How We Met
Charlie and I met on OKCupid. We dated for about 2 months before he moved to Austin, for the next 10 months we dated long distance before he was transferred back to Houston. We dated almost two and a half years before he asked me to marry him.
On our first date, Charlie took me to Barnaby’s cafe for dinner, we had the most amazing time, and like a perfect gentleman Charlie walked me to my car. As we walked, I mentioned how much I loved the attached Baby Barnaby’s for brunch , and Charlie casually commented “well maybe sometime I can take you there.” Since then we have been waiting for the perfect time to grab brunch.
how they asked
Michelle: That perfect time to grab brunch came after our Whole30. All I wanted was a waffle, and Charlie finally agreed that we could go to Baby Barnaby’s.
Charlie: Before we even started our diet I knew I was going to propose, I just didn’t know how we could go without her catching wind of me proposing. After 15 days of Whole30 I think she was still suspicious of my motives for going there but she really wanted a waffle
Michelle: I woke up early that morning ready to go, too excited to sleep, plus I know that Baby Barnaby’s ALWAYS has a wait, and I was HUNGRY.
Charlie: I knew she was going to want to go bright and early but I needed it to be a little later, I put on an eye mask to pretend I was still asleep and that bought me an extra hour. We finally left around 9:15 and I was counting on an hour wait since Michelle said she had never been there without a line of people.
Michelle: When we arrived at the restaurant there was no one in line. I didn’t even know what we were supposed to do.. “do we sit down?” “do we just stand here awkwardly until someone notices us?” There was an open table on the patio so I decided just to sit down.
Charlie: I even called ahead on Friday to check and see if there would be a wait and they said there is always a line of people… just not this morning.
Michelle: I knew exactly what I wanted, like I said, I’ve been waiting 2.5 years to come here so I’ve had A LOT of time to decide.
Charlie: I on the other hand wanted to drag this brunch out as long as possible because we sat down at 9:30 and I had told the photographer to get there at 11. The whole time I was texting the photographer to see when she would be there, I told Michelle I was looking at pictures of food on Yelp which I usually do. I knew what I wanted but waited for the third trip around by the waiter until I ordered. The whole time I was hoping for the slowest service possible. Unfortunately my Green Eggs came out promptly.
Michelle: I ate my waffle quickly, per the usual, and sat there waiting for Charlie to finish!
Charlie: Of all the clues that I was going to propose, I figured me eating as slow as humanly possible would have been a dead giveaway that something was suspicious.
Michelle: When we were done Charlie insisted we relax for a little while, I could see the line forming and was getting anxious to leave. I didn’t want to be the jerk holding everyone up.
Charlie: Usually I get anxiety at a restaurant if I know I am holding up service, but I didn’t care today since I was going to leave a nice tip. My final delay tactic was to go to the bathroom even though I didn’t need to. I sat in there for about 5 minutes waiting to hear from the photographer. Right when I was heading out she told me she arrived, but the spot I wanted was crowded and cars were in the way…well so much for plans. I stood in the supply closet without A/C for another 5 minutes figuring out where I could do the proposal so we could get a good photo. Ten minutes later I came out of the bathroom covered in sweat…not suspicious at all. The whole brunch I was only thinking about getting the timing correct but when I started walking out to the table it hit me, now there was only one more step, the actual proposal.
Michelle: At this point I was a little disappointed, I was thinking to myself “well if I was Charlie, this would have been the perfect opportunity to propose.” Charlie asked me at this point to go for a walk, saying his stomach hurt, I rolled my eyes and agreed. All I wanted to do was go home, it was hot, I was full, and my hair was a humid mess.
Charlie: I just wanted to get her on the other side of the sidewalk and away from the crowd of people.
Michelle: All of a sudden Charlie took my hand and says “Hey Michelle, you know I love you” and that was all it took to make me start tearing up.
Charlie: As soon as I said that she knew I was proposing and I totally lost it and started tearing up too!
Michelle: Once we got it together, Charlie starts his proposal with the words every girl wants to hear “When I pulled up behind your car and saw your monogrammed sticker I thought to myself ‘man this girl is going to be high maintenance'”
Charlie: When I first thought of what I wanted to say I wanted to add a joke because we love to laugh and are never serious. The night before I had spent about 15 minutes in the car practicing my speech to her, but after that first line we both started crying.
Michelle: From that point I can’t tell you exactly what he said..
Charlie: I then followed it up by saying “Then I got on the date and I had an amazing time and all I could think of was I had to see this girl again and spend more time with her. Now I want to spend the rest of my life with you”
Michelle: something about how great our date was and wanting to see me again. He got down on one knee and said he wanted to spend his life with me.
Charlie: According to Michelle I never asked, but I figured the getting on one knee with a diamond was a universal question.
Michelle: At this point I was just so happy, my ring was beautiful, Charlie proposal was sentimental and perfect for us, I couldn’t ask for anything more. Charlie then told me that the diamond in my ring was my mom’s, cue the waterworks again, and not only that, the ring box he used was Maureen’s. Charlie managed to work both of my mom’s into the proposal, talk about someone who knows me well.
Charlie: I knew that it would mean a lot but it didn’t hit me how much until I was with her and saw how emotional she was. I honestly can say it was the best moment in my life so far.
Michelle: I was still in shock when we headed down the street to Boheme and our friends and family started streaming in. It was like a new surprise with each arrival. I couldn’t believe all of these people knew what was going on and I had NO IDEA.
Charlie: Another reason I never got too stressed about the actual proposal was because I was busy having to organize a party. It was so hard because the ideal person to help organize it was Michelle but she was the only one who couldn’t help. Luckily I did an good enough job and got all our close family and friends there.
Michelle: It was the perfect day and something we will never forget. We can’t wait to spend the rest of our life together, and most importantly we can’t wait to celebrate with all the people we love.