Our Engagement - November 2013

One of my favorite memories from November 2013 was getting all dressed up and going to look at rings on the famous Bond Street in Central London.  Bond Street has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century and is known for it's expensive, high-end stores that line the street.  Today it's one of the most expensive strips of real estate in the world, which made it the perfect place to begin our ring search (hehe).  It was pretty intimidating going into the super-secure buildings, but we had fun pretending to be posh and gawking at the expensive, beautiful jewelry.

The actual day of our engagement was the day of the Guy Fawkes fireworks celebration at Battersea park.  I was feeling sorry for myself because last year we went to see the show with a bunch of friends and it was a really fun (albeit cold!) experience, but this year no one was able to come and it ended up being just Lloyd and I.  (As if that's a bad thing, haha)  I was moping around and wishing our friends would have come but decided to try and have fun anyways, so I packed a picnic blanket, bottle of wine and some plastic glasses and booked us in for dinner at Pizza Express before the show.  I picked Pizza Express because it was on the way down to the park and also because I had a gift card that I wanted to use up.  After dinner we walked the long walk to the park and I was able to smuggle my wine in my jacket, and we set up a dark, chilly picnic on the ground in preparation for the show to start. A few minutes after we got there Lloyd asked me what time it was and when I thought the fireworks were going to start, and I looked at my watch and told him we probably had 10mins to go.

He very casually put his hand in his pocket and said, 'Well before this kicks off I just want to give you this...' and hands me a small little box.  Looking back, it was a total James Bond moment for him; he just sounded so super cool and suave, and totally surprised me! The surprise wore off quickly though, as I grabbed the box away from him and opened it, to reveal what looked to be something small and sparkly....but it was a bit too dark to tell.  Luckily I had my phone handy so I turned on the flashlight to illuminate a beautiful, sparkly ring that seemed to light up the whole park.  I immediately extinguished the light, as I suddenly became paranoid that someone would see it and try to grab it from me, so I put the ring on  my finger, just to be safe :)

My second reaction  was to challenge Lloyd, and I asked him several times if  he really wanted to do this, but to be honest he would have struggled to get the ring away from me at that point.  I was sure that I had persuaded him to do this and he grudgingly went along with it.  I explained to him how I'm persuasive for a living so it would make sense if I had somehow talked him into all this...He assured me that he knew what he was doing, and that he wanted us to spend our lives together.

I kept saying, 'are you serious?  Are you serious??'

I was almost thinking it was a joke, I couldn't believe he had surprised me so well, as I was sure I'd be able to recognise the signs before it happened.  But he totally stumped me and it was a beautiful moment, just the two of us.  We clinked our plastic glasses together, toasted to our future and then watched a fantastci fireworks show on the banks of the Thames.  The whole thing was so surreal - I felt so lucky to be sharing an amazing moment with such a special person and I almost had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  It was definitely one of those 'this-is-awesome-how-did-I-end-up-here' moments.

Lloyd, ever the opportunist, had bought the ring a few weeks earlier and was hiding it deep in the depths of his sock drawer and was waiting for the right moment to give it to me.  When he realised halfway through the week that none of our friends were accompanying us to the fireworks he knew it would be a perfect opportunity.  I further assisted him by booking dinner, paying for dinner, packing a picnic blanket, glasses, and wine - so essentially I planned my entire proposal without even knowing it. He's such a smart guy, the lil' stinker.

As an added bonus, a portion of the fireworks was set to the Charlie Daniels song 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' and I felt like they played it just for me, giving me a small dose of home on a very special night.

Happy girl :)