Tales from the Wedding: The Proposal

There are so many stories surrounding my recent wedding. I don't want to forget any of them, so I'm recording them for posterity here. This is lifted directly from our wedding website.

I knew for a long time that I wanted to ask Jaclyn to spend the rest of our lives together. When her parents visited New York in July of 2013, I spoke with them and got the go ahead. Jaclyn and I were planning on moving in together and I didn't want to wait too long after that. Jaclyn was also planning on running the NYC Marathon for the first time, and I wanted, with all my heart, to propose around that momentous event.

That did not happen.

Timing just did not work out. November was a crazy time between the Marathon, moving, and work. Jaclyn finished the race and three weeks later we moved in together to our wonderful apartment (in Brooklyn, but with a view of Manhattan). We got settled, and then I started thinking about how to pop the question. Thankfully Jaclyn had another race coming up in March - the New York City Half Marathon.

It was going to be perfect - Jaclyn often described it as her favorite race. I don't think she realized it but every time she said "Eh, maybe I won't run it" I tried to convince her otherwise. Thank goodness she listened (I didn't have another idea). With huge help from friends (Janie and Jocelyn, I'm talking about you) I put plans into place. Of course I nearly blew it the week before when I got sick and blamed the stress on her parents visiting the upcoming weekend. I couldn't well and good tell her was was actually freaking me out (but in a totally good way).

Sunday was race day and Jaclyn left early. I triple checked my pocket to make sure the ring was there and set out to cheer on my (hopeful) fiancee. We saw her at Times Square and Jocelyn was keeping her going strong. The three of us trekked down town in the bitter cold to meet up with more of our friends and my parents.

Jaclyn finished the race with a personal record and I met her at the finish line. Her first words to me were "I'm going to throw up." I was too. I patted my pocket to make sure the ring was still there and led her and Jocelyn (who did everything to keep Jaclyn moving forward) towards where our friends and families were gathered. Jaclyn made the rounds, hugging and saying hi, but she couldn't understand why everyone had their phones out. Behind her I got the ring ready and made her turn around. I dropped to one knee and could barely get the words out before she said yes.

"You need to put the ring on me stupid."

"I can't; you're crying into that hand."

But that's not all. After an afternoon of phone calls and congratulations, our families went out to dinner together. This was all a ploy to get our friends into the apartment for a surprise party (again, thank you Jocelyn and Janie). When we got back, Jaclyn was surprised.

"Why didn't you tell me to dress nicer?"

"I said you would want to look nice for the pictures. You wanted me to give this all away?"

It was perfect and magical. I am happy I don't have to do it again, because I could never top it.