roadpupp
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2004
- Messages
- 63
Well, after some gentle chiding, I am finally posting up the details of my engagement. Pricescope people helped me find my stone (thanks Quaeritur) and gave me advice about the actual proposal. So here is the story: ( it is long!)
I knew I wanted to propose in the fall as my summer was busy with work travel to Asia and racing. Stacey and I moved in together on Valentine's day after dating for almost a year. I pretty much knew she was the one right away. I was gone a lot on the weekends during the summer and wanted a vacation that would focus on the two of us, doing whatever she wanted to do. Turns out that what she wanted to do was lay on a beach and drink frozen drinks out of hollowed out pineapples!
I started spending my lunch hours 10 blocks away on 47th street. My girl had only given me one hint about the ring style she liked. A Verragio ad ripped out of a magazine about the time we moved in together. I teased her about leaving me hints and she got embarrassed and threw it out. I knew that in six months I would probably be ring shopping and looked up Verragio and bookmarked the website.
Now it is August and I started learning about stones. The picture in the ad had a round brilliant three stone setting but pave stones on the sides of the settings. I found Shenoa and Co on 47th to be a great place to do business (despite their Ebay store). The production manager there took lots of time with me and was totally low pressure. He advised me to decide my budget and stick to it. I found a setting that was similar to the one image my girl liked but without the pave. I didn’t have it sized so we could return it if she wanted something else. I got the Sarin reports on several stones and kept running them through the HCA. I found one that was a Tolkowsky ideal and it was the same price as the other AGS 000 stones. I bought it and hid it under the bed for 5 weeks waiting for our vacation.
We arrived at the resort in Mexico and the place was as beautiful as we could have hoped. We walked around and peeked into the various restaurants and then went back to the room to change. I had brought the small camera case with us and hid the ring box in there and stuffed it waaaaay back in the safe.
I read that the Italian restaurant was supposed to be the most romantic and it sure looked nice. I suggested that we eat there the following night. Now that I knew the lay of the land, It seemed certain that the next night would be the night. After all the travel, we were tired and feeling awfully romantic, so we went to bed early
The next day we didn’t have anything planned and just lay by the beach and the pool enjoying the sun and the great food and drinks. I knew from reading reviews that they give honeymoon couples special treatment with decorating the room. Each floor has a concierge and I found ours, Omar at his desk. I told him I was planning to propose and asked if he could arrange to have my room decorated while we were at dinner. He wasn’t sure as they had several weddings that night and the decorating staff was busy. I gave him a $20 and he promised to do his best.
A quick rain shower drove us indoors where we relaxed and took a nap. I couldn’t sleep from all the anticipation and got up to wander and check in with Omar. I found him and he said all was well. I had another margarita in hopes of actually getting to sleep at some point. I never did. We woke up, took our time getting ready and left for dinner right on time at 8pm and the meal and atmosphere was excellent. I had several glasses of wine trying not to seem nervous. After we finished dinner, we left the restaurant and saw the photographer’s table had pictures from earlier that day by the pool. We bought the one with her and a tiny monkey and even though he was packed up for the night, I convinced the photographer to take several pictures of us as I knew the girl would want pictures for posterity.
I suggested a walk on the beach. Instead she wanted to go to the jewelry store they had in the lobby! I told her she could go later and I promised to get her something sparkly during our trip! (she had no idea how sparkly).
It was a little windy and we were the only people on the beach. The waves were crashing and her stiletto heels didn’t work very well in the fine white sand. I picked her up and carried her over to a lounge chair under a palapa. There we sat half lying down cuddled together. We talked about how great it was to be here and how amazing the last year and half has been, even better since we moved in together.
I had my camera case on the ground to my left and fumbled with it to get the box out with my left hand. We were looking into each other’s eyes and finally I said
“Stacey?” my voice cracking a little with emotion.
She said afterward that once she heard my voice crack her mind raced and she realized what was happening.
“will you marry me and be my wife?”
and with that I pulled the box up from below my side and into her view.
She gasped, and said “Yes, I will marry you”.
She asked me to put the ring on her finger and she hugged me and cried for a long time kissing me and we repeated that we were going to get married. It wasn’t until several minutes later that she actually stopped hugging me long enough to actually look at the ring! I loved that it wasn’t about the hardware. She was astounded at it and totally surprised. She said she had hoped that it MIGHT happen on this trip, but much more likely in the spring. The fact that she hadn’t gotten any inkling that I was researching rings and stones left her utterly surprised and ecstatic that I had sprung it on her.
After 20 minutes on the beach reveling in the moment, we went back to our room. When I opened the door, the lights were dimmed and classical music was playing. Rose petals covered the bedspread and the floor by the bed. There was a heart made out of towels on the bed that looked like two swans as well as a huge flower arrangement of exotics. A plate of pastries with “will you marry me”, and a bucket of champagne was on the table. She was blown away yet again and because of the late hour only called one person, her twin sister to tell her the good news. We stayed up until 2am enjoying the excitement of planning our future.
Back in New York we went to the jewelers so she could look at other settings and ultimately she decided to keep the setting I chose! We had it sized down to 4.5 for her. She loved the stone and the setting and said it was more thatn she ever hoped for. Score!
Thanks to all my friends here at Pricescope for all your help on a very successful proposal.
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