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Friday Flashback PIP
Hi ladies!
So to follow up on the prior post, I'll post Friday Flashback Challenges. You have all week to reply so dont stress if you cant get to it over the weekend. I like Krissy's idea of doing more NWR stuff, too... so we'll alternate. For the wedding stuff, I wont personally post my own pics b-c I do not want to celebrate or reminisce on that day, however I'll post ideas-inspirations and what not for what I would want, if that is ok with everyone! Just post a pic or lotsa pics that best represent the weekly challenge. Also, critique it... what did you LOVE about it and what would you have done differently? Lets start at the beginning for this week's challenge:
Wedding Rings
This should be easy since most of you I would assume are wearing yours so even if you are on vacation like Lindsay, maybe you can just take a quick pic, lol... also tell the story of your engagement because deep down I think we all love a good romantic story. 
Re: Friday Flashback PIP
Thanks for thinking of me!
Here are my rings:
I started out with only one band, my wedding band. Then last summer B surprised me with the second band as an anniversary/you're having my baby present.
Our engagement: We knew we wanted to get married and talked about it a lot. There was no real surprise that it was coming as we went and picked out the rings together. I was even with him when he picked up the ring. We were headed to a BBQ at a friend's place. He put it in the glove box and was going to "surprise me" with it at a later point. On the way home from our friends place we got stuck in a hail storm and pulled over on a side street and parked underneath a large tree to try to protect the vehicle. After sitting there for a few minutes with no let up, he took the ring out of the glovebox and proposed. It kind of sounds a bit more romantic when you say he proposed in a hail storm, than what it actually was. I dont have a Mr. Romance on my hands that's for sure. However he did totally surprise me to the point of tears when he surprised me with the anniversary band. He taped it to the bottom of the table at the restaurant and had me "find" it.
Our engagement:
I knew it was coming, we had been talking about it forever, had picked out my ring together, and I knew he had the ring. I even thought I knew when he was going to do it- Brett's parents were having a big "summer party" celebrating multiple birthdays, anniversaries, etc. and my parents were planning on coming in town for it. I was sure he was going to do it that weekend so that we could celebrate with all of our family.
Well, a few weeks before the party, we were on vacation at the beach with my parents. Earlier in the day, I told him that I wanted to go sit on the beach at night after dinner (totally my idea, so I wasn't expecting anything at all). So after dinner we went down to the beach with a cooler and found a spot to sit and enjoy. I looked over and Brett looked like he was about to throw up... and then he started proposing! I was really, really surprised and did this weird combination laugh/cry thing for about 10 minutes.
Only one stone for me - I'm not into a lot of sparkle!
Engagement story - I knew he had been ring shopping so I had sort of been waiting for it. We went hiking one day and on the hike back stopped to rest overlooking a waterfall. I gave him ample time to propose, if he was going to and he didn't, so I said, you know, if you'd planned better this would have been a great proposal spot. He's like, oh yeah? and pulled out the ring.
And, as a bonus pic - this is where we got engaged:
Kate's Recipe Box || Relatively Bookish
Here's the engagement story as I wrote it the next day:
Alex spent all day yesterday locked up in his office and running strange ambiguous errands that I was not allowed to go on with him. Finally he called me in the evening and asked me to tell Will to start the video camera. That was all he told me. He then came up the stairs to our house and told me to look in my Christmas stocking.
Inside my stocking was a ring box. I opened it and found one of my old poison rings (the kind with a little compartment). Inside was a note all curled up with really small writing that read something like "You didn't think I'd make it that easy did you? You are about to go on an adventure, don't worry - there will be lots of clues to help you along the way. To get started go to the first place you ever heard about me."
I logged on to the website where I first met him and he had changed his whole profile to be full of clues. The first part of the clue said "Do you know where the mendelev crater is?" I googled it and found out it was on the moon. I have a model of the moon on my bookshelf in the living room so I grabbed it and there was another clue taped to it. It said "where is that blue sweater of yours that I love?"
I went to my closet and grabbed the blue sweater. Inside was another clue. It had 6 math problems on it that would help me determine the GPS coordinates where I needed to go. I solved the problems and started driving. Part of the way there, Alex realized he'd given me the wrong coordinates (he gave me the second set first by accident) and told me new coordinates to follow. They took me to the bar where we had our first date. There were more clues on the GPS device that led me to believe that the clue would be near the bar sign because on our first date we were watching the Gecko's catch bugs under the neon sign.
Sure enough, there was a box sitting right beside the sign. Eli, the bartender at the bar was there and knew what was going on. I got the box and inside was . . . a cough drop and another clue. This clue had lots of complicated math problems to help me find the next set of GPS coordinates such as "K = SIN(I)*e(E-G)" Fortunately, Alex had accidentally given me the coordinates to our second spot already. That meant I didn't have to do trig!
