Entries tagged with “engagement” from Prom to Altar

A year ago today, Patrick asked me to marry him and I said yes. We haven't written much about our engagement story, so I thought I'd write a bit now for my lunchtime blogging break. It's a bit long, but that's not much of a surprise now is it?

We'd decided to go to Albany for the weekend to see our parents for the weekend of August 18. I don't know when Patrick's scheming started-- if it was before or after that decision. He'll have to fill you in on his side. As far as I knew, we'd decided to go home for a run of the mill visit. He suggested that we get our parents together for dinner since we'd only be there for one night. I suggested a barbecue to my parents, they called Pat's mom and dad, and dinner was arranged. I do know that this was all part of Pat's plan.

August 18 was a gorgeous day, and Patrick suggested that rather than our normal running around Albany trying to cram in a bunch of visits and errands, we should enjoy the day in town together. (So full of suggestions, but I just thought it was another one of our adventures). We went to lunch at Justin's (the site of our first date all those years ago), much fancier than our usual Mass Pike road lunches. We sat in the same part of the restaurant we sat in that first day and reminisced a bit-- I confessed how I was so nervous on that first date that I could hardly eat my tomato soup, and then I felt really bad that he was paying for tomato soup that I barely touched. I don't remember, but hopefully I payed for another part of that date. We remembered how it was pouring rain, how even that first day we kept extending the date and putting off the moment we had to part.

After strolling Lark Street we drove up to Thacher Park-- another spot that we frequented in our early days. We'd go up there to sit on the wall by the overlook, hike around, take in the view, and talk. The first ring Patrick gave me was given while we were sitting on that wall in 1998-- shortly after we started dating he went to Washington DC with a music department trip. The time apart was torturous (we were teenagers in love!) and when he came back he gave me a hematite ring he had bought me. I loved that ring (and that he'd given it to me) and I was heartbroken when it shattered one night while I was babysitting. I tried to glue it back together, but it never held very well. I still have the pieces.

Anyway, on that day last year we did a little photo shoot at the overlook, and then drove over to take a walk near one of our favorite spots. Thinking back, he fumbled in the car a bit while I waited to begin our walk-- I figured he was doing something with his camera. We stopped to take in the view near a footbridge over a brook and a small ledge, which we would venture out onto back when we were crazy teenagers.

As we stood there, Patrick started talking about our past-- how far we'd come, how deep our love had grown, how happy we've made each other all these years. And then he says "Now, how about beginning the next chapter of our future-- Nicole, will you marry me?" (or something like that-- maybe he remembers exactly, I was too surprised to remember verbatim) and he's down on one knee with the ring. After a few moments of speechlessness, I told him "of course!" and I can't even describe the feeling as we stood there with the view of the Capital Region sprawling out below us, hugging and kissing and absorbing this moment we've dreamed about. Time stopped.

Of course, we wanted to tell the world -- but we couldn't, not yet. The plan was that we'd tell our parents when they were all together that night at my parents' house. But they had to be the first to know-- no telling anyone else before then. We killed time with a walk along the Indian Ladder trail and photo shoots along the way.

After an hour or so we were getting antsy and anxious and decided to make our way towards dinner. When we arrived in Guilderland it was still too early, so we bought some champagne and then killed more time with coffee at the diner. This is one of my favorite things from that day-- we sat at the counter, giddy with our secret. And then my parents called wondering where the heck we were and my mom thought I'd be there to help her make dinner. Oops... too much time killed.

I was shaking with excitement as we walked back to my parents' patio, where they were all waiting. I carried in a pan of peach cobbler that I'd made, hiding my new bling. As soon as I put it down, we couldn't wait any longer and blurted out the news (the news our parents have been waiting years for)! Of course it was met with joy and kisses and hugs all around. We popped the cork on the champagne and spent the evening toasting.

The next day, we made the rounds to give the news in person to our grandmothers (as we said goodbye to two of them this summer I was so thankful that we did this last summer, and that we had that moment with each of them) and spent the evening calling the rest of our families and friends.

