Every since I was a little girl, I always wanted a beachside ceremony at sunset. I spoke to Lorna at the Wyndham and come to find out the sunset time slot on March 15th is already taken. I could have a 3pm ceremony. Spaces are limited however as to where I could have my outdoor cocktail reception for 70 people if everyone shows up. The only outdoor location available to fit everyone is in the water park. At 3 in the afternoon, I expect it to be very busy. Who wants people splashing about while your trying to have a simple yet elegant cocktail reception celebrating your nuptials? I actually like the pictures I have seen of the water park. It is very pretty with a waterfall and landscaping.
Sunset is the time most people usually start getting ready for dinner or head up to their rooms to change and take a nap. Basically, sunset is the time people head away from the pool. March 22 is available for a sunset ceremony but that's Easter weekend and if I want Dad to walk me down the aisle, I can't get married on Easter weekend. March 29th is also available for a sunset ceremony. The bonus to that date is Aunt Florence will be wrapping up her spring break. Unfortunately, Lauren will have already had her spring break the week before. Hopefully, arrangements can be made so she can attend.
I decided to reserve the sunset slot on March 29th with a cocktail reception to follow at the water park/pool area. It's actually done. I have the place reserved and the date is set. Why am I all of sudden feeling nervous? I know it's going to be beautiful and I can't wait to be Mrs. Brian Lever but I can certainly do without all of this pomp and circumstance. Yet again, I do want the pomp and circumstance so I guess the nerves are the price I will have to pay.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
10-12 months checklist
To help keep my sanity, I've enlisted the help of every wedding website I can find and have printed off their checklists of when to do what. I am happy to announce I am ahead of schedule. Maybe. According to weddingchannel.com, 10-12 months before the wedding, the following things should be done:
Introduce both families and officially announce your engagement
We did announce our engagements to our families already. My parents will be holding an engagement party for us in September so I guess we'll be a bit overdue on the "introduce both families" bit.
Find out who pays for what and start a budget
Brian and I decided long before we got engaged that we would pay for our wedding ourselves. My parents have offered to pay for the engagement party and the reception for when we get home. Okay so that's done.
Create and track your guest list with our easy to use tool
If only creating a guest list was that simple. I did have the guest talk with my parents and have come up with a tentative guest list. This conversation was actually the birth of having a local reception for people who could not make it to St. Thomas. I haven't tried out the tool yet but it would be great if it had an option to decide your guest list for you. I kind of feel like the club owners of that really famous disco club. I keep thinking that I'm going to snub someone unintentionally. I don't want to but there are just so many people that have come into my life. If you're reading this and you don't get an invitation to my wedding, please don't be offended. If I had unlimited resources you would be invited, I promise. Okay, maybe not the fourth cousin twice removed that I only met once.
Compare calendars and select a tentative date
For the story on this, read my blog entitled, "Decisions, decisions". It's kind of funny if I do say so myself.
Choose your attendants
From the moment I started dreaming about my wedding (which started about a year ago), I always wanted Pam to be my maid of honor. I asked and she said yes! Now she is in charge of planning the fun stuff like the bridal shower and other parties.
Create a wedding website to share your engagement
I hope a blog counts because I really don't have the energy for anything more elaborate. I might decide to use one of the free wedding page offers out there just to keep people informed but I don't know how much more sharing I can do.
Send your engagement photo to the local paper
What?!? Let me tell you a little secret. Brian and I both hate having our pictures taken. He, especially, hates having a picture taken. I'm saving up all the picture points for the wedding. I am not sending a picture to any paper. Besides, which local paper are we talking about? For my family, that would be the Union News and Sunday Republican. For Brian's family, that would be the Boston Globe. I prefer to stay anonymous thank you very much.
Conduct interviews and hire a wedding coordinator, if applicable
I like how they put in "if applicable". I'm planning on having my wedding at a resort where they have an on staff wedding coordinator to assist in all your planning needs. I guess I'm done with this one.
