How Sean proposed to Lily
Friday, June 04, 2004
Sean read once that every girl, since they were like 7 years old, dreams about the day someone will ask them to marry them. It's up there with wanting a pony and wishing they were a princess. :) Sean didn't want to spoil that for Lily; he wanted it to be everything she'd ever hoped.
Duping her
So for the months preceding the proposal, Sean had lead Lily to believe that he had not started thinking about "the ring" yet, or anything like that. Sean wanted to do it on his own; There would be none of this modern shopping-for-rings-together, no talking about when he'd propose (or how). None-of-that.
The set up
Lily had been mentioning for a few months that she wanted to spend a weekend at a Bed & Breakfast somewhere in the hill country. Sean continued to pass it off non-challantly as "a neat idea". Of course, all the while, he had already made reservations for a private cottage in the Texas hill country and a cozy five-course gourmet dinner.
Getting the ring
It's a good thing that Lily is such a deep sleeper -- Sean measured her finger in her sleep to get the ring size! And after he knew what kind of ring he wanted, he concocted another scheme: Since he and Lily were spending a weekend in New York, he had his friends distract her for an afternoon while he ran off to the diamond district and ordered the "moichendice".
Planting ideas
Sean started casually bringing up the idea of going to a Bed & Breakfast. "Want to try someplace new? Hmm, I'll have to ask the guys at work if they know anyplace nice." Later, we "stumbled" onto a B&B book in a bookstore that suggested a cute town. "Hm, maybe we could do a place like that..."
Asking Dad
Two weeks before "the big day", Sean called Lily's father and asked if he could have his permission to marry her. What Sean had forgotten was that it is traditional in Chinese families for everyone in the family to make that decision together. So Lily's father told Sean that even though he likes him, and that he can tell Lily and he are very happy, he cannot make that decision on his own. He first wants to talk with Lily's mom, her brother, and with Lily about it, to see how everyone feels. SO NOW SEAN HAD TO WAIT. This was very nerve-racking for Sean!
Dad asking Lily
Over the next few weeks, Lily's parents called occasionally to ask her how she feels about Sean and about marriage. (Sean, meanwhile, was having nervous panic attacks). :) But for Lily, this was out-of-the-blue!! So when she'd speak to her parents, she would think, "Hey, my Mom & Dad are asking if I'd like to get married, but I don't want to get them all excited that it's happening soon, because I don't know when Sean's going to propose." So she would tell them things like "yeah, we talk about it..." ...and... "well, it's not coming right away..." ... etc. She doesn't want to effectively DO the proposing by telling her parents that "it's a done deal."
Asking Dad again...
Weeks had passed and Lily still hadn't given her parents a good clear idea. And "the big day" was getting closer. A few days beforehand, Sean called Lily's father again, to get the final verdict. His answer was ... that it seemed like Lily was not ready to get married, and that they should wait a few months to see how she felt by then.
xxx Thundercloud xxx
Sean was not feeling well at that point. He decided that all this sneaky not-telling-Lily stuff was just getting silly... the whole point was to surprise her and be romantic, not to lie and be sneaky and manipulative. Yes, it would spoil the proposal, but it had to be this way. (Dr. Frankenstein said it best: "It wasn't supposed to BE this way...") Sean got off the phone with Lily's father and immediately sat down with Lily. He said "So, um, er, you know how your parents have been hassling you so much about getting married lately? " (Lily looking really confused) "... it's because I've been talking with them about it." (Her eyes bugged out at that one!)
Asking Dad ... um, again...
After Sean filled Lily in about how he had asked her father for permission, she said "Ok, that settles it -- I have to call my dad and straighten this all out!!!" So she called her parents and after about 30 seconds of explaining, her dad was totally cool with everything... she passed Sean the phone and her dad gave Sean his blessing. WHEW! Of course, after an evening like that, Sean was not well. (He was actually feeling nauseous!)
Sean was confident that the whole surprise-proposal was ruined.
The special day
A week before, Sean and Lily decided they'd go "hit a Bed and Breakfast" the following weekend. The day before, Sean casually mentioned "oh, I picked some place and made reservations ... I forget the name." :) He said he just didn't want to end up getting into town only to find every place was already booked.
On Friday, June 04 2004, Sean and Lily drove out to the country and arrived at the Bed and Breakfast. They went up to their private cottage at the top of a hill on 22 secluded acres of rolling hills, and much to Lily's surprise, there were a dozen roses, champagne, candles, and a basket with wine and cheeses waiting for her! She was still in the dark -- her thought was "Wow, Sean wanted to make my first Bed and Breakfast experience special!" After the staff brought dessert wine and cake to their cottage, Sean and Lily sat out on the deck watching the sun go down.
They hugged at the beautiful sunset and talked about how happy they are, and how wonderful it will be to spend their lives with each other. They joked about how they've been planning their lives backwards ... how they've talked about having children, buying a home, and even planning their honeymoon. Sean joked and said "We should start doing things in order." Lily agreed.
So with the sun setting over the hills behind him, Sean knelt down, produced the ring, and asked Lily to marry him.
She was actually surprised!!
Duping her
So for the months preceding the proposal, Sean had lead Lily to believe that he had not started thinking about "the ring" yet, or anything like that. Sean wanted to do it on his own; There would be none of this modern shopping-for-rings-together, no talking about when he'd propose (or how). None-of-that.
The set up
Lily had been mentioning for a few months that she wanted to spend a weekend at a Bed & Breakfast somewhere in the hill country. Sean continued to pass it off non-challantly as "a neat idea". Of course, all the while, he had already made reservations for a private cottage in the Texas hill country and a cozy five-course gourmet dinner.