All of it was exactly right.

the number of confusing wedding-related acronyms and abbreviations is out of control. when i first started reading wedding blogs and websites i felt like i needed a decoder ring to figure out what the heck these girls were talking about. jen also expressed her confusion at the terms used by these brides-to-be all over the internet-- "what's an e-ring? do i need some sort of electronic ring?" oooh, apparently "engagement ring" is just too many letters to write out.

when i sent the bridesmaids a link from one of these wedding blogs, grace wrote back and made me promise i would never refer to them as BMs: "I am not sure if it is just because I work in healthcare, but we use this word on a daily basis to mean something a little less pleasant than a bridesmaid. So I am making a request: please, please don't call us BMs!"

and then there's the ever-present STD abbreviation. what were you thinking? of course STD means save the date! we also rejected this one in favor of SD. i can only imagine the ads gmail would start placing above my inbox if it were full of info about STDs. and now i dread the kind of spam this blog is going to get after that mention.

e-pics was one that had me confused for a while. what were these epics all these girls were having done? where does one get an epic? is this some sort of beauty treatment? pre-marital counseling sessions?

alas, the first batch of our epics (engagement photos, if you want to take the time to use all those extra syllables) are online. check them out if you're interested by going to the home page of our photographers' site and scrolling down a little to the blurb about us, or go directly to the gallery.

it's sunday night and we just came back from our engagement photo session-- over the past two hours we've had a camera aimed at us more than we have in the past ten years combined! we tend to be the ones behind the camera most of the time, so we were both a bit nervous about the idea of a full photo shoot focused on us (this was part of the point, of course: to get over those nerves before september).

paul and brenda came out to northampton, and we spent the afternoon ambling around town and the campus of smith college. they took tons of photos, and were full of ideas. it was a good chance to get to know our photographers and their working style better, and to get more comfortable in front of the camera (something i have never been, despite growing up with a photographer dad). it also meant a lot to be able to capture a bit of our life here in northampton. it was a great day-- we had fun, took the time to enjoy each other, and soaked up a glorious may afternoon.

as of yesterday, the forecast for today was grim: cold, rainy, gray. yesterday was raw, and i couldn't imagine getting good photos in that kind of biting weather. we talked about canceling and rescheduling (again-- we already canceled once, back in april), or doing the photos when we were in albany. i fretted about what to do, pat calmed me down and we examined our options. we ultimately decided to stick with our plan: things would work out the way they were meant to, or so pat promised.

as paul and brenda arrived in our parking lot, the clouds were getting ready to pack up and call it a day. for the rest of the afternoon the sun stuck around, with a few bouts of just the right amount of overcast to make for good lighting. the temperature shot up 10 degrees and hovered around 65. our faith paid off, and we ended up with the perfect afternoon. it would be nice if just having faith were enough to guarantee this kind of weather luck on our wedding day!

we have a way of balancing each other out-- we don't always fall into the same roles, but we nearly always center each other. this time around it was my turn to worry and fret and attempt to plan the unplannable (i think i just made up that word). it was patrick's turn to remain calm, to lay out all the options, and to bring some logic to the situation. in the end, he was right on: things worked out the way they were meant to work out.

next time i'll tell the story of the engagement. but for now, a little about the ring (adapted from a post on flickr shortly after the proposal). i never thought i'd wear a diamond, but this ring is perfect- unique and beautiful and very us. it's extra special because the engagement rings of two of our friends came from the same antique jeweler, on green st. in northampton (we'll be going back to serena for our wedding bands). the ring is circa 1930, handmade, platinum with a baguette on either side and an art deco setting. what i love most of all about it, of course, is the eternal reminder of our love and affection for each another. that's cheesy, but true.

a note on the reasons behind the antique ring: all along we both knew we didn't want any part of buying a new diamond. when he first mentioned the idea of an antique ring, i loved it. i'm drawn to antique and vintage items anyway, and i love the sense of history. an antique engagement ring seemed like the perfect way to find a ring that was conflict-free, unique, and fit our style. i knew that when we got engaged, the ring would be antique. he deserves all the credit for choosing the perfect one, of course- and for devising a wonderfully sweet proposal.