Decide if you want premarital counseling
This one makes me laugh a little. I know some faith's require you go through premarital counseling but all I can think of is if you need counseling now, what's going to happen later. It's only one day. If you need counseling to help you get to that one day, then that's not exactly a good sign, is it.
Get inspired by thousands of gown photos
I got inspired alright. So inspired in fact that I already bought my gown. It is hanging up safely in my parent's house where Brian's eyes will not see it until our wedding day. You can read about this adventure under my blog "running of the brides". I will have those memories forever.
Start thinking about where you want to honeymoon
Since we are doing a destination wedding, our honeymoon is already set. I love destination weddings.
Visit and book reception site and arange for parking
This one is not so easy to do. I just don't have the means to take off to St. Thomas to scout everything out. Instead, I rely on tripadvisor.com and people who have been. They have not failed me yet.
Visit and book ceremony location, including your rehearsal time
I've reserved my ceremony location. From the pictures, it's gorgeous. It's on a beach looking out to St. John. Ahhh, how I long to be there now as the snow is coming down and cars are sliding off the roads. Sun, sand, and surf. Perfect.
I'm feeling good about where I am in the planning phase. Hopefully, the whole year will be this easy when it comes to planning. However, I have a feeling that it won't. There's been a couple of quibbles already about where to have it and who to invite. Brian is great about this whole thing. He keeps telling me that it's my day and whatever I want is fine by him. He also asks that I tell him when and where the wedding will be so he can show up on time. That Brian. God, I love him.
Introduce both families and officially announce your engagement
We did announce our engagements to our families already. My parents will be holding an engagement party for us in September so I guess we'll be a bit overdue on the "introduce both families" bit.
Find out who pays for what and start a budget
Brian and I decided long before we got engaged that we would pay for our wedding ourselves. My parents have offered to pay for the engagement party and the reception for when we get home. Okay so that's done.
Create and track your guest list with our easy to use tool
If only creating a guest list was that simple. I did have the guest talk with my parents and have come up with a tentative guest list. This conversation was actually the birth of having a local reception for people who could not make it to St. Thomas. I haven't tried out the tool yet but it would be great if it had an option to decide your guest list for you. I kind of feel like the club owners of that really famous disco club. I keep thinking that I'm going to snub someone unintentionally. I don't want to but there are just so many people that have come into my life. If you're reading this and you don't get an invitation to my wedding, please don't be offended. If I had unlimited resources you would be invited, I promise. Okay, maybe not the fourth cousin twice removed that I only met once.
Compare calendars and select a tentative date
For the story on this, read my blog entitled, "Decisions, decisions". It's kind of funny if I do say so myself.
Choose your attendants
From the moment I started dreaming about my wedding (which started about a year ago), I always wanted Pam to be my maid of honor. I asked and she said yes! Now she is in charge of planning the fun stuff like the bridal shower and other parties.
Create a wedding website to share your engagement
I hope a blog counts because I really don't have the energy for anything more elaborate. I might decide to use one of the free wedding page offers out there just to keep people informed but I don't know how much more sharing I can do.
Send your engagement photo to the local paper
What?!? Let me tell you a little secret. Brian and I both hate having our pictures taken. He, especially, hates having a picture taken. I'm saving up all the picture points for the wedding. I am not sending a picture to any paper. Besides, which local paper are we talking about? For my family, that would be the Union News and Sunday Republican. For Brian's family, that would be the Boston Globe. I prefer to stay anonymous thank you very much.
Conduct interviews and hire a wedding coordinator, if applicable
I like how they put in "if applicable". I'm planning on having my wedding at a resort where they have an on staff wedding coordinator to assist in all your planning needs. I guess I'm done with this one.
Decide if you want premarital counseling
This one makes me laugh a little. I know some faith's require you go through premarital counseling but all I can think of is if you need counseling now, what's going to happen later. It's only one day. If you need counseling to help you get to that one day, then that's not exactly a good sign, is it.
