Will You Marry Me?
For the past few months, I've been taking Lisa ring shopping and secretly taking notes for what she liked as it was coming to that time in our relationship where our families and friends were often asking when we would be getting married. Only picking her brain a little at a time during each shopping trip, I wanted to make sure I had enough information to find a ring that she would be happy with. Knowing the general carat size, her ring size, the type and color of the mounted band and the cut of the diamond she liked, I finally decided to take some time over the holiday break to go shopping.
It all happened almost too quick as I used a reference from a friend and went into the city to visit Lisa for lunch one day. Before lunch I stopped off to the diamond seller's office in a random small building on 46th near 5th ave. It only took about 30 minutes but he had helped me look through a few stones he had and I had found the one I liked. He had actually forgotten the band that he wanted to show me so he escorted me to a local ring setting store that does all sorts of custom mounts. We went through platinum and white gold as I knew Lisa wanted a silver band rather than gold colored. I ended up with an 18kt white gold mount with a cradle at the bottom and a simple 4 prongs to keep the stone in place. He said it would only be a few days and the ring would be mounted, polished and ready to take home. I calmly said, no rush, because I knew once I had the ring, I wouldn't be able to keep it to myself without giving it to Lisa.
The New year weekend came and went and it was back to work. I had reached out to the seller and it wasn't quite ready yet until today. I wouldn't have time to visit his office in the city so he was gracious enough to let me visit him at home in Great Neck. Conveniently it was on the way home from work so I told Lisa I was working late and would meet up with her in a bit. I had been speaking with some friends and coworkers on how they proposed, and romantic things that Lisa might like but everything just felt corny or forced.
The only original plan I came up with was to take Lisa out to Union Square where we had met on our first date and do things we had done on that date. Thinking about it, it would be a little too obvious as we rarely go to Union Square except during the summer so I can feed and photograph the squirrels! Another idea would be that I'm usually in charge of walking Lisa's dog Li-her so I might hang the ring on her collar so Lisa could see it... but I was afraid the dog might run off or accidentally try to eat it.
After picking up the ring from the diamond guy's house, I was already running late for dinner with Lisa and her friends. I parked in the Flushing municipal parking and was torn on if I should leave the ring in my backpack in the car or take it with me. Deciding not to leave it in the car, I stuffed the giant ring box into my coat pocket trying desperately to make it look more inconspicuous as it bulged in my inside chest pocket.
All these thoughts were running through my head for the past week trying to come up with the best proposal plan as I sat at dinner with Lisa and some of her very close friends. Some were visiting from China that we hadn't seen in over a year, and others were preparing to leave for China for an extended period of time so it felt like a perfect time as it may be another year we would see them all again. During most of the dinner that lasted from 8 to 11pm, I couldn't really follow the conversations as they all spoke in chinese with different accents so it gave me a lot of time to think on my own what I wanted to do.
Apparently before I had gotten to the restaurant, Lisa's friends were asking about when we would be getting married and when I arrived, the question was asked again. I responded with my typical "we'll see..." and conversations continued on. Trying to think on my feet, I thought I'd try to keep feeding Lisa tea to make her go to the bathroom so I could surprise her with the ring on the table when she got back... but the plan did not work as she didn't need to go :( Instead as we were getting the check and everyone was getting out money to pay, I found it a perfect distraction to reach into my coat and put the ring on the table.
She stared at it with a puzzled look. All she could say was what's that? and Are you serious? She continued to stare at me until she opened it and continued to ask if I was serious or not. With a nod, she showed it to her friend next to her who was just as puzzled as she was. I took the ring and squirmed to make room to get down on my knee. Her friends all realized what was happening and demanded I wait as phones and cameras came flying out of pockets. I had hoped to get a professional photographer for the moment but I felt being more spontanuous would be more fun for Lisa and I was glad to hear she was completed shocked and happy.
It happened to be the smallest private back room in a restaurant we had oddly enough visited a few times only with this group of friends. Chairs lined the empty space in the room but I managed to squeeze between the table and chairs to formally ask Lisa to marry me. She said yes and I was happy to see the ring fit perfectly :D
Everyone was super happy and honored to be at the proposal as they had never actually witnessed a proposal take place in front of them, let alone in a back room of a restaurant after finishing dinner. They questioned if I was nervous the whole dinner since I didn't speak much but really I just had no idea what they were talking about!
I couldn't be happier to have met the most perfect and beautiful young lady whom I hope to grow old with and live the rest of my life with.
