The Proposal
So as most of you are aware, I am now engaged. I’ve made the leap. It wasn’t too hard of a choice as Brittany Pierce is pretty much the most beautiful, talented, intelligent women I know, and I love her with everything I am.
A number of you have asked, “OMG! How’d you do it!? Tell me everything!!!” So I will do just that. And then you all can read all the gory details over and over if you so choose.
THE SET UP:
To begin I must express Brittany’s absolute love of all things Harry Potter. Some of you might not be able to fully understand this. She REALLY loves Harry Potter. A lot. Once you imagine how much she loves Harry Potter and then multiply that by 10, you’ll get the picture.
Brittany’s birthday was on Wednesday Oct 24th. A couple weeks before, I casually said, “Hey, we should do something for your birthday?” she replied, “like what?” I nonchalantly returned, “I don’t know. How about a picnic in Raleigh? I haven’t really thought about it.” Unbeknownst to her, I had indeed thought about it a great deal and in fact had already picked out a location, purchased the presents, and put a down payment on the ring. On the days leading up to her birthday, I continued to send her ring ideas on Etsy, things I knew she’d find interesting but not really like a lot.
The location I chose was Gimghoul Castle in Chapel Hill. I chose this location because it was a freaking castle; not really medieval but as close as I could get within a two hour drive. I wanted it to feel magical, Harry Potter magical. The way the castle is situated, I couldn’t really find an easy way to fulfill my plan. There was a gravel circle infront of the castle, but it was also used as the castle’s driveway and the last thing I wanted was to get towed while proposing. So I called in support. My friends Ryan and Dorothy gladly offered to help in my plan.
THE PLAN:
On the day of the proposal, Brittany’s birthday, she was originally suppose to get off of work, but couldn’t at the last minute. This turned out to be a good thing as I didn’t receive the ring from the jeweler until 1:30 PM. She got off of work at 2. Needless to say, I was freaking out for the majority of the day. After finally getting the ring, I picked her up and we set off to Raleigh. We were planning on going to this nice restaurant that I know she likes a lot, David’s Dumplings, but unfortunately it didn’t open until 5 and it was only 4:30. As we didn’t feel like waiting we decided to just find a Thai place close to the castle. At this point, all Brittany knew was that we were going to have a picnic at a castle, for her birthday. We got the food and headed over to the castle. After parking, we walked down the path that you can see in the picture above to the stone circle bench.
Now, Gimghoul castle is on private property and has many signs all over the place. Fortunately, the land is clearly marked and that path is right outside of it, as is the stone circle bench. You can see to the left of the stone circle bench another path. That path is a public park hiking path and the bench, which has a plaque on it, is on the path, making it public property and OK for us to use.
I still didn’t want to just leave my car on the drive, as I wasn’t sure if it’d get towed or not, so after Brittany and I walked to the stone circle bench, Ryan and Dorothy were supposed come and get my car and move it to the bottom of the hill (which is off to the left of the proposal spot). It was a long hike up the hill and I didn’t want to make Brittany go through all that. Especially since I was planning to go back to the car to get the big present.
THE PROPOSAL:
Once we got to the stone circle bench and sat down, I told her to go ahead and open her present. It was a blu-ray player. She fussed at me for spending too much and I laughed and told her it really wasn’t much at all. I then said, “Hold on a sec. I forgot something at the car.” and left her looking through the blu-ray manual while I walked back to the car to get her real present. There, I met up with Ryan and Dorothy who were just then walking up to the car. I gave them my keys and picked up the very large box that held the present. I walked back and Brittany saw me coming around the corner with this huge box. She laughed and asked what the heck was i doing. I set it down and she opened it to find:
The Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection blue-ray box set.
This thing is HUGE and has all sorts of fun things in it. So I then took it out for her (as it’s quite heavy) and set it down, opening it and telling her to look around and explore. She dug in, opening all the drawers and looking at the different things inside.
As she did this, I got down on one knee. She turned around to see what I was doing and found me kneeling with the ring in my hand. She put her hands to her face, smiling the biggest smile ever, unable to say anything. I then said, my hands shaking and my eyes watering,
“Brittany Pierce, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
Only a few seconds later she breathlessly says yes.After a minute or two, she asked if I was going to put it on. I laughed and then put it on, freaking out for a second, not knowing which finger it was suppose to go on.
After this, we called Ryan and Dorothy up and we all took pictures and celebrated, calling our parents and such.
I hope this fulfills all your girlish curiosity. And thank you all for all your congratulations!