Get inspired by thousands of gown photos
I got inspired alright. So inspired in fact that I already bought my gown. It is hanging up safely in my parent's house where Brian's eyes will not see it until our wedding day. You can read about this adventure under my blog "running of the brides". I will have those memories forever.
Start thinking about where you want to honeymoon
Since we are doing a destination wedding, our honeymoon is already set. I love destination weddings.
Visit and book reception site and arange for parking
This one is not so easy to do. I just don't have the means to take off to St. Thomas to scout everything out. Instead, I rely on tripadvisor.com and people who have been. They have not failed me yet.
Visit and book ceremony location, including your rehearsal time
I've reserved my ceremony location. From the pictures, it's gorgeous. It's on a beach looking out to St. John. Ahhh, how I long to be there now as the snow is coming down and cars are sliding off the roads. Sun, sand, and surf. Perfect.
I'm feeling good about where I am in the planning phase. Hopefully, the whole year will be this easy when it comes to planning. However, I have a feeling that it won't. There's been a couple of quibbles already about where to have it and who to invite. Brian is great about this whole thing. He keeps telling me that it's my day and whatever I want is fine by him. He also asks that I tell him when and where the wedding will be so he can show up on time. That Brian. God, I love him.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Decisions, decisions
You're probably wondering how I decided when to get married and why a destination wedding. Despite what some people think, a lot of thought was put into my decision of getting married in St. Thomas on March 15, 2008.
When I picked the date, I wanted to make sure Brian's family could all make it. My family it really doesn't matter when I choose. If it's not local, many of them will not come. That's not a bad thing mind you. I have a big family. Brian's extended family equals my immediate family.
I, also, wanted a date that would give me an excuse to take a winter vacation every year. That pretty much cancels out the traditional months of May - August. September is back to school time. Too hectic for families with kids.. October - December is holiday rush season. January would have been nice but it is peak travel season and everyone would be broke from the holidays. That knocks out February as well. March and April looked good. April, though, was a little close to nice spring and summer weather plus everyone would be rushing to get their taxes done. I didn't want to compete with tax season. Plus, Brian's friend Naomi would be celebrating her 1st anniversay in April. I didn't want to overshadow that. I firmly believe that any date that a close friend or family member is married on is unusable for at least one year. So that left us with March.
I decided on the month, so now it was time to decide on the date. Brian is back in school for a fourth degree. He likes collecting degrees like some people collect stamps. I looked at Harvard Extension School's schedule. They don't have 2008's schedule up but they're pretty reliable on having spring break on the last week of March. I would like Brian's Aunt Florence to be able to make it as well. I pulled up Oswego's schedule. Spring break starts March 22 in 2008. This is leading to somewhere nice. It looked like Brian's spring break and Aunt Florence's spring break were actually going to overlap. This was too good to be true I had a date. March 22. Wait this is too easy. There must be something wrong. I found a calendar with holidays listed. March 23rd is Easter next year. As my Dad said, "that's God's day. You can't take God's day." He does have a point. I don't want to upset the big guy upstairs. So, I decided to move it up a week and hope people can make it. Our wedding date will be March 15. I just wanted a date and now I have one.
How did I decide to do a destination wedding? Actually, that's a funny story. I wanted to elope. The idea of organizing any kind of big event frightens the bejeevers out of me. Brian wanted to have his family and close friends share in our big day. I started picturing the large guest list and everyone saying you need to invite this one and that one. I started having nightmares. I was looking online at elopement options when I happened upon an article about Destination Weddings. The summary of the article was that a destination wedding is an elopement with only the people who truly want to share your day with you. I loved that idea. I came home to tell Brian. (Mind you this is long before we were even engaged.) He liked the idea, too. From that day on, we both decided that when we got married, we would do a destination wedding.
