The Proposal Story

Link to sneak preview of the proposal!

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost one week since I proposed to Iris!  Since many of you probably want to know (or have already asked), I figured it'd be best to write the story of the proposal on my blog.  Also I think it'll be nice to have both Iris' and my perspective on the proposal, so this first part will be the proposal from my perspective and the second part will be from Iris'.  Enjoy!

Iris and I had been talking about marriage since Fall of the 2011-2012 school year.  During our discussions, we found that we needed to make sure everything was okay with her parents before we could go ahead with proposing or planning the wedding.  We also had to work through a lot of things ourselves and talk about what it would mean for us to get married and when would be the best timing.  Eventually, everyone in my family and hers was on board with us getting married, and we felt like we were ready as well!  This was around the end of the school year, so maybe around March/April 2012.

Iris' parents then came to visit in April when they went to see Caleb in Indiana.  They decided that they wanted to talk to me first about getting married and also give me their blessing.  We met at Momo Tea and talked (just the three of us) before Iris met with us and we went out to dinner.  During the talk, her mom asked me a lot of questions about why I wanted to marry Iris and her dad gave me a lot of good advice about marriage and things to think about and be careful of.  It was a really good conversation and her parents assured me that they were completely on board with us getting married.  They only had one request; Iris' mom wanted someone to take pictures of the proposal to have as a keepsake.

So this got me thinking; how am I supposed to get someone to take pictures of the proposal?  The obvious answer was to have a friend take pictures of a proposal in Ann Arbor.  I thought about the Law Quad as a potential option, but I didn't really have much time before the school year ended and most people went home for the summer.  I also thought about Chapter Focus Week, somewhere with nice scenery at Cedar Campus, but it turned out that I didn't have enough money to buy the ring (at least the ring I wanted to get)...
(Quick aside: since Iris and I had already decided we were going to get married, we already talked about rings and even went to look at some rings at the mall in AA to figure out what style she liked.  It was also how I was able to get her ring size, since I just directly got her ring sized by using these plastic ring sizers from Blue Nile.  Blue Nile was also eventually where I bought the ring from. But just in case anyone was wondering how I knew her ring size.)

Because of the money issue, I knew I had to wait to propose, which left me two options.  First, I could propose when Iris came to visit me in California.  Second, I could propose when I went to visit Iris in NJ.  I got around to looking online for proposal photographers in California and stumbled upon a website called The Yes Girls.  I found out that there were these people who could coordinate a proposal for you as well as hire a photographer to take pictures of the proposal.  It turned out to be a reasonable price, so I decided that I would go ahead with this option and plan to propose when Iris came out to visit in California.  This whole time, Iris didn't know I was going to propose, but she knew it wouldn't be in AA because I couldn't get the ring.  But I started planning around May to propose in July when Iris came to visit.

For the proposal, I first filled out a questionnaire that asked a lot of questions about Iris and me and what our personalities were like.  They have you fill it out so they can design a custom proposal for you.  I told them originally that I wanted to do the proposal in Napa at a wine tasting, but later I saw on their website a proposal on the beach, and since Iris loves the beach I figured this would be a much better option.  They then came back with a couple of options for a beach proposal in San Francisco.  One was setting up with a "teacher" theme and the other would be a "flowers" theme.  I decided the flowers option would be much nicer, because Iris loves flowers.

So basically the plan was to have a blanket on the beach with a bunch of flowers around the blanket.  There would be a flower pot and inside the pot would be a note that said I couldn't wait to grow together when we get married!  Also there would be books on the blanket that Iris liked (I chose various Christian books as well as some we read together) and a bible that was bookmarked to Proverbs 31 "The Wife of Noble Character."  They would also set up a small bench with champagne and glasses and hang a bunch of seed and flower packets on some string as a cute little back drop.  We would arrive around 7pm, just in time for the sunset.

Once this was all planned out, I simply had to make sure we got to the beach on time and got to the setup.  The photographer (Sara Field Photography) would be sitting there casually pretending to be taking pictures of the scenery and once we got there she would take pictures of us.  Afterward, she would take pictures of us for about an hour.

The Day of the Proposal (July 20th, 2012):

I had planned out the entire day beforehand including the trip to the beach and told Iris about it.  She had no idea what was going on because I tried to make it seem like a casual trip to San Francisco.  I had also planned the rest of the weekend (Napa on Saturday, church and grocery shopping on Sunday) so she wouldn't think anything different was happening on Friday.

