Many of you know the basic details of how we met- we worked together at an ad agency in New York City. Sherry was the copywriter on the account that I helped manage. We first crossed paths making this baby commercial (she wrote the script and I sold it through to the client) and the rest, as they say, is history (yes that’s Becki Newton who’s now on Ugly Betty). So here’s the play-by-play of our engagement (as told by the proposer and the proposee):
SHERRY: We love to reminisce about how we met and fell in love in NYC, but after dating a while it was clear that neither of us saw ourselves living in Manhattan for life. The hustle-and-bustle of the city paired with the increasing stress of our long-houred jobs started to cramp our style and cut into our quality time so we finally decided that we’d enjoyed the experience long enough (John was already itching to get out after two years and after over six years I was slowly coming to the same conclusion). So I approached John and said the words he later confessed he was dying to hear: let’s blow this pop stand. But where should we go…?
JOHN: When Sherry told me she was willing to leave Manhattan I suggested my warmer, calmer, and greener home state of Virginia, and when she excitedly agreed (in less than a second) it only reconfirmed that this was more than your average relationship (we settled on Richmond because my sister lived here, it still has an artsy/metropolitan edge, and there’s a good advertising presence here which gave us a fighting chance of landing jobs when we arrived). Making those decisions together: to quit our jobs, hunt for a new apartment in a new city and announce to our parents that we were moving in together basically forced us to evaluate whether or not we were in this for the long haul. It had only been about 6 months, but we were both certain that we were in it for keeps. I made the decision to propose to Sherry before we even left New York City. And we posed for a few bad-ass New Yorker pics in front of the skyline before we hightailed it outta town…
SHERRY: I was pretty sure that John was going to propose at some point, because we’d had very honest discussions about our future and where we saw things going but I had no idea when. I wasn’t in any rush either. I liked the excitement of knowing that it was coming (I probably wouldn’t have made the move without some confidence of this) so I reveled in the knowledge that it would probably happen when I least expected it.
JOHN: Based on some hints from Sherry and advice from her best friends, I actually snagged an engagement ring before leaving the city. But with so many things in flux (quitting my job before firmly securing a new one) it didn’t feel right asking Sherry to marry me until I was gainfully employed. So on February 25, 2006 we packed up and moved in Richmond, Virginia in a minivan as boyfriend and girlfriend (with that sparkly ring burning a hole in my pocket). Here’s Sherry with our coworker Heather (who was one of my ring “advisors”) at our going away party in NYC.
SHERRY: Our first few weeks in Richmond were exciting (I segued into being a freelance copywriter which allowed me to work from home while John hit the streets for a new gig in downtown Richmond) but there was a certain lingering question – and I was pretty sure John had the ring. As I assured certain pushy family members that John would soon propose to me (a few of them were all over me about moving in without being betrothed) many of them guessed that that it might happen on my birthday that was coming up on March 19th.
JOHN: I had no plans to propose to Sherry for her birthday. I was waiting to officially land a job (I’d interviewed for a bunch and was just waiting for the call…) and then I’d plan the perfect way to pop the question. Though I did have an idea of proposing to Sherry at the summit of one of my favorite hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I figured it’d be a quintessential “welcome to Virginia” proposal. After all, we had traded skyscrapers for mountains, right? So imagine my surprise when my cousin and little sister spontaneously invited us to join them to hike that very peak on the day before her birthday: March 18th (here they are hiking it below).
SHERRY: Our first few weeks in Richmond meant we were basically joined at the hip since I was working from home and John was waiting for a job offer to roll in, so I guess it left him very little alone time for conniving and proposal planning. But all that together time would change when, just a few days before my birthday weekend, John got news that he’d gotten a new job at a Richmond ad agency. Oh happy day! I was thrilled for him because he was obviously anxiously awaiting that call.
JOHN: With the new job in place, I could finally put my proposal plans in motion. I had the ring, the hike was scheduled and now I just had to ask Sherry’s parents’ permission. Not a simple task given that Sherry was by my side nearly 24/7 and her mom & stepdad were leaving on a cruise mere hours after I found out I landed my new job. But during a work call that Sherry was on, I managed to leave messages for both her mom and her dad. Her mom later returned the call (Sherry was in the car with me, so I couldn’t pick up) and left a voicemail expressing her approval and excitement. I also later got an e-mail from her dad that contained just one character – “!” – that I assumed meant good things. I later learned he didn’t say more out of fear that Sherry would see the message. The last thing on my list was to tell my own parents. I snuck in a phone call later that day and, just my luck, got the answering machine.
SHERRY: I had no idea John was sneaking in these pre-proposal phone calls, and I thought nothing of it when John got a random call from his dad that afternoon. It should’ve been a clue that John nervously exited the apartment to continue the conversation outside, but he covered it up well with a story that his dad was giving him advice about a car tire question we had been discussing earlier (when I peeked out the window he was bent over looking at the tire while on the phone). In fact I was so convinced by his sly little tie cover-up that as we laid in bed at night I kept asking if he thought the tires were ok. Which amuses John to no end, even to this day.
JOHN: I was pretty sure my tire-diversion worked, but I was mainly just pleased to hear my parents sharing in my excitement over my proposal plans for the following Saturday. They were thrilled to welcome Sherry into the family, so with that in place I just anxiously waited a couple of days for Saturday to roll around. When it did, I snuck the ring box into our camera bag and packed it into my backpack along with water, trail mix and other normal hiking supplies.