We decided to do something in the Caribbean. I started scouting out locations and going to tripadvisor.com. I was driving myself crazy to tell you the truth. Should we do it in the Bahamas? If so, do we do it in one of the out islands or how about the Atlantis. Or Puerto Rico, or one of the Virgin Islands, or, or .....you get the picture. I finally asked Brian to narrow it down for me. He suggested either Puerto Rico or St. Thomas since they are both US territories which means, no passport requirement. I started looking at Puerto Rico (PR) and St. Thomas (ST). PR definitely had a lot more all-inclusive options but it was also a lot more urban. So that narrowed it down to St. Thomas. There's only one all-inclusive on St. Thomas and that's the Wyndham. Everyone who's been speaks very highly about it. The pictures are lovely and I could get married overlooking St. John. So that's how I came to make what I consider the most important decisions. Now it's on to the guest list. Yeah!
When I picked the date, I wanted to make sure Brian's family could all make it. My family it really doesn't matter when I choose. If it's not local, many of them will not come. That's not a bad thing mind you. I have a big family. Brian's extended family equals my immediate family.
I, also, wanted a date that would give me an excuse to take a winter vacation every year. That pretty much cancels out the traditional months of May - August. September is back to school time. Too hectic for families with kids.. October - December is holiday rush season. January would have been nice but it is peak travel season and everyone would be broke from the holidays. That knocks out February as well. March and April looked good. April, though, was a little close to nice spring and summer weather plus everyone would be rushing to get their taxes done. I didn't want to compete with tax season. Plus, Brian's friend Naomi would be celebrating her 1st anniversay in April. I didn't want to overshadow that. I firmly believe that any date that a close friend or family member is married on is unusable for at least one year. So that left us with March.
I decided on the month, so now it was time to decide on the date. Brian is back in school for a fourth degree. He likes collecting degrees like some people collect stamps. I looked at Harvard Extension School's schedule. They don't have 2008's schedule up but they're pretty reliable on having spring break on the last week of March. I would like Brian's Aunt Florence to be able to make it as well. I pulled up Oswego's schedule. Spring break starts March 22 in 2008. This is leading to somewhere nice. It looked like Brian's spring break and Aunt Florence's spring break were actually going to overlap. This was too good to be true I had a date. March 22. Wait this is too easy. There must be something wrong. I found a calendar with holidays listed. March 23rd is Easter next year. As my Dad said, "that's God's day. You can't take God's day." He does have a point. I don't want to upset the big guy upstairs. So, I decided to move it up a week and hope people can make it. Our wedding date will be March 15. I just wanted a date and now I have one.
How did I decide to do a destination wedding? Actually, that's a funny story. I wanted to elope. The idea of organizing any kind of big event frightens the bejeevers out of me. Brian wanted to have his family and close friends share in our big day. I started picturing the large guest list and everyone saying you need to invite this one and that one. I started having nightmares. I was looking online at elopement options when I happened upon an article about Destination Weddings. The summary of the article was that a destination wedding is an elopement with only the people who truly want to share your day with you. I loved that idea. I came home to tell Brian. (Mind you this is long before we were even engaged.) He liked the idea, too. From that day on, we both decided that when we got married, we would do a destination wedding.
We decided to do something in the Caribbean. I started scouting out locations and going to tripadvisor.com. I was driving myself crazy to tell you the truth. Should we do it in the Bahamas? If so, do we do it in one of the out islands or how about the Atlantis. Or Puerto Rico, or one of the Virgin Islands, or, or .....you get the picture. I finally asked Brian to narrow it down for me. He suggested either Puerto Rico or St. Thomas since they are both US territories which means, no passport requirement. I started looking at Puerto Rico (PR) and St. Thomas (ST). PR definitely had a lot more all-inclusive options but it was also a lot more urban. So that narrowed it down to St. Thomas. There's only one all-inclusive on St. Thomas and that's the Wyndham. Everyone who's been speaks very highly about it. The pictures are lovely and I could get married overlooking St. John. So that's how I came to make what I consider the most important decisions. Now it's on to the guest list. Yeah!
