The Proposal Weekend

So now you know how Kelly and I met, got to know each other and how I decided to take the plunge and ask her to marry me. When we last left off, Kelly and I were heading up to Manitowoc, WI to catch a 12:30 AM ride on the S.S. Badger across Lake Michigan to Ludington. We arrived at the docks around 11:30 PM and boarded the ship shortly after.

Once on the ship we new we would be on board for about 4.5 hours so we wanted to balance some time to explore with actually getting some sleep. Fortunately we were able to snag one of the remaining state rooms to sleep in later on in the evening. Exploring the ship was fun. The ship was built in the 1950's and still had its old coal propulsion system which is now recognized as a national historic piece. The ship was older but had modern amenities with a movie room (showing Iron Man) and two TV lounges with satellite TV. There were decks you could sit out on as well, which in the middle of the night on the open lake it seemed like you could see every star in the sky! Shortly after the boat left port, we finished up our exploring and decided to hit the sack and after what seemed like a 10 minute nap we were roused from our sleep as we pulled into port in Ludington, MI around 5:30 AM Eastern time.

From here we picked up the Jeep and began driving north to Traverse City. After about an hour I realized that I was still very tired and knowing that we wouldn't be able to check into our B&B until the afternoon, we pulled off in a K-Mart parking lot and took about an hour long nap. From there we decided to detour through the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore to check out the sites.

We took in the sites, captured some pictures and visited the U.S. Life Saving museum. After a morning of that we decided to head over to Traverse City and grab some lunch. After lunch we were able to check into our B&B and after getting unloaded we took some much needed showers and nice nap before the evening festivities.

That evening I had booked us a sunset cruise and dinner on the tall ship Manitou on Grand Traverse Bay. I decided to surprise Kelly with this and didn't tell her what the plan was until we got there. Unknown to her, my plan was to propose on the ship, but as fate would have it I changed my plans shortly after I realized how many passengers would be on the ship. It wasn't super crowded, but definitely not the intimate atmosphere I had expected. So we enjoyed our cruise around the bay, had a nice picnic dinner, visited with other passengers and headed back to the B&B for the rest of the evening.

Once we returned to the B&B we went up to our room and watch the beginning of the Illini vs. Mizzou game and then decided to grab a glass of wine and enjoy the evening on the back deck. We had the whole deck to ourselves and all the yard lights were off so you could see all the stars. The B&B also had speakers on the deck playing some romantic music and that's when I decided to pop the question. I got down on one knee and could barely get the question out before Kelly said yes. :) She hadn't even seen the ring yet, which I guess is a good sign. :)

The next day we decided to head up the "Old Mission Peninsula" to see the lighthouse and to tour the wineries. After we visited the lighthouse we found a neat little old general store in the tiny town of Old Mission where we decided to grab lunch and I was able to try my first Pasty, an old Upper Peninsula treat.

From there we made our way through each of the 7 wineries along the peninsula and finished the tour with a case of wines from each of the wineries we visited. Later that night we had a delicious dinner at the Boat House in Brower's Harbor on Old Mission Peninsula. We were able to get a lovely seat with a view so we could watch the sunset over Grand Traverse Bay.

The next day we packed up and drove down to Kelly's parents' house near Grand Rapids, MI and had a cook out with them, her sister (Mindy), brother-in-law (Ron) and niece (Lucy). After that we made the final trek back to Evanston.

The Relationship, The Decision and the Plan...

Now that Kelly has broke the news and supplied a link to the pictures from our "engagement weekend" I thought I would do my part and chime in our on our new joint blog. I thought it would be good to start to summarize my perspective on our the development of our relationship and the steps I took to prepare for the proposal.

Kelly and I had been dating for over a year and half. During this time I have gotten to know what a a beautiful person she is inside and out. She has a curious spirit, a quick wit and a love of the outdoors that I was drawn to right away. The funny thing was that just before our first date I had told a friend that I hoped that we wouldn't hit it off because we lived so far apart! :) We met through eHarmony (no we do not plan to make a commercial), :) and began communicating via email and phone calls fairly quickly. Those went so well that I had to meet this girl, even with the extended distance between us. After talking to my friend I made the hour long trek from Evanston to Lisle for our first date, and wouldn't you know it, we hit it off right away! From there one great date lead to another, and she was even patient with my work situation disrupting our time together. After a few months we made the decision to move in together in Evanston. We spent the next year really getting to know each other, cute habits to semi annoying quirks, but all along growing together. We celebrated good times together and helped each other through low times. We met each other's families and instantly clicked with both sides. This continued until going into this summer I realized I couldn't live without this woman and began taking the steps to pop the big question.

In July, I "snuck" out of the house on a Saturday afternoon, telling Kelly that I was going for a walk to "clear my head" and walked directly to a local jeweler a few blocks away. His name is Christopher Duquet and he was awesome to work with. I sat down with him and discussed some ideas I had based on some comments Kelly had made on what she liked in a ring and an hour later we had a design drawn out on paper. He did not have the diamonds that we would be working with on site so I made plans to come back a few days later to pick out the main stone for the ring. I left work a few hours early that day so I could stop by his store without Kelly knowing. We looked at several stones and I finally decided on the one that I felt would look best. From there he input the design information into a computer and a few days later he sent me pictures of what the ring would look like. From there he created a wax model of the ring so I could see it to scale and I again took off work a few hours early to look at the model. Once I saw the model I knew we were ready to create the final product so I gave him the go ahead and waited patiently.

During the ring design and creation process I started making plans for how, when and where I would pop the question. I wanted it to be something fun and unique for both of us that incorporated some of the things we both loved to do together. We had both always talked about how fun it would be to take one of the Carferries across Lake Michigan to Michigan. Since I knew our destination would be Michigan I started looking at the best place to spend the Labor Day weekend. Knowing that Kelly had never been to Traverse City on Grand Traverse Bay I decided this would be a great locale. It had a great mix of outdoor activities, romantic get aways and wineries. The latter we both had been wanting to tour for some time. I began researching the area to find the best place to stay. I looked at dozens and dozens of hotels, resorts and bed and breakfasts. I decided that a B&B would be best due to its intimacy. I settled on the Country Hermitage nestled in a cherry orchard just outside of Traverse City.

With the plans booked I picked up the ring a week and half before our trip and hid it away where I knew she would not find it. Finally Friday came and we packed up the Jeep and made our way north. Stay tuned for what happened next! :)

Engagement Weekend Photos

Heath had the day off work (lucky!) so he uploaded all the pictures from last weekend onto his (our?) smugmug site. Detailed story to come soon!

Pictures