SHERRY: I was super excited about our hike, even though it was a little cold that morning. Joining us was John’s cousin Travis, his sister Carrie and her boyfriend. It seemed like a perfectly normal event, so I just concentrated on enjoying the hike which, if you’ve ever hiked it, is a bit challenging. It’s almost 6 miles, including lots of rock scrambling. I like to joke that John really made me work for my ring. You think I’m kidding about the rocks…
JOHN: I had already told our hiking companions about my plan: get to the mountaintop, eat lunch, then make yourselves scarce so I can do my thang. Well, they got those last two steps a bit confused and as soon as we got to the top everyone disappeared. I hadn’t mentally prepared myself, so there was an awkward moment where I had to chase after the others and whisper to to them that eating together was first on the agenda. I think Sherry noticed something weird about the exchange, but it didn’t blow my cover completely.
SHERRY: They all sort of chuckled out of earshot so I just thought I missed a joke or something. But I was super excited to reach the top of the mountain since I was totally exhausted from the climb. Being such a short girl there were parts where I actually had to be hoisted up some tall rocks by two people (one above and one below) since I’m not quite long-limbed enough to get ‘er done by myself. But after a bit of rest and food I was rarin’ to get back to hiking and excited that the rest of the trail would be downhill. It was also pretty chilly up on the top of the mountain, so I was looking forward to moving again. So I was a bit caught off guard by John’s insistence that we snap a bunch of pictures before leaving, but I played along (after all, the scenery was beautiful and after all that climbing it made sense to soak it up a bit). The two of us headed off to take a photo together (we love self-portrait photos where John’s extended hand acts as the tripod) but as we posed for our usual snapshot, the camera died. Ugh. But John reassured me we had more batteries in the bag.
JOHN: The camera dying was really me pushing the “off” button rather than the shutter. All part of my plan to have to go into the camera bag to get “new batteries.”
SHERRY: So while John went to get a new camera battery, I decided to keep myself warm by doing some goofy jumping jacks.
JOHN: I bent down to fish out the ring from the camera bag and spun back around on one knee, ring box propped open and simply asked “Sherry, will you marry me.” The jumping jacks came to a quick halt.
SHERRY: I was in complete and utter shock. All I remember was that I froze mid-jumping-jack and then ran over to John and jumped into his lap (he was still kneeling).
JOHN: With Sherry in my lap, I reminded her that she needed to say “Yes” to make it official. She did. We kissed. She cried. We ignored the random hikers that traipsed by a moment later. It was great.
SHERRY: After a few minutes of basking in the just-engaged glory (I still couldn’t believe it) we emerged from our secluded lookout point to be greeted by John’s sister and cousin who were both waiting with bated breath. I choked out the good news and lots of hugging, squeals and picture taking ensued (since the camera was in fact not out of battery). John’s cousin Travis even snapped this gem of a photo with us kissing in the background:
JOHN: The walk down the mountain was probably the best hike of our lives. We had forgotten about how cold it was and how tired our legs were. My sister Carrie even excited exclaimed to every passerby: “they just got engaged!” and strangers high-fived us and congratulated us as we passed by with permasmiles. And then one pair of hikers approached who looked vaguely familiar…
SHERRY: When we saw John’s parents walking up the trail towards us I couldn’t believe John had coordinated something so elaborate. Then I looked at him and realized he was just as surprised as I was. His parents, knowing the time and location of the proposal, surprised us both by showing up on the backside of the mountain and walking towards us. They cautiously asked “any news?” before congratulating us. I guess in our surprise I forgot to flash my ring.
JOHN: So we finished the hiking excursion with my beaming parents in tow. After getting back to our cars they treated us to a second lunch (all that walking made us hungry!) at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in nearby Sperryville. It was far from fancy – not exactly the storybook first post-engagement meal – but we loved it (in fact we still say “aww, remember that lunch in Sperryville?”). And I was just grateful that my parents suggested it because I realized my proposal plans didn’t really extend much past the actual popping of the question.
SHERRY: After lunch I was still totally stunned and smiling from ear to ear. I remember calling friends and family to share the big news (although I couldn’t tell my mom for a few days because she was still on her cruise). And a couple of days later we sent out an email announcement to everyone we knew – including all of our former coworkers who had no idea we were even dating (although it wasn’t technically against company policy, we kept our relationship under wraps because we didn’t want it affecting our work). Needless to say we got about thirty conference calls within minutes of hitting send with people screaming that they had no idea and claiming that we rocked their world. Which was a fitting reaction considering this was the email announcement that we sent out:
So that’s the tale of our mountaintop engagement. I’m sure many of you have equally exciting and complicated stories, so we’d love to hear some details about yours- where? how? did you know it was coming?
Chelsea says
My husband took me hiking up the The Peaks of Otter just outside of Lynchburg, VA to propose. It was for my birthday (well 2 days after since my bday was on Thanksgiving). It was awfully cold as well and really windy and at the top it started to snow. I was suffering with some heart problems at the time so it was tough for our couple mile hike straight up but at the top there was a hikers cabin that we ate lunch in. While I made PB and J’s Justin proposed! The ring was way to big for my little finger but I wore it all the way down the mountain!
Jemison says
Awwwww!!!! Ugh, so perfect you two:P Does John have any other unmarried cousins, long-lost brothers, etc??