Saturday, March 3, 2007
The Proposal
Our holidays are always hectic. This year was no different. Christmas eve we drove to my parents house to spend some holiday time with them. My Dad just had a knee replacement two weeks before. My brothers and I decided to spread out our visits so that we wouldn't overwhelm my parents and allow my Dad to recuperate. We had a great time and I went to mass with my Mom. After Mass, Mom and I went and picked up a pizza at Capri's then headed home. We ate and we exchanged presents then watched TV. It was a nice quiet holiday night. Brian and I went to bed in our seperate rooms. I set my alarm for 8am looking forward to Christmas.
Christmas morning, Brian and I had to leave early so that we could exchange presents with Scott, Brian's older brother. We got up and said our good byes and headed out on our very long day. We got to Scott's house about 10am. Sam, our puppy, was very excited to see us. We made ourselves omelets while Scott went upstairs to wrap our presents. After eating, we went into the living room next to the tree and started exchanging presents. It was a very good year for all of us in the presents department. We bundled up our goodies and loaded Sam into the car. Brian and I headed home to unload and continue on to our next destination, Aunt Eileen and Uncle Walter's house.
It was a going to be very exciting Christmas. Alicia was there with her fiance, Ben. Andrea brought her boyfriend, James, to meet the family. We were enjoying each other's company while waiting for Scott and the Fahlbecks to arrive. When they did, we started setting up the table for the presents. Brian's family does a modified Yankee swap instead of exchanging presents. Everyone brings three presents. Numbers are then passed out and the choosing begins. Once all of the gifts were taken, we set the table for dinner. Dinner is always enjoyable. Conversations flow and the food is always amazing. After dinner, Auntie Eileen and Uncle Walter headed out to the McSwiney's and the rest of us started discussing movie options. Brian and I opted out since we were both tired.
We headed home and started to settle into our couch for some serious vegging out. I was sitting on the couch watching TV and thinking that this was a very good year but it would have been better if we could have announced to everyone we were engaged. Oh well. I knew not to expect a ring on Christmas since Brian said he would never propose on a holiday. There was always tomorrow and the new year was still a week away. Maybe he would do between now and then. He had my birthstone ring for almost two months now so he must be getting close to asking.
Brian got up and went into our office. I figured he was going to check his emails. I continued flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch. Brian came back and sat down. He pulled out a box and said, "I know you've been waiting for your ring for a while now." I opened it up and there was my birthstone ring all cleaned up and sparkly. As I gushed over how beautiful it looked, Brian handed me another box. "But I think you would rather wear this one" he said. It was a bronze box with a soft pale yellow ribbon on it. I slipped the ribbon off and opened the box. Inside was a white leather box. My heart started pounding and my eyes started tearing. I opened the white box and inside was a beautiful heart shaped diamond with two light blue topaz stones on either side. I kept gushing saying Oh Brian, Oh Brian. I looked him in the eyes and said, 'my answer is yes by the way" and I hugged and kissed him.
I called my Mom and Dad right away to tell them the good news. They were extremely tired but were excited for Brian and I. Ronnie and Martha were at the house and got on the phone to congratulate us. Next, I called my brother Keith and his wife, Pam. Pam shrieked in the phone as she heard the news. She knew I had been waiting for a long time for this and was ecstatic. I asked her if she would be my Maid of Honor. She said yes without hesitating.
The next day I was the happiest girl in the world. I asked Brian if he told Scott yet. Brian said no. I told him he needed to call Scott and tell him. Brian did call and got Scott's voicemail. He left a message saying "Hi Scott, it's Brian. I'm engaged. I'll talk to you later. Bye." I was not privy to this message until a few days later when we went out to dinner with Scott and his girlfriend, Jill.
