How We Met
I first heard her name when my buddy, Joe, and I were on our way to a birthday party in early November 2014. He started talking about how he was supposed to go to a formal dance with a new girl and he wanted me to come with so he could avoid any awkward circumstances. Of course I was excited to go to a sorority dance! Joe found one of his date’s good friends on Facebook and pulled up a stunning picture of Valerie. I had never seen someone so beautiful, I figured there is no way she could be into me, she is far out of my league, but I will give it a shot. The next day I sent Valerie a text (see photo attached) and we worked out a coffee date before class so we could finally meet. I remember picking her up for that date like it was this morning: the clothes she was wearing, the perfume she had on, and her beautifully curled blonde hair shining in the morning sunlight. It is so cliché to say “it was love at first sight” but I fell so deeply in love with her that morning. Her beautiful blue eyes had me hooked sitting across from her. I knew from that moment, I was going to have to work my tail off to win her over. I called my dad afterwards, “Dad, I think I just met my wife. But she is so far out of my league.”
how they asked
Valerie and I had been dating for about 7 months when we stumbled into our first jewelry store to “browse.” After a lot of thought on my part, I determined that Thanksgiving 2015 would be the best time to ask her to be my partner for life. Her parents had recently moved to Colorado and would be in town for the holidays. The planning started in late September and I knew I wanted to do something really special for her. I knew her best friend from college was going to be in town for the holidays as well, so I made her my liaison for the whole event.
On November 25th Jordan, Valerie’s friend from college, and Val went to get their nails done before a “normal” night together to catch up. However this was the beginning of my master plan to propose to her that day. I had called ahead to have her nails and cocktails paid for at the salon, and upon checkout the worker handed her a letter with “V” written on it. The letter instructed her to go home and get ready for an unforgettable night out. Valerie hates surprises, and I knew going into this I wanted to ease her into the whole proposal, so my intention with the first letter was to hint to her that I was going to propose without actually telling her so.
After arriving home, I allowed her and Jordan an hour to fix themselves up before Joe, their chauffeur for the evening and my buddy who introduced us, would pick them up. I also left a note at her house explaining how much I adore her and how I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with her.
Joe picked them up an hour later and took them to the first location for the evening, a margarita bar downtown. There I left another note explaining why I brought them to this place. The reason: when we met we formed a tradition on campus called “Margarita Mondays” where we would get margaritas and queso on discount every week. I guess you could say our relationship was built upon these special Mondays.
The chauffeur proceeded to take them to a small wine bar down the road for some prepaid drinks. Here she received another note from me, this time simply telling her to enjoy some wine on me and reflect on the past with Jordan.
After the wine, Joe picked them up and took the ladies to a place special to us, the IU School of Dentistry, where Valerie is a student. Waiting for her at IUSD was her favorite Dental School friend, Julianna. i organized for Julianna to meet Val, Jordan, and Joe at the school so that Valerie could share this moment with her best friends and read another note from yours truly. In the note I mention how these years are so special to us as a team and how much i love her and am proud of her for not only getting into Dental School, but doing exceedingly well. She then reads aloud a quote special to the two of us:
“True love, however, isn’t an emotion. It isn’t a way of feeling. It’s a way of living. It’s about being there for the one you love because you don’t see it any other way. And even more than that, it’s about doing your part to build a bond so strong that even when one of you leaves this earth, the love you two shared lives on.”
From here, Joe took her to the final location, a rooftop venue downtown, however before she got out of the car to take the elevator upstairs everyone made sure to be in place ahead of her. Her little brother, Mitch, was waiting at the front door of the venue to take her hand and blindfold her for the journey upstairs. After the blindfolding, they entered the elevator and made their way up to the roof. As I was waiting outside, our families were waiting inside around the corner watching her step outside. I will never forget seeing her take the blindfold off and lock eyes with me from across the roof followed by her running into my arms and then getting down on one knee to ask her the biggest question of my life.
See the video for the whole experience!
