Our Story
that I should "pop the question", June and I had been seeing each other for over 7 years. It was time. June and I were perfect for each other. We understood each other fully and rarely had anything to argue about. June was very supportive of me in everything I did. I knew long before that June would be the one that would be by my side for the rest of my life. So the planning began.
My biggest obstacle was finding the time to go out and do some serious shopping for the perfect ring without her knowing. You see, June is a very sharp and quick-witted girl. Until my engagement plan, I have never been able to pull off a surprise without blowing it. I always tipped her off accidently and spoiled my own surprises. When June went back to Hong Kong for 3 weeks in October of 2003 (she goes back every year to visit her parents), I saw the perfect opportunity to get busy.
Since June's brother-in-law (Howard), whos family was in the jewelry business was also in Hong Kong on vacation at the time, I asked him to price out some diamonds that I had picked out. At the same, I looked around at the jewelry shops in Toronto . A co-worker who happened to be working on a website for a poshy jewelry store on Avenue Rd introduced me to the store owner. While visiting the store, a couple of rings of caught my interest. This store carried Hearts and Arrows diamonds (one grade above the highest diamond cut) which was only available in Asia at the time. After receiving price quotes on a couple of the diamonds, I checked with Howard and he assured me that the deals were good. The price would be the same as what I could get in Hong Kong which was usually lower than Canada . With this all in mind, I decided to purchase the ring at Fortunes Jewelry. Howard helped me ensure the authenticity of the ring when he came back to Toronto . Now that the ring was picked out, the most difficult step was next. Planning the proposal.
I read in an article that "the delivery is what the lady will remember and cherish. The ring would mean little if the delivery sucked". I couldn't disappoint. My original idea was to rent a horse drawn sleigh that would take us through The Old Mills Residential area after dinner at the restaurant. Of course, I would pop the question to her during the moonlight ride in the snow. Unfortunately, no horses were available during the day I wanted to propose (which was our monthly anniversary date on December 5 th ). I had to keep thinking of ideas.
I remembered in the movie "Serendipity", a scene where a dude laid rose petals from the girl's home door entrance towards a box in the home. Within the box, was another box within a box, within a box. The most inner box contained a wooden box. The girl came home her apparently empty house with candles lit and started following the rose petals which led her to the large wrapped box. When the girl opened the final box, it was empty. The girl then turns around, and the dude was standing there with a ring in his hand. I thought that this was pretty romantic and was a very special scene in the movie. And even though June watched this movie with me, she never could remember a scene or line in a movie once the movie was over, so I was safe that the idea would seem fresh to her! (heh heh).
I went ahead and planned the evening of December 5th . Dinner at 6:30pm would be followed by dancing to the live band which performed there. After dinner, we would head up towards the Penthouse apartment of the newly built Inn at the Old Mills. The scene from "Serendipity" would be re-enacted through our own engagement. The Old Mills was the first fine dining restaurant we had gone to together during our first year of dating. We shared a lot of fond memories of that first time.
Days leading up towards the date were really stressful. I received a call from my brother informing me that my grandmother's birthday dinner would be on the same night as my planned proposal! In code, I tried telling my brother that I can't go that date, but could not explain why as June was next to me when the call was taken. I felt terrible that I was not able to attend my own Grandmother's birthday. Later that night, I called the Old Mills to change reservations to the next night which was a Saturday. It wouldn't be on December 5th , but in the whole scheme of things, I was fine with this one hick-up. OK. Now everything was good again. I called my brother back to let them know that I was now able to attend the birthday dinner. Ahhhhh! "What?! The birthday dinner is now changed to Friday?!". Man, I must have aged 20 years from that one moment. So I made the call back to The Old Mills to try to get my original reservations back. I was now on the waiting list as the timeslots were filled. I was again stressed out! June must have seen it on my face as she kept asking me what was wrong. Of course I kept telling her that I was just tired and needed to sleep. After a couple of days, I finally received a call back that I was able to get a reservation for the night I wanted, but only a premium suite was available. I was totally fine with that. I was finally able to put it in cruise control.
On Friday December 5 th , I made the final preparations for the evening to follow. I took time away from work. My friend and co-worker Wesley was to cover for me if June asked where I was. The story was that I had a meeting at another location. I asked for early check-in and went to The Old Mills to set up the "Serendipity" scene. Chocolate covered strawberries and champagne was to be delivered to our suite just moments before our dinner and dancing session finished. All Systems Go!
We got off work together at 4:15pm. I told June that I was taking her out for our monthly anniversary, so that we had to go home first, shower and change into something nice. I think she had a feeling that something was up. Unphased, I continued with the plan. I did not tell her where we were going for dinner. During the trip, I took the scenic route to try to fool her just in case she figured out where we were going. Haha, turned out, it didn't work as she knew as soon as we were getting close. So we continued into the restaurant and began our dinner. We ordered the most expensive items on the menu as I had arranged for a flat rate full course meal. During and after dinner, we danced. We had a good time. When dinner was over, I told her that we would be heading off to another location. Of course, there was no fooling this girl. Right away, she knew that we were going to be staying the night at The Old Mills Inn.
We proceeded towards the top floor where our suite was. I opened the door, and June saw the rose petals. With me right behind her, she followed the pedals right up towards the bed. On the bed, there was a large wrapped box. When she opened the box, she found another box. Another... And yet another. When she opened the final box, she found a wooden jewelry box. When she opened it and saw that nothing was inside, she hesitated for a moment. I could see her nervously anticipating what would happen when she turned around. (Right on cue.) She turned around and I got down on my knees. With a tear rolling down my eye, I asked her to marry me. All the weight of the world that I was feeling all night, immediately came off my shoulders when she said "Of course I will!". It was a very emotional moment for the two of us. We gave each other a kiss and a long tight hug. I suddenly realized I had forgotten to place the ring on her fingers! Argh! Hey, you can't blame me.... I was really nervous. The room was silent once again as I finally placed the ring on her fingers.
We spent the rest of the night laughing, crying, and reminiscing our days together and taking photos to capture the evening. We stayed the night and had an English style breakfast by the garden before leaving that afternoon as an engaged couple.
