Weddingbee boards

So, I have been asking my FI to do some work on our wedding website so he took it upon himself to write out our engagement story and get it on the website.  I was entertained and wanted to share his hard work with the Hive!  It is long though!

That's my story...
And I'm sticking to it.

Grand Rapids, MI

Our engagement (oh so long ago) was actually a multi-step process, of which I spent an incredible amount of time planning - by that, I mean that I decided Wednesday that I would propose on Saturday, so I had to be create and pull all this together quickly.  I sneakily told/asked her mom on Thursday, and told her we were having a fancy birthday date on Saturday.

The plan?  Go to Grand Rapids, see the public Museum (and the planetarium, which we'd been planning on going to for years.  I'm a nerd, leave me alone).  Go for a walk in the park, perhaps a drive across town to a few other places, and eventually have birthday dinner in the Amway Grand Plaza.  The surprise was that I'd booked a suite in the tower, and I'd be proposing there.  Obviously, you know how it turned out, but let's break down the steps that got us there.

#1 - Go to Grand Rapids.

I grew up there, and managed to find my way back on the straight line path between Kalamazoo and GR.  Success.

#2 - Get to the museum for a planetarium show.

Apparently, the summer of '08 required that every single road into Grand Rapids be under construction.  The 45 minute drive actually took us about two hours, and we got to the museum after the last planetarium show.  We did see the museum, but still...

Fail.

#3 - Walk aimlessly?

Obviously, my short amount of time planning this (and my lack of creativity) left some gaps.  In hindsight, she thought I was going to propose in the park behind the Gerald R Ford Museum.  I did not, and she convinced herself this was just a birthday trip.

Success, I guess.

#4 - Go to the East side?

Nope, didn't go that far.  We ended up walking downtown, getting Starbucks, and visiting my parents.  While we were there, I gave her a necklace (a gift from her mom, that I was temporarily borrowing to throw her off).  They suggest Cygnus for dinner, and we head off.

Original plan - fail.  How it actually worked out?  Not too shabby.

#5 - We go to the Amway Grand and up 27 floors to the restaurant, Cygnus.  After ordering dinner, I excuse myself for what was, quite possibly, the LONGEST restroom break in the history of time.  

Was I coming down with something?  A stomach bug, you ask?  No, sir!  I was riding 27 floors back to ground level, checking in, stopping on the 11th floor to find the room and drop off the incredible mountain of paperwork, and then going back up to floor 27.  I think I was gone long enough for the waiter to ask if everything was ok, in fact.  But I did return, and we did enjoy a wonderful meal.

Success!

#6 - Dessert?

No, no dessert.  I'm a bundle of nerves, and can't eat.  I even go as far as to shut the door on Brittany's "So, how about dessert?"  And by shut the door, I mean slam it.  Hard.  In her face.  

I wish we would have had dessert, it seems like it would have been delicious.

#7 - Propose!

Now comes the tricky part...how do you go to floor 11, get off the elevator, and navigate a few halls without raising suspicion?  Why, you get help, of course.  As soon as we get into the 180 degree glass elevator, Brittany suggest we explore the hotel! PERFECT!  She's too busy looking outside to see that I push random floor 11, and it takes until I'm pulling the room key out of my pocket for her to figure out what, exactly, is happening.  

She's very excited about our "birthday" room, and we went in to look around.  I made my way into the bedroom, opened the wall-sized window (with an amazing view of the Grand River and the downtown lights), and proposed.  She was in tears, and said yes, and everything was wonderful.

Success!

P.S - I found out later that she did NOT look at the beautiful view.  She did what anyone does when coming to a window 11 stories up - (insert sarcasm) she looked straight down.  That's right...she looked directly into the brick wall of a neighboring building, and asked later why I'd chosen to propose in front of an ugly brick wall.  I proceeded to point out the window, and bring the city to her attention.

Fail.

Added by Scott on Fri, Feb 5th 2010

The picture is what I was supposed to be looking at.  Anyone else get a nice recap of their engagement from their FI?

Thanks!  He was very proud of himself, even with his fails!