Pictures of the Ring: 1.50 carats, Emerald Cut, G color, SI1, GIA Certified
http://www.kevinisaninja.com/pics/gallery/2011/EngagementRing/index.htm
It all happened almost too quick as I used a reference from a friend and went into the city to visit Lisa for lunch one day. Before lunch I stopped off to the diamond seller's office in a random small building on 46th near 5th ave. It only took about 30 minutes but he had helped me look through a few stones he had and I had found the one I liked. He had actually forgotten the band that he wanted to show me so he escorted me to a local ring setting store that does all sorts of custom mounts. We went through platinum and white gold as I knew Lisa wanted a silver band rather than gold colored. I ended up with an 18kt white gold mount with a cradle at the bottom and a simple 4 prongs to keep the stone in place. He said it would only be a few days and the ring would be mounted, polished and ready to take home. I calmly said, no rush, because I knew once I had the ring, I wouldn't be able to keep it to myself without giving it to Lisa.
The New year weekend came and went and it was back to work. I had reached out to the seller and it wasn't quite ready yet until today. I wouldn't have time to visit his office in the city so he was gracious enough to let me visit him at home in Great Neck. Conveniently it was on the way home from work so I told Lisa I was working late and would meet up with her in a bit. I had been speaking with some friends and coworkers on how they proposed, and romantic things that Lisa might like but everything just felt corny or forced.
The only original plan I came up with was to take Lisa out to Union Square where we had met on our first date and do things we had done on that date. Thinking about it, it would be a little too obvious as we rarely go to Union Square except during the summer so I can feed and photograph the squirrels! Another idea would be that I'm usually in charge of walking Lisa's dog Li-her so I might hang the ring on her collar so Lisa could see it... but I was afraid the dog might run off or accidentally try to eat it.
After picking up the ring from the diamond guy's house, I was already running late for dinner with Lisa and her friends. I parked in the Flushing municipal parking and was torn on if I should leave the ring in my backpack in the car or take it with me. Deciding not to leave it in the car, I stuffed the giant ring box into my coat pocket trying desperately to make it look more inconspicuous as it bulged in my inside chest pocket.
All these thoughts were running through my head for the past week trying to come up with the best proposal plan as I sat at dinner with Lisa and some of her very close friends. Some were visiting from China that we hadn't seen in over a year, and others were preparing to leave for China for an extended period of time so it felt like a perfect time as it may be another year we would see them all again. During most of the dinner that lasted from 8 to 11pm, I couldn't really follow the conversations as they all spoke in chinese with different accents so it gave me a lot of time to think on my own what I wanted to do.
Apparently before I had gotten to the restaurant, Lisa's friends were asking about when we would be getting married and when I arrived, the question was asked again. I responded with my typical "we'll see..." and conversations continued on. Trying to think on my feet, I thought I'd try to keep feeding Lisa tea to make her go to the bathroom so I could surprise her with the ring on the table when she got back... but the plan did not work as she didn't need to go :( Instead as we were getting the check and everyone was getting out money to pay, I found it a perfect distraction to reach into my coat and put the ring on the table.
She stared at it with a puzzled look. All she could say was what's that? and Are you serious? She continued to stare at me until she opened it and continued to ask if I was serious or not. With a nod, she showed it to her friend next to her who was just as puzzled as she was. I took the ring and squirmed to make room to get down on my knee. Her friends all realized what was happening and demanded I wait as phones and cameras came flying out of pockets. I had hoped to get a professional photographer for the moment but I felt being more spontanuous would be more fun for Lisa and I was glad to hear she was completed shocked and happy.
It happened to be the smallest private back room in a restaurant we had oddly enough visited a few times only with this group of friends. Chairs lined the empty space in the room but I managed to squeeze between the table and chairs to formally ask Lisa to marry me. She said yes and I was happy to see the ring fit perfectly :D
Everyone was super happy and honored to be at the proposal as they had never actually witnessed a proposal take place in front of them, let alone in a back room of a restaurant after finishing dinner. They questioned if I was nervous the whole dinner since I didn't speak much but really I just had no idea what they were talking about!
I couldn't be happier to have met the most perfect and beautiful young lady whom I hope to grow old with and live the rest of my life with.
Pictures of the Ring: 1.50 carats, Emerald Cut, G color, SI1, GIA Certified
http://www.kevinisaninja.com/pics/gallery/2011/EngagementRing/index.htm
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