Tanya and I have been dating for close to seven years, growing very close together. We had begun planning our wedding even though there was no engagement yet. I fancy myself as a bit of a romantic and wanted to do something very special for my beloved. Our anniversary was quickly approaching in September — Tanya’s favourite time of year — and I wanted to mark this special occasion with a surprise weekend-getaway where I would ask for her hand in marriage.
Unfortunately, I had to have Tanya book off time from work so she suspected a proposal that weekend. That’s when I went to work, trying my best to make this a surprise.
The morning of, I packed up our car with everything required for this perfect weekend. Tanya was dying to know what our plan was and begged for hints. I only divulged bits of information one step at a time to keep up the suspense. Step one — drive into the old town of Niagara-On-The-Lake and "find" a romantic picnic area by the water with a view of the beautiful gazebo. I packed a homemade lunch with Tanya’s favourite foods, non-alcoholic wine and music. We laid the blanket out and fed each other, laughing and enjoying ourselves on this gorgeous day. This was the first part of the plan — I hoped to have Tanya believe a proposal was coming at lunch. To her dismay there was no such question.
The second step came after lunch, some shopping in town and a winery tour. We checked into the resort and freshened up for dinner. We dined in the resort’s elegant dining room, enjoying fine food and drinks. I had them seat us in a secluded area of the restaurant, making it romantic as we enjoyed each other’s company by candlelight. Again, Tanya was prepared for a proposal — and I declined to ask just yet.
Step three led us outside the resort into the rain and on our way back into the old town for a horse-drawn carriage ride. The carriage was majestic, and with everyone under shelter the town was silent except for the sound of rain dancing on the canopy above us. We cuddled together to avoid getting wet from the sides of the carriage, admiring our surroundings.
Towards the end of the ride I could tell Tanya was getting ancy — she surely thought the proposal was coming. Alas, I had one last surprise in store for her that evening.
Finally, we retired to our suite where we had planned to exchange our "anniversary" gifts we customarily buy for each other. I presented her with a custom made wooden puzzle – it was a picture of the water and gazebo that we sat in front of while we had our picnic earlier in the park. Tanya loved the puzzle, now realizing that we didn’t just stumble into the gazebo area by accident. We put the puzzle together and with only a handful of pieces left Tanya noticed a corner piece was missing. I kept this piece aside as it was special. It contained the words, "Tanya, will you marry me?" on it. Although she was now upset about the missing piece, I urged her to finish what we could, until finally, the puzzle lay there missing that one special piece. I pulled the piece out of my pocket, along with a ring and put the last piece on the table so she could complete it.
Once she realized what had happened I knelt beside her with ring in hand and asked for her hand in marriage. The answer… was a "Yes!"
Jason Whyte,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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