Waiting for an engagement

The engagement. I know that some brides are not expecting an engagement at all when it happens. The other half have spent hours and possibly even years in anticipation knowing that the moment was upon us. Some others spend days wondering, waiting, and getting impatient because their boyfriends have allowed them in on the process. I honestly kept coming up with scenarios in my mind, and shared some of those ideas with others. When Kyle heard I was trying to guess how he would propose (which is totally normal), he told me to stop trying to ruin the surprise. Oops.

My final guess was that on a work trip to Chicago, with Kyle tagging along, he would propose on Navy Pier, where his grandparents wed. So, after a weekend full of fun sightseeing, romantic moments, and minimal required meetings, when it had not happened I figured that it was not meant to be.

Until our last day. Here is how the day unfolded:

Another normal day in Chicago it was not.  Sunny and warm, for starters. And, work was paying the bill for our hotel for an extra night, allowing us to attend the most unique of events, the Pride parade. We knew we’d need to get the party started early with some screwdrivers! (Little did I know that Kyle was letting my coworkers in on his plan for later that day while mixing up some drinks.)

We took a crazy cab across the city for 45 minutes to get to the marina and the parade route. I sat blissfully in the center of the back seat, and my coworkers and Kyle texted messages back and forth about the secret. I was CLUELESS.

After being amazed by the show of support for the GLBT community during the Parade, and sipping drinks in the marina of Lake Michigan, Kyle and I headed off to take in a few more last minute sights around Chicago. We rode public transportation. We walked along Michigan Avenue. We even went to the top of the Hancock building for appetizers and martinis with a view. At this point, the weekend away was almost over, and with no proposal over the course of all the romantic dates (pizza at Lou Malnati’s, an architecture river boat tour), I decided that Chicago was NOT the locale of our engagement as I had originally thought. 

That just goes to show that even after 6 years together, Kyle can still completely take me by surprise. For the rest of our engagement story, see my next entry!

Shopping for a ring

After many years of love, fun, and happiness, it was evident that the time had come to get serious. I went through my ups and downs about feeling like I was wasting my time when I was in such a long relationship without any signs of moving forward. Looking back, the signs were always there, and the extra time it took was worth it! Kyle and I started to really move forward about 6 months before our actual engagement. We first went to some jewelry stores to see what styles we liked, what options are out there, and to reaffirm our decision that we were ready. Some guys do the ring shopping without any input from their girlfriends, but having gone through the selection process with Kyle, I am really touched that I got to give my opinions and that we got to share in the excitement together. 

For some, going through the shopping process may feel like it will ruin the surprise or lessen the impact of the actual engagement. I am here to reassure you brides-to-be that it is ok to ask for what you would like. I simply wanted a classic design that I won’t regret in 20 years. I won the battle of princess cut versus round cut with a round cut center diamond. (Round really has the most sparkle ladies).  When it came down to it, after visiting four stores, we found a local, small jeweler (not a chain) who not only seemed to care about us as a couple (not just customers) but who wanted to create a dream engagement ring for us. He drew up a custom designed ring on the CAD for us (no charge) and helped Kyle through the rest of the process of selecting detail and diamond, this time without my input. You’ll have to wait for the rest of the story…

Our Jeweler