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jemison,
Alas, John is one of four (three sisters and himself) so I like to say that it made him more attentive to how to keep a girl happy. And his cousin Travis has since married my best friend (they met when we introduced them before our wedding)- they even have a baby girl now! Hmm, who else do we have? Lots of married brother-in-laws and cousins. Sorry we can’t play match maker!
xo,
s
lms52 says
That is such a great story!
Abby says
We had been hard at work on our house for about a month and decided a night out was in order. We planned to try a new restaurant downtown. I knew he was going to pop the question that night, because he had been acting weird all day, but I thought he would do it after dinner or something. I wanted to look great so I took my time getting ready and picking out the perfect outfit. Little did I know, he was at the foot of the stairs on one knee, surrounded by rose petals for a solid 15-20 minutes waiting on me. We had been painting the foyer (which is the foot of the stairs) that day but stopped before finishing it. He took some remaining paint and painted “Will you marry me?” above the front door. It was so us. I cried and of course accepted.
Kara says
LOVE that Sherry’s dad would only respond “!” in fear of you/Sherry seeing the message. I bet he loved being ‘in’ on the secret… SO CUTE! (Happy official Anniversary, by the way!)
Jemison says
Oh well. lol. And I forgot to say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! Here’s to another year of prosperity and blessings for the youngsters!
City Chic - Jamie says
Aw, so sweet! Isn’t is funny to look back and think, “I should have know something was up” but being surprised is the best! Thanks for sharing your sweet story!
OMG-TYH says
What a cute story! Love the big rock picture!
Off topic, but that commercial you two made is so cool (I didn’t even notice it was Becki Newton!). Your jobs sound SO fun!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey OMG,
Yeah our past lives in NYC were actually really exciting. I worked on those “Got Milk?” celebrity print ads (the ones with the mustaches) so meeting celebs like Meredith Vieira and Star Jones was all in a day’s work. Meanwhile John was rubbing elbows with the likes of Kelly Clarkson. But alas, as much fun as the perks of the job were (being creative, meeting famous people, working with amazing photographers like David LaChapelle and Annie Leibovitz)… the hours were murder. I once worked 37 hours straight- no sleep or showering (keep in mind that most people bill 40 hours a week in most other professions). And the high-stress atmosphere made us feel like lives were at stake when we were really just making 30 second commercials and one page print ads. Sometimes it was exciting and so worth it and other times it was flat out exhausting. It’s definitely an experience that we treasure but we’re forever grateful for the more laid back life that we gained by moving to Richmond!
xo,
s
Holly says
SO CUTE!! I don’t have a story yet, but definitely hope to one day soon!!
P.S. This REALLY makes me want to go to the mountains :)
Katja says
What a great story. I almost started crying when reading it – that’s how excited I was.
And then I remebererd our story. Christmas 2006, my then-boyfriend gave me a trip Brussels, the beautiful capital of Belgium (we live in Hamburg, Germany, so that’s not so far away). That same night we talked about the trip and he said to me that it would be nice to pack some nice clothes there, so we could go out for dinner at a really nice restaurant. I right away called by best friend and told her that he was propably going to propose to me. I just felt it. Then in Brussels, on that nice night we got all dressed up. In my head I was already practicing my “Yes” that I would give him after dessert – that is how I imagined the whole story. Then we were looking for a nice restaurant to eat at. I started to get a little naggy, because it was raining and I thought that he had already done some research on fabulous proposal restaurants. However, he wanted to take another look at the “Grand place”, a huge beautiful square surrounded by old medieval buildings, although we had been there already. At one point, right in the middle of that square, I was already really angry with him, he turned around, knelt down and told me that he loved me so much he never ever would want to be without me. And then he popped the question. It had stopped raining and I started crying and said yes. I’ll never forget this moment.
Thanks for sharing all you stories. I love your blog.
foobella says
Wonderful story. I got completely choked up about John’s parents meeting you guys on the mountain. What a wonderful family.
Kate says
I Love the tire part! When my husband, Brad, asked my parents permission he had told me he was going to the gym after work but then I saw his car drive past me, no where near the gym, so I called and he wouldn’t answer. Later he came over covered in dirt with a story that his younger brother had a flat tire but was with a girl and didn’t want to call his dad for help, so he called Brad to come help him. All night I gossiped about who this girl was that his brother was sneaking around with, to find out a week later when he proposed that Brad had been with my parents the whole time asking their permission and then rubbed his arms all over his tires to make it look like he had been fixing a flat!
Happy Anniversary!!
Heather says
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! Time really does fly. My husband and I will be married 1 year in 2 months. Where does the time go. It feels just like yesterday.
Kim S says
Cute story you guys! And happy anniversary!
We were on a cruise last May with some friends of ours. We had recently moved in together and I thought a proposal might be coming, but I didn’t want to expect it and end up leaving our vacation feeling disappointed that we didn’t get engaged. I had completely talked myself into the fact that he was NOT going to propose on the cruise, so it actually ended up being a great surprise when he did!
The funny thing is that earlier that day our friends (well, mostly just the wives/girlfriends of the group) had been giving him a really hard time about us living together for a few months with no engagement yet. He hadn’t told anyone about his plans because he wanted to make sure I was surprised! So he had to just put up with their teasing and try to throw them (and me!) off, saying he had no plans to propose and why should we get married, etc., while meanwhile he knew he had the ring with him and was just waiting for the perfect moment!
Desiree says
I totally got a little choked up by your story! Congratulations and Happy Anniversary!
Brandi says
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!
