The Proposal

Shortly after my Memaw (Dad's mother) met Kristen, she pulled me aside at a family-get together at her house. I was totally caught off guard when she offered her mother's engagement ring to me. It was probably the most emotion I had ever seen her display. Needless to say, I was, and still am, very honored and moved that she wanted to pass such a treasured memento down to me. I told her that I wasn't quite ready to propose yet, but that I would let her know when I was.

That day came, and I embarked upon the journey of finding a setting that Kristen would like. This proved to be quite a journey. Kristen had showed me pictures of her friend's engagement rings, and expressed what she liked/disliked about them (I practically had to pry this information out of her), so I felt pretty confident that I knew what I was looking for. I went to a retail store and found a setting that fit my criteria, so I had the diamond set and I picked it up a few days later. I liked it, but I wasn't in love with it. I wanted it to be perfect, and I just didn't feel that it was. So, I took it back. A good friend of mine, Matt Gabet, was recently married, so I called him and asked for some advice. He referred me to the jeweler that did his wife's engagement ring and wedding band. I met with the jeweler and we started the design process. This mainly consisted of me emailing him a picture of a ring that I found on the internet, pointing out the characteristics that I liked, then emailing him a different ring with conflicting characteristics that I like. He was very patient with me. After a few weeks of this, we moved forward on a design.

I didn't expect the ring to be finished before Thanksgiving and Kristen was traveling to Wisconsin to spend the holiday with her extended family, so I was going to spend my time off from work crafting my proposal plan. Well, on the morning before Thanksgiving, I got a call at work from the designer. The ring was finished. I met him at a coffee shop that afternoon, and I finally had a setting that was perfect enough to go with my perfect diamond. I went back to work for a few hours, but I couldn't concentrate at all. My thoughts were consumed with the new possibilities that this situation presented. I could propose to her today! She would be able to surprise her whole family and show off her newfound jewelry! This is what girls dream of, right?! But wait...her brother and parents are going to be waiting for her at home. I wanted us to be alone. This won't work. I thought, Ok, I'll just plan this out while she's out of town.

I made the drive home from work with all these thoughts swirling around in my head. I gave myself a personal pep-talk. Don't act weird or she'll know something is up. When I pulled up to our house, her parent's car was not on the street or in the driveway. I thought, this is weird. I came inside and asked Kristen where Matt and her parents were. She said they went to the mall for a bit, and that they would be back in a little while. (Ok, Will. This is happening. It's go time buddy. Carpe Diem! Let's do this.) She asked me to unload some stuff from her car. I grabbed her stuff from her car and I grabbed the ring from my car. After I set down her stuff, I went into the bedroom, took out the jewelry box, and got down on my knee. "Kristen, can you come in here and look at this with me?", I asked. "One second", she said. She walked in, saw me on my knee with a jewelry box and deduced that I was proposing before I had the chance to say anything. Kristen covered her gaping mouth with both hands, and started saying, "Oh my God, Oh my God". Then, I asked her if she would be my wife, and she said, "Yes!". The rest is history. I am now a very lucky and extremely happy man. I can't wait to make it official on August 14th!