Now why didn't MY husband think of this??!!?

Parent Cafe
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<p>There is an article in today’s Atlanta paper <a href=“http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/07/13/engage_0714.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab[/url]”>http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/07/13/engage_0714.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab&lt;/a&gt;
about the most incredible engagement. It is now all over the web, on youtube, and apparently the photogapher’s own website crashed several times due to the number of hits he received. I found the best way to view the slideshow was through this link <a href=“http://www.spelhouse.com/gray/[/url]”>http://www.spelhouse.com/gray/&lt;/a&gt;
It is a bit long, but extremely touching. I encourage you to watch at least part of it. Gee, I can’t seem to recall the last time MY husband had roses dipped in 24 carat gold for me, but, our anniversary is tomorrow… hmmm… there is still time…)
Snipits from his friend’s blog and from the AJC explain the scenario:
From the blog:

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<p>From the AJC:

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<p>Buckhead is wealllllllllllllllthy.</p>

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<p>He doesn’t live in Buckhead- just used the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Buckhead. But- he does have a background in finance-- there are some other great lines from the article…<br>

And my personal favorite

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<p>hmmm…</p>

<p>Even if my H had thought of it, he and we couldn’t have paid for it. We had the cheapest wedding we could manage as two grad students on fellowships and without wealthy parents.
I’m not going to show this to my Ss; it might give them expensive ideas. :)</p>

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<p>In actuality, I am, shall we say… frugal. If my h. had done something even a 100th of the cost of this extravaganza, I’d have had a coronary. But the sentiment is just so endearing.</p>

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<p>Wow, and that was just the ENGAGEMENT! Can’t wait to see the wedding! I have to say, this young man really loves this young woman and went to GREAT lengths to show it. It isn’t just the extravagance, but there was a great deal of thought and meaning and family, etc. involved. Very sweet. She couldn’t say “no”, LOL. It does seem highly unusual. For a woman, what’s not to like? </p>

<p>This reminds me of my daughter telling me about a very good friend/roomie from camp’s mother’s surprise 50th party. They are very wealthy. My D described all that her friend told her about it and I am now forgetting the details but it was super duper extravagant involving flying all these people in and a book the husband wrote about the wife that everyone got and how she loved paintings and filling the room with her favorites (very expensive ones), and so on and so forth. My D was wide eyed about the story and had to tell me. </p>

<p>Jym…happy anniversary!! My 30th in later this month too. Enjoy!
(I don’t expect anything remotely close to what I saw in that video, though!)</p>

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<p>Hi Soozie!!
Hope all’s well. Thanks for the well-wishes. At this point, H and I are a couple of fuddie-duddies. I suspect tomorrow morning as his gift to me, he’ll bring me a Caribou or Starbucks coffee (using giftcards we have) on his way back from running, and I’ll go with him to the bookstore or to work out at our exercise place (where he is now, But ds has my car as his is in the shop, so I am “stuck” home). Gee, we are such romantics. (haha). Last night we went to see “Sick-o” and went for a nice glass of wine afterwards. Then we came home and promptly fell asleep. (by the way, my agreeing to go work out is a big gift-- I’ve been rather slack about that for quite some time…)</p>

<p>I am thinking perhaps it might be fun to share how we all got engaged-- were there any special proposals (even if on a <em>tad</em> less grand scale than the one in today’s paper)?</p>

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<p>So sweet. This kind of thoughtful gesture doesn’t always require breaking the bank if one is resourceful - and has some good friends to help pull it off.</p>

<p>My son (17 at the time) created an elaborate birthday surprise for his girlfriend, which was inexpensive but still very impressive to the recipient.</p>

<p>One of our local area beaches has an old weather -warn gazebo high on the cliffs, overlooking the ocean. It’s a million-dollar view, but a little known spot, as it’s out of the way. </p>

<p>He picked up his girlfriend , (whom he’d been dating about three months and had no idea about the evening), about 6pm and drove her down to the oceanside cliffs where the gazebo was waiting, decorated with white table cloth, candles, beautiful placesettings with china, sliver and flowers. After they settled in, a handsome young waiter, appeared to take their <em>order</em> which was a choice of one of two entrees and salads. They dined on salad, bread, sparking cider and chicken and shrimp entrees under the gazebo, when the waiter again appeared to take dessert orders. (again two choices - gf chooses, and of course S takes the other)</p>

<p>After a leisurely dinner and dessert and just as the sun was setting over the ocean, a young man appears with a digital SLR and requests photos of the two of them. They pose for a picture against the backdrop of a gorgeous california sunset with rocky whitewater background. </p>

<p>As the sun sets and the couple engage in conversation and enjoy the oceanview and their desserts, the photographer appears again, with a wrapped gift in hand and presents it to the table. Girfriend unwraps the gift, which is a framed three-photo montage of their evening! One photo of the couple posed close up at the table, one photo of them with view and gazebo in view, and one pic fairly far away of the two of them in siluet against the brilliant orange sky.</p>

<p>Total cost in dollars, I’m not sure, but probably under 100, as the waiter and photographer were good friends doing a fun favor, the tablesettings borrowed from my kitchen (he didn’t tell me until after!) and the food bought at take-out from a mid-priced restaurant, rearranged artfully on china for presentation.
The frame for the photo, S bought ahead of time, and the photo magic was produced on a printer set up to run from the friend’s van,which was out of view in a nearby parking lot. </p>

