"If you propose to me, I'd love
it if it was on video! Oh, and it would be awesome if all my closest
friends were there so we could have an engagement party right afterwards!
But really...I just want it on video. No pressure...we could be
going for a run, and all of a sudden, you get down on one knee, and some random
person is in the bushes taking a video!" That's what I told Zach on our first vacation in Jamaica last November. Was I asking for too
much? I didn't think so. :)
A month before Valentine's Day, Canvas & Chardonnay, a local painting business in Rochester, asked their Facebook fans what we'd like to paint for that day. They suggested two paintings that a couple could paint separately that would come together as one. I immediately agreed with that option and had really wanted to paint a beach with bright blue waters to reminisce Jamaica! Unfortunately, they decided to go with a different painting for Valentine's Day.
That didn't stop us from going on more dates at Canvas & Chardonnay! On Monday, March 31st, Zach and I painted the Cherry Blossom painting that we had wanted to paint for almost a year. As Zach was looking around the room, he noticed something on the wall near us—it was the couples beach painting I wanted to paint for Valentine's Day! Since I'm the planner, I'm usually the one who schedules our dates and events. This time, Zach told me he would take care of it and sign us up for our next painting. I was excited that he offered to do that for us!
Less than
a month later, Canvas & Chardonnay released their next month’s calendar
with all of their planned paintings.
Since Zach said he’d take care of signing us up, I tried to avoid their
website. I logged into Facebook that
morning, and what do I see on my newsfeed—Canvas & Chardonnay’s sneak peak
of their calendar. Of course I couldn’t
help myself, and I looked at their calendar.
There it was, on Saturday, May 31st, the couples beach
painting! I was SO excited that I had to
try signing up for it! Then I saw the
dreaded words…SOLD OUT! L I texted Zach letting him
know what happened, and his response? He
already signed us up!!! I was stoked!!
A little
while later, Zach told me he already asked his mom to watch his little man for
us that weekend. At that point, I
thought it was a little suspicious that Zach didn’t wait until the last week or
so to find someone to watch him like he usually does. But, I decided to not dwell on it.
On
Sunday, May 4th, we had very little sleep since we had waited in line
for Madison’s Great Taste tickets. We
decided to take a nap, and right before I laid down, I had a thought. What if…Zach proposed to me at Canvas &
Chardonnay for that painting he just had signed us up for?! It’d be absolutely perfect since we were one
of Canvas & Chardonnay’s 1st customers when they opened in April
2013 and had painted many times throughout the past year. I thought it was also perfect because I
wouldn’t see it coming (haha). We’d
paint the painting, and then afterwards, the photographer would walk around and
capture our moment on video of Zach proposing!
Meanwhile, Zach noticed the goofy look on my face and asked what I was
thinking. I said nothing! He asked again. I said nothing, and he shouldn’t ask for his
own good! He knew I knew.
A week
later, I was searching my online calendar, which had automatically opened all
of my shared calendars. I had selected
the next 3 weeks to enter in a reminder and noticed “Chardonnay painting” on my
friend’s calendar. That goofy look was
back on my face! At this moment, Zach
immediately got off the phone with his mom and asked what I just saw. I told him I didn’t want to tell him and
eventually told him I knew. After weeks
of debating calling it off and switching it up, we decided to go through with
the surprise proposal at Canvas & Chardonnay, but decided not to tell
anyone. We wanted it to be just that—a
surprise! I especially didn’t want to
know all of the details. The best part
of finding out when it was coming was Zach suggesting that I could pick out my
outfit and get my nails done to match my outfit!
After
weeks of impatiently waiting, Saturday, May 31st finally
arrived! Leading up to that day, Zach had hid sour patch kids, a couple notes, and a picture in my Surface bag on Thursday and my night stand on Friday. Little did I know that each note continued to the note the next day! On Saturday, I had butterflies in my stomach,
and my knees were shaking all day! I was
so nervous to have my closest friends watch me not be surprised, but the
reality was they just were so excited to be part of our moment! I was more nervous than Zach! He suggested we schedule our first couple’s
massage, and that’s just what we did.
Halfway through the massage, he asked if I was feeling more relaxed, and
I said no! While I was thinking about my
friends’ reaction, he was rehearsing his speech.
After the
couple’s massage, we headed to my place.
I had about an hour to get ready.
I put on the dress that so happened to match my toenails and nervously
got ready. I asked him if I should bring
tissues, and he told me not to worry. I
was thinking one of my friends would walk up to me and hand me a tissue, but
little did I know. It was finally
6:15pm, and we headed downtown.
As we
walked toward the door of Canvas & Chardonnay, Zach tried to distract me
with laughter. We reached to the door,
and Zach opened it for me. I barely walked
through the door, and I saw Joe, one of the owners of Canvas & Chardonnay,
smile at me and say surprise! I
immediately noticed the song that was playing—Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie
Collie, one of our favorite love songs! I barely looked around the room, and I saw so
many people standing there, including my closest friends and Zach’s best friend
growing up! I immediately started crying
and said “Lon! You even got Lon here?!”
Zach held me tight as I cried with joy not expecting to see such a large
group of our friends, and he reached down into his pocket. He showed everyone in the room something—tissues—and
crowd laughed!
What felt
like a half an hour went by and after slowly dancing to our song, I finally had
the courage to walk down the aisle toward our friends on the stage holding canvases. As we walked hand in hand, I looked and
smiled at all of the people on the right side of the room. All of sudden, I saw someone holding a camera
in one hand, nonchalantly waiving the other hand, and said “surprise” out
loud. It was my brother!!! I immediately LOST it, and then I heard my
friends in the background crying with me.
It turned out that Zach asked my brother, Hytham, for my hand in
marriage months prior since he was unable to ask my dad. I was just at a loss for words…
The next
song came on, and it was Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. At the beginning of our relationship, Zach
told me that this song reminded him of me and sent me some of the lyrics. He had a playlist of all of our favorite love
songs—not just one! We finally stopped
near the canvases, and he started his speech quietly enough for just me to
hear. He wanted our proposal to be as
intimate as possible with our loved ones around us.
My
favorite part of his speech was “early in our relationship, we had a game where
we would ask each other questions to learn more about one another. That allowed us to learn so much about the
other person and to grow so much closer.
I want a lifetime of asking each other questions and that lifetime begins
with a very important question.” Then he
motioned to the friends who were holding the canvases to flip them over, and I
saw the beautifully painted canvases in front of my eyes, each one of them with
a letter: “W-I-L-L Y-O-U M-A-R-R-Y M-E?”
I looked back to Zach, and he was down on one knee, and I backed up with
shock and excitement as he asked the words “will you marry me, Eman?”
I said
yes…yes…YES (in case I wasn’t actually talking out loud or he couldn’t hear
me), and he gave me a huge hug! Then he
slid the ring on my finger with the gorgeous diamond and the 2 blue peekaboo
diamonds to match his eyes! Joe handed us our favorite glasses of Four Daughters wine (Frontenac Gris), and I had to put the glass down because I couldn't stop shaking with excitement!
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