazy in my head. We took dessert to go and went down to the music hall to listen to the symphony (a Mozart Mass and German love songs) and then out for coffee and to see Night of the Living De3D at the local independent movie theatre. Ah! What a night. I’m a very happy girl.

posted by Me @ 13:05