(Water)falling in love: The Proposal, Part Deux

When we left off, I was patiently (read: not at all insanely pouncing on bouquets and/or injuring small children in the eye) awaiting my proposal.

After a quick dance or two we finally headed out around midnight. At this point, the Disney princess in me couldn`t help but feel a little like Cinderella when my heel got caught in the grass and Mr. W had to bend down to retrieve my glass slipper shoe and put it on my foot. 

He called the pumpkin carriage cab company who informed us that it would be at least a half an hour. We decided to wait outside anyways in case we missed it. Being late September in Montreal, it was pretty nippy that late in the evening, especially right by the river where we were, but I had my boyfriend to keep me warm!

In the words of the wise Ingrid Michaelson: "And it`s cold outside, but I`m just fine. You are mine to keep warm".

After about 45 minutes in the cold in my strapless cocktail dress, the moment seemed a lot less magical and a lot more hypothermia. An HOUR passed and still no sign of any cab, we called back. Dispatch rudely answered that they were very busy and since we were out of their way they would only send a cab once they finished their run. We asked if there was an alternate cab company we could call and they laughed and said yeah, about five towns over. We were screwed!

At this point, all of our friends had left the wedding so we had no-one to take us home. As we froze, I kept imagining my car sitting idly in a parking lot 10 minutes away. I suggested hiking out there in the dark in my 4 inch heels and Mr. W laughed at how delirious I must be.

Finally, at 2 am, the bride and groom and their families were cleaning up the party and noticed us still standing out there. Mr. Waterfall talked to the groom and explained the situation. Knowing about the impending proposal, the groom quickly asked one of the bride’s brothers to drive us.

Poor Mr.W was in such a rotten mood that nothing was going according to his perfect plan, but I had managed to stay perfectly and uncharacteristically calm throughout the whole thing.

By the time we finally made it to the hotel, he had pretty much given up on the whole proposal idea. Then, magic happened. He was blowing on my hands to warm them up when I saw him glance at my naked ring finger. His brow furrowed, the way it does when he`s really serious about something, and I saw his eyes flicker with determination. He told me in his most business-like voice that the last 2 hours simply had never happened, and we wound back the imaginary clock in our minds. He reminisced about the last 8 years we spent together and told me he didn't want to be my boyfriend anymore. I'm not gonna lie, I legitimately thought I was about to be dumped!

Before I even knew what was happening, he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring I had “let him borrow” a few months before. I`ll be honest, I barely remember what words he used or what came after. I only remember being so emotional that I didn’t even answer him at first. I just sat there like an idiot, ugly crying, snot and everything!

After I managed to finally utter a yes, we cuddled with blankets and drank our champagne.



Here is the first picture of me as a newly engaged woman, posing with my bouquet and my ring, red puffy eyes and all/ personal photo

Somehow, this "un-perfect" proposal, with all the hitches along the way, turned into the most perfect, heartfelt proposal I could have wanted, and it`s what makes our proposal story one of my favorite stories to tell.

If my wedding turns out this un-perfect, I`m just fine with that!

Did you see your proposal coming?

(Water)falling in love: The Proposal

"I'm not going to tell the story the way it happened. I'm going to tell i the way I remember it." - Great Expectations

We had gotten invited to his friends' wedding on our anniversary weekend. Since the location was about a 2hr drive away, we decided to get a nice hotel and celebrate our anniversary after the wedding. Before we left, he went to the store and purchased some spur of the moment Veuve Clicquot champagne and told me that we could open it when we got back to the hotel.

A part of me was really hoping he would pop the question, but thought it was best to check my expectations at the door, so I wouldn’t be upset all weekend when he didn’t propose. We arrived early and checked into the hotel, which was the next town over but a 10 minute drive to the wedding according to Google maps. Not wanting to drink and drive, we left the car at the hotel parking lot and decided to take a taxi for the short trip.

Mr. W and I at the wedding

The ceremony was beautiful and of course I cried through the whole thing (no surprise there, I sometimes cry during commercials). We enjoyed cocktail hour and made small talk during dinner, but I kept glancing at my watch, anxious to leave. Don’t get me wrong, I love weddings, but we had a cozy hotel room and some perfectly chilled champagne waiting for us! Thoughts of a proposal twirled in my mind and I quashed them like bugs. 