<p>A lot of preparation, planning and coordination, but a lot of bang for the buck!</p>

<p>Husband and I didn’t find out about this little caper until it was all over. But I do remember my husband’s first comment that he was making him look really bad. ;)</p>

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<p>OK…my story…DH took me out for a coffee break. His office was down the street from mine. He asked if i wanted a donut-i said no thanks. he got one donut, and 2 coffees. We sat down, and he popped the question. I said yes, and then he gave me the donut—a plain old fashioned—and said…'with this donut, I thee wed"…I couldn’t decide wheather to laugh or cry or ??? Then he pulled out a purchase contract for the house we looked at the night before and proceeded to fill it out. We got the house-beat 3 other offers-and seller even helpt with financing a second loan!! To this day-we live in the same house, and we have donuts at our Open Houses(we are both Realtors)…and you know I had always dreamt that the “big” day would be at a fancy hotel, overlooking the city…We have been married 20 years—and still having fun!</p>

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<p>A.S.A.P.
I am so impressed by your son’s efforts! Wow, he is a special boyfriend for any girl (should we do matchmaking??). Really, that is a cool story and what had to be a very special evening for not a lot of money and just as meaningful and memorable. I am chuckling at the take out food being served on your china and silver.</p>

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<p>well, how in the WORLD is the wedding going to top that of the orignial post?</p>

<p>me, I wouldn’t want the money spent on me like that…there are much better ways, a trip…</p>

<p>that in fact kind of irks me,. that over consumption and gaudyness—guess i am a simpler gal, and would rather a lot of that $$ go to a cause…</p>

<p>I don’t like jewelry either, waste of $ to me</p>

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<p>My husband proposed after we had been at a friend’s “pig roast”. What was he thinking? After a pig roast??? Oh well, he’s an engineer what can I say…</p>

<p>We were once at a baseball game (pro) and a girl proposed to her boyfriend in the middle of the game. He was some kind of manager with the baseball org, and they stopped the game and said there was going to be a special announcement. They made him go stand out there on the field and then announced it over the PA system. Then they shoved a mike in his face and demanded his “answer”. He said he had to <em>think about it</em>. HOW EMBARASSING for the girl. What was she thinking? Can anyone say potential public humiliation?</p>

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<p>soozie-son was into magic as a young boy, so I see this as somewhat an extension of that. He loves surprising people and has a playful sense about him.
You can understand my scepticism about any inability to load the dishwasher or keep the bathroom clean… :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>ASAP-
How’d they rig a printer up in the van?? I guess they used an ac adapter from the cigarette lighter thing. Very clever.</p>

<p>My H is in computers. If you remember, a VERY long time ago, making a banner on a dot matrix computer was cumbersome, and the letters were made as composites of the smaller letters. In otherwords, a giant, 6" letter “A” was made up of regular font sized letter "A"s (is this making any sense to anybody?). Anyway, cliff-notes version of the story-- he had a key to my house. He came over <em>very</em> early one Saturday morning, spread out this HUGE banner that he’d printed on his computer (it said “will you marry me?”) all across my living room, across the coffee table, etc and had put a big vase with 2 dozen huge yellow roses in it on the coffee table. At the time, he lived over 2 hrs away, so he must have set that vase of flowers up very carefully in his car with lots of padding! To be a bit of a traditionalist, I made him call my dad and ask his permission to marry me. My dad’s respose… “your’e kidding!” :eek:</p>

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<p>btw, doubleplay,
Do you kow if they ever got married? That is awful! How embarassing!</p>

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<p>jym Yes, they used the cigarette lighter and adapter. </p>

<p>I do remember the matrix printers - a different era! That’s a sweet story, too, and a delightful (apparently:) ) suprise! It sounds like your dad was
“surprised”, too!</p>

<p>A funny side note about the birthday story-- while the dinner was in full swing, another couple was walking up the public walk, toward the gazebo. The “waiter” saw them coming, and quietly said to them, “I’m sorry, this is a private party this evening.” He’s a charmer, so it worked!</p>

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<p>ASAP-
I wasn’t a total surprise to me, as I had actually overheard him talking to his mom on the phone when I was visiting him a few weeks before (shhhh…). Actually, he knows I heard him. And, he hates to shop (twenty minutes is his maximum). So, I did a little pre-engagement “shopping”’ on my own before he came into town, and had scoped out a setting that I really liked. It (a channel set ring) was rather unique at the time and had to be flown in from California. In fact, the sample I saw wasn’t in the jeweler’s case, it was on the saleswoman’s hand! I mentioned that I wanted something “classy but understated”. And when the saleswoman brought out a book with photos, I looked at her hand and said “THAT’s what I want!” The setting was waiting for us when we arrived. I still get compliments on it.</p>

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<p>jym, you’re husband’s proposal was so nice!</p>

<p>I don’t know what happened to the baseball game couple. I’ve often wondered. My bet is he said “no” because if the answer is “yes” you usually don’t have to think about it, do you? He probably said he needed to think about it just to avoid saying NO in front of thousands of strangers.</p>

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<p>This guy should start a business of creative ways to propose–He already has the business background and his creativity for this proposal is top-notch!</p>

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<p>Hmmm. Maybe, but I think the baseball field idea (or anything similarly public)
should be reserved for couples in jym’s position, where you know the answer will be an enthusiastic “yes!”</p>