My now husband of nearly 7 years told me 2 days after we started dating that he knew he wanted to marry me but would never be certain about when to ask because I had just gotten out of a really bad relationship. So, 6 months or so after we started dating, I popped the question to him!
The urge came on rather spontaneously after watching something on Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton on the tube. I figured that if they could make it (ha!), then we could certainly do it too. He was out of the apartment, so I quickly grabbed some notebook paper and a few markers and made a sign that said, “Daniel, will you marry me?” I taped it to our front door so that he saw it before he even walked into the apartment. He was stunned and thought that maybe I was joking at first, but when I suggested we call his parents… he was thrilled! He thought it was absolutely awesome that I had done the proposing, and we were married 2 months later at the park down the road from his parents’ house. :)
Jamie says
What a sweet story!
My husband proposed to me on my living room floor. It had gotten really dark and we were sitting around by candlelight, talking, and he started telling me how much he loved me and that he couldn’t imagine life without me, and then he took a ring out from under the couch and proposed. He’d hidden the ring when I went to the bathroom earlier in the evening. Sneaky boy! We got married one day before you guys (7-6-07) so happy anniversary today, you two!
Jessica says
Do you guys watch Madmen?!
Love your story; gave me the chills and I may have teared up a bit! My guy and I have been dating for three years now and have lived together for two of them. We even have a “baby” (a yellow lab) but no ring! I am being ever so patient and can’t wait to share my story one day…Happy Anniversary!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Jessica,
It’s so funny because we tried to get into Madmen for a while (maybe watched the first ten episodes?) but we think it was just too close to home for our liking. Seeing clients reject ideas and all that just bummed us out and reminded us of the struggle to get good work through (you’d be blown away at how many great, groundbreaking ideas are “killed” by clients who think they’re too risky). But it definitely got interesting when that secretary got knocked up!
xo,
s
Colleen in MA says
What a lovely story! So fun to read! My husband surprised me as well – I knew it was coming at some point but expected it during or after the holidays. Well, while on a weekend getaway trip to NYC that November he popped the question in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge. Actually, he had written a lovely proposal in a card because he wanted to get the words he wanted to say just right. After I read it and got to the bottom – “WILL YOU MARRY ME??” – I just started crying right there. Now we go back at least once a year and walk the bridge. It’s not in his nature to be very romantic so I just love thinking about him planning all this out. :0)
Amy says
Way to go, John! I’ve been following your blog for a while (and love it, as everyone else does). My husband and I are in marketing, too – and actually had a very similar proposal!
Camping has always been “our thing.” We have a favorite spot here in Texas called Enchanted Rock (basically a big granite dome), which is close to this adorable little B&B-filled town called Fredericksburg. We had been planning a trip to Fredericksburg for a weekend, which I thought was my idea. (Apparently it was not. He’s just that good at surprises.) He had me pretty convinced that a proposal was a long way away, so I never suspected a thing, even though all of our friends knew. We stopped at Enchanted Rock on the way to Fredericksburg for a quick hike to the top. He hid the ring in his camera bag, too! We got to the top (after I made him stop every 5 minutes to take pictures of pretty flowers … I had no idea how anxious he was) and decided to hang out for a while and enjoy the view. He kept trying to distract me so he could get the ring, but I was oblivious, so none of his plans worked. We were sitting down and I was leaning back on him and he finally gave up, grabbed the ring from the bag, reached around in front of me with it and popped the question. And I pretty much had the same reaction as you did, Sherry – jumped into his lap screaming. (He had to remind me to say “yes,” too.) We flagged down some other hikers to take a picture, called everyone we knew, and then enjoyed an amazing weekend eating and relaxing in Fredericksburg!
Thanks for the proposal story! You know girls always want to hear all the swoon-worthy details.
Kate says
Such a great story- and I think it’s great that you’ve got it preserved this way for future generations!
I also think it’s funny how similar our stories are – besides the fact that we’ll share an anniversary week, Mark proposed on a hike right around the time we were moving in together (although, we went down to the base of a waterfall instead of the top of a mountain)!
I’m loving the wedding posts – they’re such a good distraction from the work that’s not going to get done this week anyway!
Gena says
I absolutely love your engagement story! I moved from Oklahoma City to a small town in southern Oklahoma last June for my boyfriend of less than a year. When my b-day rolled around in December I didn’t think much of it. I got home to my loft and he was there waiting with my presents. We were heading to OKC for the weekend so he told me to open my presents so we could get on the road. I did and got a few things that I had been hinting towards, wonderful, but still nothing weird. He asked if I was ready to leave and I said as soon as I changed my clothes I was good to go. He said okay, but as I walked into the bedroom he said “By the way, I think I ruined your pasta pot today.” I am Italian and love cooking, especially pasta, so this caught my attention. I walked back out of the bedroom and asked “What do you mean?” He said, “I was trying to make pasta for lunch and I don’t think I put enough water in, it all burnt to the bottom of the pan.” I assured him it probably was okay and walked to the kitchen to take a look since I just noticed it had been sitting on the counter the entire time. When I got the pot I took of the lid and in the bottom of the pot he had spelled out with alphabet pasta “Gena, will you marry me?” I saw spots! I whirled around and he was on his knee already with my ring sparkling up at me! I also forgot to say yes at first laughing and crying with joy, he reminded me that I needed to and I of course accepted and received my bling! It was a wonderful birthday. We just got married on June 13th and my pasta engagement is now hung in a shadow box frame on OUR loft wall. Keep sharing, you guys make my day!