Getting the ring
It's a good thing that Lily is such a deep sleeper -- Sean measured her finger in her sleep to get the ring size! And after he knew what kind of ring he wanted, he concocted another scheme: Since he and Lily were spending a weekend in New York, he had his friends distract her for an afternoon while he ran off to the diamond district and ordered the "moichendice".
Planting ideas
Sean started casually bringing up the idea of going to a Bed & Breakfast. "Want to try someplace new? Hmm, I'll have to ask the guys at work if they know anyplace nice." Later, we "stumbled" onto a B&B book in a bookstore that suggested a cute town. "Hm, maybe we could do a place like that..."
Asking Dad
Two weeks before "the big day", Sean called Lily's father and asked if he could have his permission to marry her. What Sean had forgotten was that it is traditional in Chinese families for everyone in the family to make that decision together. So Lily's father told Sean that even though he likes him, and that he can tell Lily and he are very happy, he cannot make that decision on his own. He first wants to talk with Lily's mom, her brother, and with Lily about it, to see how everyone feels. SO NOW SEAN HAD TO WAIT. This was very nerve-racking for Sean!
Dad asking Lily
Over the next few weeks, Lily's parents called occasionally to ask her how she feels about Sean and about marriage. (Sean, meanwhile, was having nervous panic attacks). :) But for Lily, this was out-of-the-blue!! So when she'd speak to her parents, she would think, "Hey, my Mom & Dad are asking if I'd like to get married, but I don't want to get them all excited that it's happening soon, because I don't know when Sean's going to propose." So she would tell them things like "yeah, we talk about it..." ...and... "well, it's not coming right away..." ... etc. She doesn't want to effectively DO the proposing by telling her parents that "it's a done deal."
Asking Dad again...
Weeks had passed and Lily still hadn't given her parents a good clear idea. And "the big day" was getting closer. A few days beforehand, Sean called Lily's father again, to get the final verdict. His answer was
xxx Thundercloud xxx
Sean was not feeling well at that point. He decided that all this sneaky not-telling-Lily stuff was just getting silly... the whole point was to surprise her and be romantic, not to lie and be sneaky and manipulative. Yes, it would spoil the proposal, but it had to be this way. (Dr. Frankenstein said it best: "It wasn't supposed to BE this way...") Sean got off the phone with Lily's father and immediately sat down with Lily. He said "So, um, er, you know how your parents have been hassling you so much about getting married lately? " (Lily looking really confused) "... it's because I've been talking with them about it." (Her eyes bugged out at that one!)
Asking Dad ... um, again...
After Sean filled Lily in about how he had asked her father for permission, she said "Ok, that settles it -- I have to call my dad and straighten this all out!!!" So she called her parents and after about 30 seconds of explaining, her dad was totally cool with everything... she passed Sean the phone and her dad gave Sean his blessing. WHEW! Of course, after an evening like that, Sean was not well. (He was actually feeling nauseous!)
Sean was confident that the whole surprise-proposal was ruined.
The special day
A week before, Sean and Lily decided they'd go "hit a Bed and Breakfast" the following weekend. The day before, Sean casually mentioned "oh, I picked some place and made reservations ... I forget the name." :) He said he just didn't want to end up getting into town only to find every place was already booked.
On Friday, June 04 2004, Sean and Lily drove out to the country and arrived at the Bed and Breakfast. They went up to their private cottage at the top of a hill on 22 secluded acres of rolling hills, and much to Lily's surprise, there were a dozen roses, champagne, candles, and a basket with wine and cheeses waiting for her! She was still in the dark -- her thought was "Wow, Sean wanted to make my first Bed and Breakfast experience special!" After the staff brought dessert wine and cake to their cottage, Sean and Lily sat out on the deck watching the sun go down.
They hugged at the beautiful sunset and talked about how happy they are, and how wonderful it will be to spend their lives with each other. They joked about how they've been planning their lives backwards ... how they've talked about having children, buying a home, and even planning their honeymoon. Sean joked and said "We should start doing things in order." Lily agreed.
So with the sun setting over the hills behind him, Sean knelt down, produced the ring, and asked Lily to marry him.
She was actually surprised!!
1 comments
4:53 PM
To elaborate (because I think this part is hysterical)... Sean wanted everything to be a surprise, so he never let on that he was ring shopping. Everyone asks, “How did he know your ring size?”
Sean’s first attempt was to casually ask me if I had a jewelry box. I was like “Yep – in the drawer by the sink.” I think Sean was expecting this big ol chunk of wood thing, but I had a small glass thing with no ring (I’m a accessory-free girl. Makes getting ready in the morning a whole lot faster when I don’t have to worry about jewelry coordination =) This attempt was a no-go.
Then Sean attempted to measure my ring size with a rubber band when I was asleep (I’m a deep sleeper). According to him, it was difficult (being that the rubber band stretches and all).
So for the last try, Sean seeked helps from the professionals. He created an account with Blue Nile and got a free ring size kit. So on another night when I was deep in slumber again, he measured with the professional ring sizer.
There you go – third times the charm! =)
Sean’s first attempt was to casually ask me if I had a jewelry box. I was like “Yep – in the drawer by the sink.” I think Sean was expecting this big ol chunk of wood thing, but I had a small glass thing with no ring (I’m a accessory-free girl. Makes getting ready in the morning a whole lot faster when I don’t have to worry about jewelry coordination =) This attempt was a no-go.
Then Sean attempted to measure my ring size with a rubber band when I was asleep (I’m a deep sleeper). According to him, it was difficult (being that the rubber band stretches and all).
So for the last try, Sean seeked helps from the professionals. He created an account with Blue Nile and got a free ring size kit. So on another night when I was deep in slumber again, he measured with the professional ring sizer.
There you go – third times the charm! =)
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