We had made plans to meet Brian's family at the Lowe's theater in Boston Common. We headed out to catch the T at Alewife. Brian and I were a bit early so we decided to walk around the common. I asked Brian again if he had talked to his brother. Brian said, "No, I left him a messge." I was appalled. I was not going to announce our engagement until Scott knew. I expressed this to Brian. His response was "Call him." So I did. I got Scott and asked him if he heard the voicemail. He said he had and was a bit confused. I told him, "we're engaged." I handed the phone off to Brian. Scott had a barrage of questions for Brian. We were getting close to the theater so Brian got off the phone. I talked to Brian and asked him how he would like to announce it. Brian being so enthusiastic said he didn't care. I came up with the brilliant plan of let's see how long it takes for people to notice the new bauble on my finger.
We got to the theater and waited for the family. I was trying to talk with my hands as much as possible but nobody was noticing. We got into the theater. I managed to end up on the left side of everyone. How frustrating. I didn't want to be too obvious and sitting on the left was hard. At one point, I even turned around in my seat and started talking to the family members in the back row with my hands to no avail. The movie was starting so I sat down, frustrated.
After the movie, we started to walk to get something to eat. Again, I started talking with my hands but nobody was noticing. We arrived at a restaurant that had a table that could fit all of us. Brian noticing my frustration said, "I think you're going to have to do something more drastic". I turned to him and said on the loud side, "I know. I don't know what else to do except wave my hand around" while waving my hand. Finally, I just put my hand up my head down saying, "I wonder if anyone will notice this". Alicia started to look at my hand and asked, "Is that what I think it is?" I said, yes!!! She then asked, "Are you going to announce it?" I looked at her and said that I wanted to see how much longer it would take for people to notice. She asked if it would be alright to make a toast at dinner. I told her if no one has noticed by then, than by all means go right ahead. At this point, Florence got a hint something was going on. She asked us what was going on. Ben turned to her and said, "Look at her finger." Florence looked and said, "is that?" I said, "Yes" Jean then learned of the ring. Our half of the table erupted in shrieks. The table next to ours jumped and asked if everything was okay. Jean told them everything was fine and that they had just learned about an engagement. Champagne was ordered and everyone was told the story. It was a very fun night.
About two weeks later, I was reflecting back on the proposal and realized that Brian had not actually said "will you marry me". I went up to him and pointed that out. He smiled slyly and said, "I was wondering when you'd figure that one out." I made him ask me right than and there. I then asked him if he was planning on holding that over my head. Again he smiled and said, yup. So this was how our proposal came about.
Christmas morning, Brian and I had to leave early so that we could exchange presents with Scott, Brian's older brother. We got up and said our good byes and headed out on our very long day. We got to Scott's house about 10am. Sam, our puppy, was very excited to see us. We made ourselves omelets while Scott went upstairs to wrap our presents. After eating, we went into the living room next to the tree and started exchanging presents. It was a very good year for all of us in the presents department. We bundled up our goodies and loaded Sam into the car. Brian and I headed home to unload and continue on to our next destination, Aunt Eileen and Uncle Walter's house.
It was a going to be very exciting Christmas. Alicia was there with her fiance, Ben. Andrea brought her boyfriend, James, to meet the family. We were enjoying each other's company while waiting for Scott and the Fahlbecks to arrive. When they did, we started setting up the table for the presents. Brian's family does a modified Yankee swap instead of exchanging presents. Everyone brings three presents. Numbers are then passed out and the choosing begins. Once all of the gifts were taken, we set the table for dinner. Dinner is always enjoyable. Conversations flow and the food is always amazing. After dinner, Auntie Eileen and Uncle Walter headed out to the McSwiney's and the rest of us started discussing movie options. Brian and I opted out since we were both tired.
We headed home and started to settle into our couch for some serious vegging out. I was sitting on the couch watching TV and thinking that this was a very good year but it would have been better if we could have announced to everyone we were engaged. Oh well. I knew not to expect a ring on Christmas since Brian said he would never propose on a holiday. There was always tomorrow and the new year was still a week away. Maybe he would do between now and then. He had my birthstone ring for almost two months now so he must be getting close to asking.