Amy says
Aww! What a great story! Happy anniversary!!
Audrey says
Such a great story, and I love that you guys told it from both perspectives! My husband was pretty crafty in his proposal as well. He corralled my parents, brother, sister and two best friends (who all live in different states) and had them send pictures of themselves, each holding up a different part of “Hey Audrey, will you marry me?” He then mounted the photos and had them all set up in his dining room to surprise me (after a very elaborate story to get me there, dressed up and not suspecting a thing). I was completely shocked and so happy that he included my family and friends in the proposal, despite the fact that they didn’t live anywhere near us. :)
Emily says
Your story is awesome. Ill tell you mine…only bc it involves mountains and tires too!
For New Year’s 2007, my best friend invited us to go to Telluride, CO and stay in her uncle’s condo right on the mountain (for free!). We live in Mississippi and I guess it was silly of me to think we would fly out there. Of course my now hubby wanted to drive! Little did I know, my sparkly rock was hidden in the spare tire in our trunk the whole time! We made it to Colorado and the day before New Year’s Eve, he proposed to me in a gondola making our way over the mountain. Great memories!!!!!!
Rebecca says
I love that story and I can just picture in my head you doing jumping jacks and freazing when he proposed!! So cute!
My fiance actually proposed to me in March in your old hood- NYC! We are from Texas and for my spring break we wanted to go pretty far so we went where I have always wanted to go! We had been there a whole week tirelessly walking around (eventually with bruised and blistered feet) doing every touresty thing imaginable and on the last day he had planned a surprise dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The eatery was beautiful and so was the environment. We had been together three and a half years at this point so for a while I was wondering when the question was coming. During dinner I kept thinking that it was going to happen- like when the photographer came to take a picture he would get down on one knee or when they brought out dessert it would be be written out in chocolate on the plate… but by the end of the meal- there was no ring. I was becoming very frustrated and was formulating in my head what I was going to say to him when we had a “serious discussion” about committment. After we left the restaurant we went for a little walk in Central Park. My heals were killing my feet so eventually we stopped infront of Bow Bridge. David asked if I wanted to go ontop of the Bridge to try and visualize King Kong sliding around (my favorite movie) and I said no because my feet hurt too bad I didn’t want to walk all the way over there! Little did I know he wanted to propose on the bridge! He bent down on the ground infront of the bridge and asked me to marry him! He was flustered and nervous and it was so cute and of course I said yes! He put the beautiful ring on the wrong finger (which I didn’t realize until later). So we had been engaged for approximately 2.5 seconds and I was so excited I had mustered up the energy to walk over to the bridge. I asked if we could and David said no because we had to leave. I was bummed for a second and asked why and he pulled out a pair of tickets from his pocket and said “Because we have to make a Broadway show of Wicked in 20 minutes!” I didn’t scream for the ring but I screamed for this!!! Literally three times during our trip I stopped somewhere to see if we could get tickets to see Wicked and everytime David would stand there patiently PRAYING they would be sold out. Luckily they always were because the tickets were back at the hotel!!
It was the best night of the trip and everytime we passed someone in the park on the way out I just had to let them know we were engaged!!!
To think… 30 minutes before I was formulating how I was going to start the discussion about committment and all along he was set to go!
Rebecca says
wow… I didn’t realize I had written a novel!
Emma says
We live in Orlando, so my fiance took me to a place called Discovery Cove (related to Sea World) where there is a dolphin interaction experience. At the end of our dolphin interaction, the dolphin swam right up to me with a buoy in its mouth that said “Will you marry me?” I had an idea that it was coming soon, but definitely not in that moment. I also never expected my post-proposal pictures to be me in a full-body wetsuit, but what can ya do?
Tracey says
Great story!! Happy Anniversary!!!
Ash B says
The story is awesome! :) My hubby and my engagement was anticipated as well. So anticipated I bought my dress 4 months before he proposed. In my defense, I argue that I’d found the dress I wanted to get married in, regardless of who I marry. He & I had talked about it a lot, and I knew it was coming, especially when we looked at rings over Christmas 2006. I bugged the hell out of him to tell me when he planned to propose, just a date, because I really don’t like surprises. He said he was going to propose on St. Patty’s day, which is the day we started seeing each other in 2005. So I was satisfied with that. On Valentine’s day, I went home for lunch, and was sitting down at the computer to check my email. Jeremy (hubby) had left his email up that morning and it was open on a very large worded “CONGRATS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT.” So naturally, I snooped. I went back to work and didn’t say a word about it. My coworker kept asking me my plans for the day, and I kept telling her that we don’t really do anything for Valentine’s. She had a part time job at a jewelry store and had offered us her discount when we did get engaged, so I knew she knew what was going on. That afternoon I came down with a cold, and was sleeping when Jeremy got home. He made me dinner in bed, and then brought me the ring and my favorite chocolates, kneeled by the bed and popped the question. I told him “no” since he asked on the wrong day. I couldn’t control my laughter for long though, and said “yes” fairly quickly after that. The obligatory phone calls were made and the rest is history (or something)!
Christel says
We had been painting the outside of a rent house for my parents all day in August. Needless to say we were dirty and tired. We grabbed Subway on the way home for an early dinner. Right after eating still covered in paint I told my love I was going to go mow before I took a shower. He told me “no, just wait.” “no, I want to mow now. I am tired and I want to get it over with.” As I was saying this he was leaving the room and said “if you love me you will stay there.”