Every friend and acquaintance that we ran into all evening asked the same question: “When are you guys getting hitched?” or to Mr. Waterfall, “When are you gonna pop the question?”, Mr. W coolly replied that we weren’t in a hurry, which only made me more irritated. He later told me that every time I got up from the table to use the washroom or get a drink, he told the people at our table that he was planning on asking later that night, and to stop bringing it up. 

After a few dances, I was itching to head out when the bride announced the bouquet toss. "Couldn’t hurt my chances" I thought, and joined the throngs of single ladies with desperate eyes. I was way at the back and off to the side, so I figured my chances were pretty slim, especially since I never win anything. In what seemed like an eternity, the bride tossed the bouquet, which beach-ball-bounced over hundreds of fingers and finally landed on a table beside me. I froze, looked around, and decided to grab it. Pretty uneventful right? WRONG!

Bride Wars/ image via Too Many Weddings

A snotty teenaged girl sitting at the table where the bouquet had landed decided to forcefully take it from me after I was already holding it by the stem. With each tug, the bouquet lost petals and my determination grew! 

This was MY bouquet! This girl wasn’t even old enough to get married, and hadn’t even been standing with the rest. If I sound crazy, and I’m sure that I do, blame the bouquet logic. After one last tug, she let go and I walked away victorious … apparently having elbowed a small child in the process, which Mr. W still teases me about to this day. 

The kid was fine though, believe me, I checked. I will say, though, that his mom was not a fan of mine whatsoever. I later overheard her describe me as a crazed girl who climbed on top of the table and injured her son in the eye (all of which were grossly exaggerated btw).

Dramatization. Not actually me/ Image via Wink Photography/ Photography by Wink Photography

Yes you guys, I turned into one of those psycho bouquet girls, oh, the shame! And though my story is not nearly as embarassing as the picture above, I still blush every time Mr. Waterfall teases me about it.

Have you ever been involved in a bouquet toss that got a little out of hand?

How I met your Waterfall

Kids, have I ever told you the story of how I met your Water(fall)?

Ok, so he's technically my Waterfall, not yours. But, how else was I supposed to make that super-cute-not-at-all-predictable-unbeliavably-cheesy HIMYM reference? Okayyyy?

Ok. Sit down, this may take a while...

Just kidding! :)

It was 10 years ago, and I was your average pimply faced, frizzy haired, pre-makeover-Anne-Hathaway-looking teenager. 

Anne Hathaway as Mia in the Primcess Diaries/ image via Vaughan Public Library Vortex

Well, I had just started College* at a brand new school and felt very alone. 

*College: weird, Quebec School System hybrid between the typical last year of highschool and first year of university or community college. Sort of a pre-university program. For instance, I was pre-med and then switched to pre-law.

Fast forward a few months to my 17th birthday. I was supposed to have lunch with my chubby lab partner (Cliched, I know), when this  loud, Harry Potter looking guy shows up and hugs her out of the blue. 

Now, clearly, I thought Harry had terrible manners because he not only crashed my birthday lunch, but proceeded to make things incredibly akward for me when he declared his supposedly undying love for my friend.

If you didn't already guess it, Mr. Potter actually turned out to be none other than Mr. Water! I would also like to add that it turns out he was NOT madly in love with my lab partner whatsoever, but simply thought it would be hilarious to freak her out by pretending that he was... Yup, that's Mr. W for ya, always the prankster!

After our crazy first encounter, we kept running into one another and eventually started to hang out and get to know each-other as friends. Oddly enough, one of the ways we first bonded was by giving eachother dating advice. It was like the blind leading the blind!

 

By the time Valentine's Day rolled around, we were both still single (I wonder why?) and decided to casually go see a movie, the way any two single friends would on the most comercially forced romantic holiday of the year. Well, imagine my suprise when Mr. Waterfall showed up at school with a teddy bear, a carnation and a card, and asked me to be his girlfriend, completely out of the blue and without any previous hint of even liking me as more than a friend! 

Ok, that was the short story. The long story is actually that Mr. Waterfall showed up at school with all that amazing stuff, but still played it off like we were just friends and this was totally a normal thing to be doing. I, of course, freaked and invited another friend to be the third wheel at the movies. Once the night ended and I thought I was home free, I logged onto MSN messenger (vintage, I know) where Mr. W professed his undying love and affection. 

It actually took us a few months to go on our first date, and a few more after that to officially become a couple. But there you have it kids, the story of how I met your Water(fall)! 

How did you meet your "one"?