During my (Brynn) sophomore year at the University of Delaware, I had yet to find a date for an upcoming sorority semi-formal. My friend (now bridesmaid) Nikki suggested she set me up with her good friend John, who she had known since high school and thought I could really hit it off with. Her idea was that I would join their weekly lunch on Wednesdays at Trabant, the UD student center, to meet him before the dance. I was nervous since I had never been on a blind date before, but trusted Nikki, who promised he was easy to talk to, and agreed.
The following Wednesday, I found Nikki sitting at a booth in the back of Trabant. A nervous two minutes later, John joined and introduced himself. Soon after, Nikki told us she was grabbing lunch and would be right back, but purposefully took much longer than necessary so we could get to know each other. With Nikki nowhere to be found, John and I decided to chat for an hour over a Chick-Fil-A lunch before Nikki came back to walk with me to class. She was right, it was so incredibly easy to talk to John - we probably would've lost track of time if she hadn't come back and gotten us!
The next day I texted John and formally asked him to be my date to the dance. Even though he thought that I should've spelled out, "Will you go to the dance with me?" in Chick-Fil-A nuggets, he thankfully accepted. After our first “official” date to Panera and having the greatest time at the semi-formal, we both knew we wanted to spend more time together. We enjoyed a few more dates on Main Street before saying our goodbyes for an extremely long, 8 week winter break. Thankfully John is the world's best texter and we proceeded to talk every day until the first day of Spring semester in February. Three weeks into Spring semester, John asked me to be his girlfriend.
Since we met Fall semester, sophomore year, we were lucky enough to have over half of college left to spend with each other before going into the real world. This was full of many more sorority formals, birthday parties, meeting each other's friends that became our own friends, and way too many memories to count. At Delaware, they have a tradition that if you meet your future spouse while in school there, you are now "Double Dels". They also have a tradition that if you kiss underneath the "kissing arches" on the Green, you will be with that person forever. Those arches must really work, because in October 2019, we will officially be Double Dels!
After graduation, we both got job offers in New York City. Since John was from Pennsylvania and I was from Virginia, we had spent every Summer and Winter Break during college apart, aside from the visits we had planned. We were both so excited to be living in the same city again. My parent's were wonderful enough to allow us to live with them in their NYC apartment for the first year out of school. It gave John the opportunity to really get to know them, which was a lot of fun. After living there for a year, we found the cutest loft apartment in midtown. Though we were sad to leave our roommates, we were excited to start this next chapter together.
I'll take over from here (John). Moving in gave us a great opportunity to experience life independently together. The compatibility of our personalities and life-styles made this huge step seem natural. Next in line was buy a ring and plan the proposal. Once I knew the style ring I wanted to purchase, I secretly went back a few times to make the final decisions and had Brynn's sister (and Matron of Honor), Alex, come along with me to help. The ring was ordered and shipped just before Christmas.
After a few logistical juggles, the ring made it's way to Brynn's parent's apartment in NYC for hiding and safe-keeping. Our studio loft is a little too small to be hiding something that Brynn could probably find with her eyes closed. The pressure is heavy now. The ring is here. I want to propose, but I don't know how and when to do it yet.
I planned the proposal for Saturday, February 17th, 2018. Right after Valentine's Day and right before our dating anniversary. The Bow Bridge in Central Park is one of our favorite locations in the city. The memories and landscape were perfect, especially on that day. With Brynn on high alert, I needed all the help I could get to pull it off. Luckily, Brynn's parents, Alex and brother-in-law, Charlie, all live in NYC. Charlie is a prolific photographer. He travels all around NYC doing shoots for various fashion bloggers. Central Park has been a common destination and if he were to "have another photo shoot" on Saturday, February 17th, then it would be safe to assume that nobody would think twice about it. Being the thoughtful person Charlie is, he would also invite all of us to meet him for lunch before his shoot, given that the weather will be nice and we live fairly close. The Central Park Boathouse is a great lunch spot and a little on the fancy side. One way to get there is by crossing over the Bow Bridge.
Manipulative as a team, the initial text went out to our family group chat. Parents - "Great idea! We will meet you at the restaurant!" Alex - "Brynn & John, come up to my place so that us and Charlie can walk through the park together!" The ring moved from the apartment to Alex's pocket; From Alex's pocket to my pocket (Wow Brynn, look at those trees!); And enjoyed a serene, leisurely stroll until the parents surprised us on the Bow Bridge. Brynn fell for the distraction. Charlie's camera was locked and loaded. I took one more huge step and went down to my knee.