The proposal...
He popped the question and she said YES! How you say? (click here to see photos!)
HIS versionMichelle is incredibly perceptive, and I wanted the proposal to be a surprise. My plan was to propose to her at the Berkeley Botanical Gardens, where we had our first date. I knew she would be suspicious if I suggested an outing to the Gardens, so I had our friends, Eugene and Tiffany, propose a visit to Berkeley and the Botanical Gardens to our group of friends. Since a lot of our friends went to UC Berkeley, it seemed like a normal outing...though Michelle was surprised that 15 of our friends would want to go to the Botanical Gardens.
In the weeks leading up to the proposal I was paranoid! I did everything I could to make sure Michelle wouldn't accidentally find out about the proposal. I planned while I was at work to make sure Michelle wouldn't find out.. I only told a few of our friends/accomplices about it to decrease the chances of someone letting it slip. I coordinated with everyone over the phone so there would be no emails Michelle might accidentally see. I assigned two of our friends the task of keeping Michelle away from me on the day of the proposal so she wouldn't see how nervous I was. With all this careful planning, I hoped that Michelle wouldn't catch on. Finally it was the day of the proposal, and it felt like everything was going wrong. It turns out that the day I picked for the proposal was Graduation Day for the students at UC Berkeley, so parking was challenging. When we got to the Botanical Gardens, we found out that someone was going to have their wedding ceremony there, so we could barely find parking. Since we had 15 people, it took a long time to get everyone into the Botanical Gardens. Meanwhile, I was just getting more and more nervous! We finally arrived at the Garden of Old Roses, which had a beautiful archway that seemed like the perfect place for a proposal. But when Michelle and I finally got into position, all of our friends were standing super close to us and staring at us expectantly. This was not the semi-private proposal I wanted, and the situation was way too nerve wracking. I secretly made a signal to call off the proposal. Now I was in full-blown panic mode. I felt like I just lost my opportunity to propose in the best location possible. Since I didn't tell everyone about the proposal, a lot of our friends were suspicious that something was going on. I didn't know if we'd find another suitable place, and I was scared Michelle would notice the engagement ring box bulging in my pocket. Finally we turned a corner and saw an open grassy area with a small bridge over a creek. This was the spot! My accomplices herded my other friends away to give me some space, and the photographers got in position. All of a sudden, I realized it was time! I had practiced my proposal speech for weeks. I knew it inside and out, and I was confident that I would be able to deliver it without a problem. Not the case. I did get the first line right ("The sky!"), and then I promptly forgot everything else I had so carefully planned. I repeated the first line a few more times, trying to stall until I remembered the rest. Michelle looked at me questioningly. Finally I remembered the next line and stumbled through the rest of the speech. Halfway through, Michelle realized what was going on. I could see the emotions transition on her face...puzzlement, then realization, then disbelief, then joy. From the corner of my eye, I could see our friends creeping closer and closer to get a better look. Finally I reached the end of the speech. I got down on one knee and proposed. She cried, she was surprised, and best of all, she said yes! |
HER versionI was invited to go to the Berkeley Botanical Gardens by Eugene & Tiffany, but I wasn't feeling very garden-y so I asked Aaron if he wanted to go hiking instead (what a great start!)
One of my best friends flew up that weekend to visit and convinced me to go since she hadn't been back to Berkeley in a long time. The night before, we were asked to dress up for photos. My reaction: "....why in the world would we wear fancy clothes/shoes for a trek through rugged, uneven dirt paths in a garden?" Little did I know! (I had absolutely no idea Aaron had done all that careful planning!!!) On the day of the event, so many strange things happened that should have made me very, very suspicious. Thanks to my very strange friends, I shrugged most of them off.
We eventually got to a clearing with a beautiful bridge and pond and our friends sat down on the grass a little distance away. A couple friends were taking pictures of us and suddenly Aaron grabbed my hand and pulled me to one end of the bridge. He then pointed to the sky and said "the SKY! Michelle, look the SKY!" (there's a story behind this...ask if you're interested!) All I could think of was "....what about the sky? There's nothing there!" Aaron then continued to say lots of incoherent things. I heard something like "I had a whole speech planned, but I don't remember anything!" repeated a couple times. Putting that and Aaron's insane nervousness together, I finally realized what was happening! I was in disbelief and before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face (if you don't know me, this is SUPER rare). At one point, I remember saying "THAT's why everyone is here!!!" At the end of Aaron's speech, which started off shaky but ended perfectly, he got on one knee and needless to say, I said "YES!" (I naively thought I was going to be all cool and give him a hard time by saying "hmm....I'll think about it"). |