Brian got up and went into our office. I figured he was going to check his emails. I continued flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch. Brian came back and sat down. He pulled out a box and said, "I know you've been waiting for your ring for a while now." I opened it up and there was my birthstone ring all cleaned up and sparkly. As I gushed over how beautiful it looked, Brian handed me another box. "But I think you would rather wear this one" he said. It was a bronze box with a soft pale yellow ribbon on it. I slipped the ribbon off and opened the box. Inside was a white leather box. My heart started pounding and my eyes started tearing. I opened the white box and inside was a beautiful heart shaped diamond with two light blue topaz stones on either side. I kept gushing saying Oh Brian, Oh Brian. I looked him in the eyes and said, 'my answer is yes by the way" and I hugged and kissed him.
I called my Mom and Dad right away to tell them the good news. They were extremely tired but were excited for Brian and I. Ronnie and Martha were at the house and got on the phone to congratulate us. Next, I called my brother Keith and his wife, Pam. Pam shrieked in the phone as she heard the news. She knew I had been waiting for a long time for this and was ecstatic. I asked her if she would be my Maid of Honor. She said yes without hesitating.
The next day I was the happiest girl in the world. I asked Brian if he told Scott yet. Brian said no. I told him he needed to call Scott and tell him. Brian did call and got Scott's voicemail. He left a message saying "Hi Scott, it's Brian. I'm engaged. I'll talk to you later. Bye." I was not privy to this message until a few days later when we went out to dinner with Scott and his girlfriend, Jill.
We had made plans to meet Brian's family at the Lowe's theater in Boston Common. We headed out to catch the T at Alewife. Brian and I were a bit early so we decided to walk around the common. I asked Brian again if he had talked to his brother. Brian said, "No, I left him a messge." I was appalled. I was not going to announce our engagement until Scott knew. I expressed this to Brian. His response was "Call him." So I did. I got Scott and asked him if he heard the voicemail. He said he had and was a bit confused. I told him, "we're engaged." I handed the phone off to Brian. Scott had a barrage of questions for Brian. We were getting close to the theater so Brian got off the phone. I talked to Brian and asked him how he would like to announce it. Brian being so enthusiastic said he didn't care. I came up with the brilliant plan of let's see how long it takes for people to notice the new bauble on my finger.
We got to the theater and waited for the family. I was trying to talk with my hands as much as possible but nobody was noticing. We got into the theater. I managed to end up on the left side of everyone. How frustrating. I didn't want to be too obvious and sitting on the left was hard. At one point, I even turned around in my seat and started talking to the family members in the back row with my hands to no avail. The movie was starting so I sat down, frustrated.
After the movie, we started to walk to get something to eat. Again, I started talking with my hands but nobody was noticing. We arrived at a restaurant that had a table that could fit all of us. Brian noticing my frustration said, "I think you're going to have to do something more drastic". I turned to him and said on the loud side, "I know. I don't know what else to do except wave my hand around" while waving my hand. Finally, I just put my hand up my head down saying, "I wonder if anyone will notice this". Alicia started to look at my hand and asked, "Is that what I think it is?" I said, yes!!! She then asked, "Are you going to announce it?" I looked at her and said that I wanted to see how much longer it would take for people to notice. She asked if it would be alright to make a toast at dinner. I told her if no one has noticed by then, than by all means go right ahead. At this point, Florence got a hint something was going on. She asked us what was going on. Ben turned to her and said, "Look at her finger." Florence looked and said, "is that?" I said, "Yes" Jean then learned of the ring. Our half of the table erupted in shrieks. The table next to ours jumped and asked if everything was okay. Jean told them everything was fine and that they had just learned about an engagement. Champagne was ordered and everyone was told the story. It was a very fun night.
About two weeks later, I was reflecting back on the proposal and realized that Brian had not actually said "will you marry me". I went up to him and pointed that out. He smiled slyly and said, "I was wondering when you'd figure that one out." I made him ask me right than and there. I then asked him if he was planning on holding that over my head. Again he smiled and said, yup. So this was how our proposal came about.
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