He then came back in the room got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife! I said “right now??!?!” Meaning “this is my moment?!? I am dirty, tired, sitting on an ottoman, with subway next to me?!?”
He had asked permission that day and he could not stand waiting anymore. He did not even realize what he was doing! He was going to wait till later that night for a perfect moment but now when we look back it was the perfect moment. Paint chips and all!
Alison says
I wish my husband had done something sweet like that. Instead it went a little something like this……..We had been dating on and off for the last few months. He kept breaking up with me for lots of reasons like fear of commitment, his family was moving out of the state and he wasn’t sure if he was going with them, he wasnt done with school yet and he didn’t have a full time job. Well, finally we made the decision that we were obviously dating still, since I was so persistent.
And after about a month and a half of full time dating he went and picked out a ring (with his mothers approval of the ring). He then made each of us promise rings out of colorful computer wires braided together, since he was a computer programmer. He took me in his room and gave me mine and put on his, I thought it was so cute and romantic. Two days later was New years eve and we were at a hockey game with a bunch of friends and after we were heading to a dance. Well he said we needed to leave early from the hockey game so we could get to the dance early enough. I agreed. On the way to the dance he started going a different direction and instead headed to a park by the house I grew up in. This was the park where we had our first official date. He wanted to go for a walk and I thought it was a little strange but ok. We got a point on the walk where he turned around and said “So you know that promise ring I gave you?” I did “Well I want it back” I was furious, I thought he was breaking up with me again. So I took it off and almost threw it at him and he asked “are you mad??” duh “Well I want that one back because I want you to have this one instead. There was kneeling and shock and when we got to the dance where all of our friends and my sister were, we had a big announcement. It almost didnt happen because I almost kicked him and took off.
Kayt says
I had been living with my husband for eighteen months, and we had been together a little over two years. I had Sundays off, and he worked, but always came home for lunch. So one day, I was puttering around the house in my pjs, cleaning the house and just being a bit of a lazy bum. My husband came into the house, tripped, and landed on his knees. I ran over to see what was wrong. He readjusted to be on one knee, then asked me if I would marry him. “No jokes?” I said. He told me he was serious, so I said yes. Then he got up, kissed me, and asked what was for lunch. We are such romantics over here. He didn’t even have a ring for me, so I got to go pick my own out. Whee!
Mary says
LOVE your story- and Old Rag is an awesome place to get engaged! My hubby proposed to me in the World Trade tower in baltimore– much to my surprise- his whole family was in on it- they drove beneath the tower with “MARY WILL YOU MARRY ME” written on top of their cars. I will NEVER forget it.
Congratulations on two years- and I wish you MANY MANY more!!
Danielle says
Cute story.
My husband did something kind of cute. He was having a ring made for me with two of my grandmothers small diamonds in it (which I kind of new about but didn’t know when), but it wasn’t ready when he wanted to propose. So he ran up to JC Penney and bought an inexpensive ring. He had a box of chocolates for me and when I opened it, the middle one was gone and a ring was in it’s place. That was the official proposal. About 3 weeks later, he came home with the actual ring and proposed again! It was super cute. I tell everyone that he wanted to marry me THAT much :-)
mhb says
Nice work, John! And happy anniversary, you two.
My hubs took me completely by surprise (even though I knew he had talked with my parents already, I also thought he was going to wait until my birthday, which wasn’t for another 6 weeks). I was coming back into town after a week away and swung by his apartment to pick him up so we could have lunch together. He got all whiny on the phone about how I should come up to the apartment instead of just meeting him at the front door. Weird. And out of character. He covered it by saying he missed me because I’d been gone, so I didn’t think too much of it.
So I went up to the sixth floor and tried the door of his apartment… and he had locked the deadbolt! First I knocked, like, “dude. You locked me out,” and then I had to fumble for the keys a minute, which bought him just the time he needed. When I got the door open, there he was, on one knee. He blurted out, “willyoumarryme?” and I dropped the keys on the floor and stared at him, then I shouted, “yeeeeeeah!”
My roommate said I was shaking so much when we got back to our place that at first she thought I’d been in a car wreck or something. I was pretty excited. :-D
Robin says
Happy anniversary!! Such a great story, just one question. Did your work people from NYC know you were moving to Richmond together? Or what did they think? Thanks. Have a great day! Love your site.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Robin,
Good question! Everyone at work knew John and I were good friends but for some reason no one ever thought beyond that, so when we announced that we were setting off to get jobs at one of the bigger ad agencies here in Richmond they just wished us luck and talked about how lucky we were to know someone going into the move. Of course we never mentioned we’d be shacking up when we got there… that might have tipped them off!
xo,
s
Monique says
HAPPY ANNIVERSAY! I love your engagement story, it seems so perfect. Mine, not so much…I knew me and my then boyfriend were going to get married and I knew he had the ring (I picked it out cause I am picky like that), but I had no clue when I was actually going to get said ring. Well, shortly before we bought the ring we also bought a house and I got a call from, my then boyfriend, one day while I was at work saying we have an after close walk through we need to do and could I head to the house during my lunch break. This did not seem unusual to me cause I remember the builder saying we would do a walk through after we got our keys and I work much closer to the house then him so it just made sense for me to go. When I walked in the house I saw a path of cards with envelops that spelled out L.O.V.E…my first thought was, ‘oh my gosh, he got the call about the walk in and completely forgot he had set this up’. It was obviously part of the proposal, but I thought he must had forgotten it was there so I ignored it; didn’t even peak. I had been at the house about 15 min when I ran upstairs to get something out of a closet I remembered I needed and I was startled by my boyfriend sitting there at the top. I said “what are you doing here?” He said, “I am trying to propose, didn’t you see the cards and envelopes down stairs?” I said, “yes, but I thought you forgot it was there and I didn’t want to ruin your surprise.” He said, “this is my surprise”…Oops.