We went to San Francisco after an early lunch and arrived around noon.  We parked in the middle of the city and took a short 30 minute walk to Fisherman's Wharf, which is a tourist-y area on the pier (specifically called Pier 39).  On the way, we passed through Chinatown, which was an interesting experience.  At the wharf, we just walked around, ate some seafood, and enjoyed the scenery and breeze along the ocean.  Afterward, we walked back to near where we parked to an area called Union Square.  There were a lot of stores and things to see in that area so again we walked around, went to some shops, and enjoyed the nice weather.  It was a casual and fun time, with a lot of walking so we were both pretty tired.  Around 5pm we went to dinner at a restaurant I had previously made a reservation for, called Bluestem Brasserie.  The food was amazing and we were pretty much the only people there since it was so early.  I wanted to eat early because I needed time to drive to the beach from the restaurant to make it there by 6:45pm.

Both of us were really tired but I insisted we still go to the beach.  The whole day I knew what was coming but I didn't really feel that nervous.  Iris will tell you that I seemed to casual and relaxed the whole day, which really threw her off because she didn't think anything special was going to happen.  That was pretty much the plan, so it worked well =).  However, once we started eating at the restaurant and especially once we left, I started getting extremely nervous.  The whole time on the way from the restaurant to the beach I was getting more and more nervous, but I tried not to think about it too much.  All I had to do was get to the beach, text the photographer we were there, and walk to the setup.
Once we got to the beach (Baker Beach), the view was simply amazing.  I was so thrilled because the sky was clear and the view of the Golden Gate bridge, the ocean, and the mountains was stunning. However, I saw that I had a text from the photographer that I shouldn't park in a certain parking lot because it was going to close soon.  Unfortunately, I was parked in that lot.  Unsure of what to do, I told Iris I had to go to the bathroom first.  Before that, I actually put on a jacket which was inside my trunk, which was where I had the ring hidden (the box is way too big to hide in my pocket).  I thought about what to do and whether I should move my car, but I decided that it was best just to go ahead anyways.  Since I knew we were in the wrong parking lot, I had to look around to see where the setup was.  I knew it should be north of the parking lot, but since I was in the north parking lot, it might have been south of where I was.  Luckily I looked because the setup was indeed to the south (turning left) instead of to the north (turning right).


I told Iris to walk in the other direction (instead of toward the GG bridge) so that she would see the setup.  At first, she didn't understand what was going on and uttered "what is this?"  I looked at her and then she realized what was happening.  It was a beautiful setup just as they had described it, with the blanket, flowers, books, and champagne.  We sat down, and Iris was so surprised that she couldn't stop saying "oh my gosh."  I took the bible and opened up to Proverbs 31 and read the section on "The Wife of Noble Character."  I then had her open the note inside the flower pot that said, "I can't wait to grow together: in friendship, in love, in Christ ... forever."  I told her to stand up and then .. I got down on one knee and proposed!  I was really nervous during the kneeling part and actually saying, "Will you marry me?" because seriously, who ever utters those words in their life??  It's quite nerve-wracking, but I did it and Iris said "yes!" and gave me a hug and I put the ring on her!  The whole time this was happening, there were two people taking pictures of us and another taking video.  We just kept looking at each other and taking in the moment, so we poured the champagne (well actually it was Arbor Mist sparkling wine) and I explained to Iris how this all happened.

Eventually we got up and then talked with the photographer and the florist (who was also the person who set up the whole proposal scene) and they gave us some time to enjoy the moment before we went ahead and took pictures on the beach and of the sunset.  The photographer was really awesome and fun and she got us to do a bunch of fun poses and pictures.  We even went into the water and jumped around while Iris splashed me with water.  It was really fun and from the pictures we have seen so far, extremely rewarding.  The scenery was simply amazing and beautiful and we couldn't have asked for anything more amazing.  The ring also looked beautiful on Iris in the sun and was sparkling and shining beautifully.
After the pictures, the photographer and florist left and Iris contacted all of our close friends and family to let them know the big news.  We also watched the rest of the sunset over the beach to enjoy the rest of the moment.  Driving back home we both had this excitement and energy from what had just happened and were getting nonstop texts and calls from friends and family.  Once we posted the news on Facebook, there was just a flood of encouragement and support from so many people.  We couldn't be more thankful of everyone who thanked us and congratulated us, and we feel so blessed by the whole experience.  It took a lot of planning and effort, but it was so worth it in the end to have this memory that we will cherish forever.  I'm really glad I went through the time and effort (and money) to plan the proposal and have a photographer take pictures of us.  In the end, all of the praise goes to God for making that day so magical and amazing, and in many ways, more perfect and more beautiful than we could have ever imagined.
Here's a link to the slideshow of the proposal our photographer made for us: Proposal Slideshow.

For Iris' perspective on the proposal, check out her blog post!