I'm engaged to the most beautiful girl in the world!

Holly and I are getting married. We got engaged on Saturday January 10th, 2009 and instead of telling the story again and again, I thought I’d post it on my blog for people to read. My American family, our friends who aren’t in earshot and people who want to check it out for themselves – this is for you…

It’s been our plan for about 6 months that we would tie the knot this year, but we didn’t really tell anyone even after we’d set the date because it wasn’t official. Now that Holly is wearing the ring it’s all good, so go tell everyone. Haha.

Holly and I have been doing this thing called ‘alphabet dating’ for a while now. Each week one of us takes the other on a date beginning with a letter of the alphabet, we go through from A to Z. This week it was Holly’s turn, so really she planned the proposal without even realizing it.

We had gone ring shopping just after Christmas and picked out the one we liked. I didn’t want to blow it and pick something lame and since we’d already established we were going to get married, it worked out sweet to go in together, pick it out together and have it sent away to be resized. Then the ball was in my court to pick it up and pop the question.

I picked the ring up on the Friday knowing that I was going to ask her on Saturday. I had a back up plan, but I was really relying on Holly taking us on a long walk on the beach or something and stopping somewhere romantic. I was quizzing her about our ‘L’ date on Friday night just to get a feel for whether or not I could rely on her to organize the perfect proposal scenario. She told me we were going to drive to Taylors Mistake and take a walk around Godley Head to Boulder Bay where we were going to have a picnic lunch. Perfect.

The night before she thought something was up by how funny I was acting… but I just did the whole, “Stop it. I’m not hiding anything. I haven’t even been to the jeweler I haven’t had any time! If they haven’t called tomorrow we’ll go get it after our date ok.” She didn’t buy it but she thought I was getting really pissed off so she dropped it. Later she said she stopped thinking about it because she thought I was getting really mad and it probably wasn’t going to happen as soon as that anyway. Plus she was worrying they were having problems resizing the ring as the jeweler hadn’t called.

Saturday came along and I went to Holly’s house via a florist so I could pick up a single red rose and hide it, with the ring, in my bag. I was wondering how I could bring my bag without it being obvious I was hiding something. Fortunately Holly asked me if I had my bag so we could put our picnic lunch in it. I was stoked. I packed our sammies and drinks in it and kept it close by at all times. We drove to Taylors Mistake and went for our walk. We had lunch down by the ocean which was so beautiful, it was meant to be raining but the weather was so sweet, thank you Jesus!

We ate our lunch and just as we finished I gave Holly something beginning with L for our ‘L’ date – a “Love Letter” containing a “Love List”, which was a list of things I love about her. At the end of it I had the scripture we both love and have talked about heaps since we’ve been together. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

“ 9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”

Then under this it said, ‘Now look at me’ and at that point I was down on one knee, I had a red rose in my hand which I gave her and then I proceeded to tell her how much I love her and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her and then I said the line, “Will you marry me?” and she said “Yes!”

So, being very careful not to drop the ring in the ocean, I put it on her finger. We had a kiss and a hug and just enjoyed the moment before heading off. We wandered back to the car and then drove to a café where some of our good friends were waiting for us. All in all it was an awesome day! Many thanks to our friends and family who have been so supportive and shared in our joy. Now we’re in planning mode and we’re looking forward to the big day, April 11th.

Yeya!