Quisha says
First I have to say that you guys are a great couple! I’ve been enjoying your site for the past month and love it! Just a couple of things:
1) I love how you shared both point of views about your move, engagement, jobs, etc.
2) That’s the most stressful thing I’ve read in a long time, that rin was really burning a hole in your pocket John! Haha :P
3) You guys have a lot of drive and ambition to jump up and move like that. I admire that alot!
P.S.- I’ve got my boyfriend and my parents on the Youngster bandwagon, they love the before and afters, tips and tricks :-)
Tara says
Oh my gosh, your story is so much better than mine! My husband proposed on Christmas morning. I was in my pajamas, my hair was all wonky and I’m pretty sure that I hadn’t brushed my teeth. He was super nervous. I was a wreck. The bad part was that I’d made plans to visit my parents who lived about 3 hours away. I left later that morning with my sister and her family on what turned out to be the worst car ride in history. It was snowing really hard and we made the normally three hour drive in more than 5 hours! My sister was in the back of the van with her four little kids and I was up front in the passenger seat with my head out the window scouting the fog line for my brother-in-law. We got the van stuck about halfway up the hill where my parents live. My dad (an Alaskan) drove down to tow us up the hill and he was crying because he was so frightened that we were so late. Weird. So it was after all that drama that I finally got to share the news with my family. And it was a long two days before I could get back home to my sweet fiance. We’ve been married 10 years now. Lots of bumps along the way – but I’m glad that we’re married! Now I don’t have to go on hellish car rides without him.
Kiri says
Congrats John & Sherry! I love your blog, but my husband thinks I am a little crazy for thinking that white paint will solve all of our decorating problems!
My husband and I were just married in March of this year and got engaged in May of ’07 on a hike at the Oregon Coast. I was working 3 jobs (2 internships and a retail job on nights and weekends) and we hardly had any time together. My husband called up my retail job to make sure that I would have a Saturday off and surprised me by telling me we were going to do a day trip down the coast to a lighthouse I had never been to before (I love lighthouses). We pulled up to Heceta Head lighthouse and I burst into tears saying, “this is the most beautiful place ever!” Little did I know he was high-fiving himself for deciding to propose there. We tooled around on the beach for a bit, then did a hike up to this cliff that overlooks the ocean and the lighthouse below. He set up our gorillapod to take a pic (he was really taking a video but I thought just a pic) and was starting in on his proposal speech when a group of German tourists walked up! He was getting all flustered at this point and I couldn’t figure out why. After the group of people left he set up the camera again for Take 2. As he was talking he slid a carabiner into my hand (we rock climb so its normal to have ‘biners hanging around everywhere). Then he popped the question, but I didn’t even realize that there was a ring hanging on the carabiner until he told me to look down. I later found out that all my family and all my friends had been in on everything. One of my friends who he had never met had even helped him get the stone for my ring (thank God for Facebook). And like you said, we walked back down the trail with giant permasmiles on our faces.
Sara says
You guys are clearly an awesome couple! The whole time I was reading the story I could picture you both telling the story (with lots of hand movements, facial expressions, etc).
My husband, like a lot of males, did not know how to do romantic so he went with just the element of surprise. We had already been talking about getting married for a couple of months and decided to go look at some rings to “just get an idea”. He told me not to get excited or expect a proposal anytime soon and I said “ok” because really, I just wanted to see pretty sparkly things. We were parked in the lot where I was just about to jump on the car… he asks, “Hey babe, you know how we were talking about getting married?” I gave him a look like, “umm, yeah, we are about to go look at rings – duh?!” He continues, “Well, I wanted to know if DO YOU want to marry me?”
Haha, obviously he meant “Will you?” but was so nervous he messed it up. I stared at him for a moment, realized he meant it, then started crying and said, “Yes, of course” while slapping him on the leg because he got me good.
Then we started laughing and I got to pick out my ring. We will be celebrating our 2 yr anniversary this August. Yay!
Focipresley says
Happy Anniversary! You’re an awesome couple! Great match!
I’ve been in a relationship for 10 years with my boy and we purchased a house 2 years ago. I like to tell him that I don’t mind if he chooses not to ever propose. I don’t necessarily need to have the whole ring and wedding thing, but if I am completely honest, I think I would enjoy it (especially reading about all the fun you guys had). I think mostly, I’m just saying I don’t mind as way to confuse myself and create an element of surprise if it ever DOES happen. I am probably not making any sense! :)
Thanks for sharing,
Cheers,
Bon
Diana says
Aww, that is the SWEETEST engagement story. I love how you, Sherry, were doing jumping jacks when John turned around with the ring. Ha ha. What a priceless story to tell your kids/grandkids. :o)
jbhat says
I didn’t think you Youngsters could be any cuter or sweeter, but I thought wrong. Loved hearing the engagement story. Happy anniversary!
Meredith says
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, YOU TWO!
I would love to know the location of the start of that hike, sounds like a really fun one – my hubby and I love to hike.
