How We Met
Alex and I had actually met for the first time in 2010 at a mutual friend’s home, but it was a brief introduction and we didn’t stay in touch. We were reacquainted in early 2013 through the same mutual friends. Since we had a common interest in electronic music, we would see each other at music events we both attended. Eventually, Alex added me as a friend on Facebook and would message me from time to time. Whenever he would message, he would always talk to me about music, so I really didn’t think he was interested in anything more than a friendship.
Then, in July of 2013, he asked me to go out to a party with him, without any of our mutual friends. I had one of my relatives visiting at the time, so the 3 of us went out together. Before the party that night, Alex came over to have a drink, and he purposely left some of his belongings at my place, so he’d have an excuse to see me again during the week. The following day, when he messaged me to make arrangements to pick up his belongings, he proposed the idea of “hanging out” at the same time. At that moment, I realized he had feelings for me.
We went on our first date a couple days after and became almost inseparable after that! He asked me to make it official in September of 2013 and also said “I love you” pretty early in the relationship. We both knew that this was special and different than all of our other relationships.
how they asked
On December 12, 2015, after dating for a little over 2 years, Alex (with help from some of our friends) managed to pull off what I previously thought was impossible: surprising me with a proposal! We had spoken about getting married several times before and I knew that he was going to propose sometime in 2015. For that reason, I didn’t think he’d be able to catch me off guard. Well, catching me off guard is an understatement compared to what he accomplished!
Before going for brunch that morning, our friends tricked me into believing that we were going to an art gallery to help them buy art for their new condo. When we got to the gallery, I thought it was a bit strange that our friends dispersed and didn’t start showing us the photos they liked and allegedly wanted to buy. After several minutes of looking around inside the gallery, a violinist appeared and began to play in the back room.
It actually took a few minutes before I began to realize what was going on! Tears started to roll down my cheeks, I got extremely nervous and shaky. Alex put his arm around me and guided me to the back wall. There, he had 4 framed photos arranged on a ledge with rose petals in front – a photo of a wheel, a photo of sweet potatoes, a photo of the Virgin Mary, and a photo of “ME”. He asked me to real aloud what the photos spelled out, helping me out a bit because I struggled with the sweet potatoes!
Wheel + Yam + Mary + Me!
He turned towards me, got down on one knee, pulled the ring box out of his coat, and asked me to make him the happiest man alive!
I was completely overwhelmed with emotion, and, of course, I said yes!!!
Each of our 3 friends who were there got the proposal on video.
The story doesn’t end there. The rest of the day was filled with so many more surprises, one after the other. Alex had my favourite champagne, Veuve Cliquot, at the gallery with beautiful flowers for me. He and his friends escorted me to brunch at a restaurant close to the art gallery, and when we walked in, many of our close friends were there to surprise me. He also had silver foil balloons arranged in the restaurant that spelled out “She Said Yes”.
Later in the afternoon, a limo took us to the airport, where Alex surprised me with a helicopter tour around Toronto. At night, he took me out for dinner at my favourite restaurant. And to cap it all off, he had arranged to give his friends the keys to our loft without me knowing; and during dinner, they secretly decorated our home. Just when I thought all the surprises had ended, when we got home from dinner and I opened the door, there were 2 rows of candles leading into the living room, the 4 framed photos were arranged against the wall with rose petals and candles in front of them, rose petals led into our bedroom and were arranged in a heart on the bed and all over the room, one of our favourite photos together was enlarged and made into a big print, and our favourite song was playing on repeat on the TV! It truly was the most spectacular and surprise-filled day of my entire life, and I couldn’t have dreamed of a better way to be proposed to!