I started driving toward the new set of GPS coordinates. It is amazing how difficult it is to go somewhere when all you know is you need to head "southeast" or "northwest" without any more details. I eventually got to a point where I couldn't drive anymore and had to set out on foot. I started walking to the correct GPS coordinates and ultimately realized I was up above the Japanese Tea Gardens. I looked down and realized we were going to have to turn around and go back because there was no way in. We turned around and headed back and eventually got in. The next part of the clue read something to the effect of "go to the tallest, most scenic, most central location in that area and look down. Look for a bench and sit down - no one would notice someone hiding an envelope among the rocks on the upper right from where you're sitting."
By this point, I was pretty sure I knew what was up and I was very worried that Alex had left my ring out in public alone and unprotected! I grabbed the envelope that was shoved among the rocks and opened it. There was a butterscotch candy inside and another note. It read something to the effect of "your present is near my heart where I keep all my important things." I grabbed the chain from around Alex's neck and there was my beautiful diamond ring. (Will was taking pictures and video the whole time - although none of them turned out all that great so most of the memories will have to be in my head).
Alex asked me if I would marry him and I said yes. He got down on one knee and put the ring on my finger. Meanwhile, Will had no idea what the cultural significance of this whole event was and thought that Alex had merely bought me a birthstone ring. He was pleased when he found out that Alex had asked me to marry him. I think Alex had intended to propose on the first of the year, but by the time I finally found the ring it was after midnight - oops. Nevertheless, it was the most romantic and sweet thing I could possibly think of and I am absolutely thrilled to be engaged. I will send pictures of the ring when I have a chance to take some.
William born 7/12/2000
Andrew born 10/30/2011 (9lb 4oz at 37 weeks)
Oh my gosh! I love this because it is so you guys! hehe... how clever
I love hearing the engagement stories. Kate, I know I had heard yours before but I love hearing the part about you calling him out, hehe.
My engagement ring with his wedding ring
This is my wedding set
Engagement Story: Well we had talked about marriage for a while and I had even gone with him to pick out the center stone. So I thought there was no way he could surprise me - well I was wrong.
We had decided to get married not in the church that my Granny, Mother and Sister had all gotten married in. So, he suggested that we go to mass at this church to show my parents that we looked at it. This should have been my first clue something was up as he is not a mass-goer.
So after Mass was over, he suggested we go to the front of the church. As we started making our way up one of the aisles, he handed me a round ornamental box. My heart skipped a beat and I opened it, but it was empty. I thought, well the ring hasn't come in yet. (We had to special order it, no one had the setting in store)
We walked up to the front of the church and by this time I was a little annoyed. I decided to sit down in the front pew because I thought it was awkward to just be walking around. DH was almost pacing around as I tried to get him to sit and not look so awkward. He was trying to get me to stand up (in hindsight probably because I had mentioned I wanted to be standing when he proposed). Well I wouldn't get up. He finally sits down next to me. But he asks me for my promise ring. I told him no because he doesn't have my engagement ring yet. He almost had to take it off my finger lol. He takes out this ugly ring box and puts my promise ring in it. All this time I'm protesting and quite annoyed and confused as to why he took my promise ring. Then in a swift movement, he is down on one knee with the pretty box I know is from the jewelry store and he is proposing. Neither of us remember what he said. All I know is that I was crying and staring at the ring. After he said whatever he said, I started hugging him. He then informs me that I didn't answer. So I said "of course" and he put the ring on my finger. Then a deacon came over and said how proud he was that we were putting God first and gave us a blessing. I'm still surprised that my non-religious boyfriend proposed to me in a church. I think he knew how important it was to me and I'm glad that this family tradition church is part of our story. I'm also intending on having our son baptized at this church.
Here is a picture of the altar, but the proposal was on the other side.
No crazy proposal story here. We had been together over 7 years. I knew he got the ring. We went to one of my favorite places to get some food (by a beach, outdoor hot dog type place). While sitting there Matt just blurted out 'Will you marry me' and pulled the ring box out from behind the bag of onion rings. Of course I said yes
I don't have a picture of my rings because I forgot to take one. And I have no romantic proposal story either, darn E!
We were sitting at his parents dinner table talking about our upcoming trip to California. We were going to his cousin's wedding in May and it was April 20th. His Dad said "you know, people are going to ask when you guys are going to get married/if you are ever going to get married..what do we tell them?" We were already dating 5 1/2 years by this time. I looked at E and he said "tell them yes". I was like "HUH, we're going to get married!?" And he said "yea, sure, why not" Then his Dad pulled out a calendar and said "when would you guys like to get married?" We decided summertime because of my job. We didn't want June because that was both sets of parents anniversaries so July was left. We got to choose from the 4th, 11th, 18th or 25th. I knew we didn't want the 4th or the 25th. I figured E would always remember 7/11 and so that's how that date won. Sooo, that's how we figured out we were going to get married and I didn't get my ring until Octoberish! And, when we got married his uncle from California bought us a whole new set so I didn't end up using my engagment ring at the wedding ceremony at all.