He proposed to me from a little rocky overlook a short walk from our car on Skyline Drive. We’d been dating for years, and living together for about 8 months, and knew we were the happiest either of us had ever been and that it was only getting better. I was a bridesmaid in my oldest friend’s wedding in October of 2006, and I had hinted (well, maybe a little more than hinted) that it would be great to get engaged before her wedding. Since Paul and I met at a summer camp we both worked at, he wanted to propose there, but since we didn’t make it back up to PA for a few months, he decided on Skyline Drive instead. One Saturday in September 2006 he suddenly (as far as I could tell) said “Hey, do you want to finally go to Skyline Drive tomorrow?” We had been wanting to check it out for months. So we did, and we packed a picnic lunch. I thought *maybe* he was going to propose, but after finishing lunch and milling around taking pictures with nothing, I had resigned myself to waiting for another day. A dad and son walked by and took a picture of us, and then I figured we’d head back to the car, but Paul wanted to take a couple of pictures of me with the beautiful overlook in the background. When he was done and I reached to take the camera from him, he said “Wait, don’t move yet,” and in that instant before he got down on one knee, I realized what was about to happen. It was so great!
I loved your story, and the way you told it was awesome – as if you two were sitting there interrupting each other to tell us your favorite parts. Yay for true love and happy marriages! It reassures me that the world is still a beautiful place.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Meredith,
Here’s a link with all the info you need to get hiking! Have fun…
http://www.hikingupward.com/SNP/OldRag/
xo,
s
Beverly LYnn says
My hubby proposed on a beach! Here is the whole story with pictures: http://beverlylynn.jeremyweber.com/?p=663
Heather says
Can you tell from the photo of us with the goodbye card how sad I look and how happy you look…lol my partner in crime was on to bigger and better. I totally forgot about the illustration of Andy…awesome!
Happy anniversary!!!! xoxoxo
YoungHouseLove says
Awww Heather! I miss you. So sorry I left first but I’m glad you made a break for it too. And you’re right- that Andy drawing is priceless. So cute how he drew a few hairs on his head!
xo,
s
Candace says
Aw, loved your story! Wow you guys had quite the busy schedule in your NYC lives. My husband and I are both graphic designers, but we only had short experiences with advertising agencies, so I really don’t know what that’s like. Everyone I know who’s gone through it though tells me it’s exhausting.
Anyway, before we got engaged, I came down with a lovely flu/bronchitis/stomach bug combo and had slept on the couch all day for about a week. This was right around Christmas. My then-boyfriend Josh lived in CT, and I was in PA, and although I had planned to visit him right after Christmas I actually thought I might have had to cancel just because I felt like crap. But for some reason my parents encouraged me to go (I should’ve realized then what was going on). One day up in CT Josh wanted to take me to a “concert” with his brother and former piano teacher, and I really didn’t want to go because I still felt really sick. We stopped to pick up the piano teacher, and I remember digging around that guy’s cabinets and eating cookies because I was so hungry. Josh told me to come to the piano room to see some “renovations” they had done. While there (probably still finishing off a cookie) I realized that “his friend” had elaborately decorated the room with a huge Christmas tree, lights and candles everywhere….and TON of framed pictures of Josh and me. For a minute, I thought it was really weird that his friend had a bunch of photos of us, and I actually got a little creeped out. Then I realized what was going on. :) At that point, no one was around, and Josh sat me down and told me he had something to read to me. He had designed me a beautiful book, in separate pages that were wrapped as gifts under the tree, telling “our story”. It was so cute to hear our story from his point of view. I loved it. At the end, he opened the last gift, which was the ring of course, and proposed. I was totally caught of guard that night — which was probably due to the sickness — because usually I am impossible to surprise. So in a way I was glad that my senses were a little dull from being sick and that I was preoccupied with looking for food in the kitchen just moments before.
Thanks for letting us share our story! We loved reading yours and wish you many more happy years ahead!
Bethany says
I love your story…it reminds me a little of something…oh yeah!! My engagement story…although I think you guys win!
My husband proposed to me at the top of the Peaks of Otter in Bedford County, VA (part of the Blue Ridge Mtns). I am not much of an outdoorsman…I always want to, but asthma and laziness usually get the best of me. But I agreed to hike one of the mtns on our one year anniversary of dating (May 27). Of course, we were predicted to have a bit of a stormy afternoon, but when we finished our anniversary lunch and drove to the foot of the mtn, all was beautiful and sunny. However, as we progressed up the mtn, it got cloudier and cloudier and cloudier. By the time we reached the top, it was starting to rain, and little chilly and it was very very dark and cloudy. So while we are standing at the top of the mtn, shivering just a bit, Stuart (my husband) disappeared. I went to find him and when I did, all he did was hug me (he tells me he was trying to get up the nerve to propose). So while we are hugging, I am looking out over what should have been a beautiful view, but was nothing but ugly gray clouds (and I mean NOTHING…you couldn’t see anything other than the clouds), I saw a lightening bolt…at about eye level. That was what pushed him to finally get on his knee and propose. I was of course thrilled, said yes, put the ring on my finger, kissed him and then we ran…yes literally ran down the mtn in the thunderstorm. One other note, I totally knew it was coming (which was the only thing that got me to the top of that mtn in a thunderstorm)…about 3 weeks earlier, his brother (who was 14 at the time) had let it slip to me what day Stuart was going to propose. But all in all, it was worth it! After 4.5 years of marriage and one beautiful baby girl, I would definitely climb that mtn again!! :)
Thanks for sharing your story…and your life with the rest of us!