The day we got engaged

Vanessa:
How he proposed to me

I woke up on the 14th of February thinking about the day ahead. Mike and I had planned a nice Valentine's Day picnic at the Dandenong Rangers. I had carefully planned what to cook for lunch, how to carry it and even what to wear.

My day didn't start too well though. For starters, I slept in (8:48 instead of 7:00). Then the mushrooms in my quiche smoked my kitchen out. My pastry roll things stuck to the supposedly non-stick baking paper. I realized by then that I would be late, very late. But I still had to make the biscuits!! I threw the ingredients together and put them in the oven, only to find them crumbling when I tried to pick them up. Eventually I stepped out of the house to find that my housemate had parked me in. I finally drove away after shuffling the cars and stoping at the servo, and I arrived at my destination an hour late. Things seemed to get worse as I realized I had left Mike's rather cool Valentine's card at home (40 minutes away).

Mike didn't seem to worry though. He loved the dress I wore (complemented me heaps!!), gave me a bunch of my favorite flowers (irisis) and a beautiful card. However special it all seemed, I couldn't help thinking all the way up the mountain whether that quiche would taste all right.

We arrived at this lookout on one side of the mountain. It was a really nice spot. We're about to step out of the car when my phone beeps with an SMS message. Who on earth can that be? My phone had become extremely quiet since Mike and I were in the same state, so I had no idea who it was from. The message read: 'Ness, please be my Valentine - Mike'. How on earth did he do that? He hadn't even touched his phone! Well I have since learned you can program these things to go off whenever you want. And fair enough, 15 minutes later, while we're still at this lookout and Mike is stalling by giving me lots of hugs, I get another message. This one said: "Vane, tu novio te quiere mucho!. El quiere preguntarte?" which means: "Vane, your boyfriend loves you very much! He wants to ask you?"

By the time I actually realized that that was the end of the message, I looked up to see Mike holding a little black box. You can guess the rest of it. He pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him, and I was shocked and stunned. I had no idea it was coming.

But for those who are interested in that quiche, it actually turned out very nice. Mike loved it, as well as the broken biscuits. He didn't even mind having to peel the paper off those pastry things! I guess the day ended up a lot better than it had started.

Go to Mike's version of the day

Mike:
How I proposed to her

For a few weeks I have been tossing around the idea of whether I am supposed to marry Vanessa. On Monday morning I took the first major step to getting the ball rolling - I asked her parents for their permission to marry their daughter. I did this via email since they live on the island of Tasmania and I know that under normal circumstances the father Vince checks his emails a few times a day. I therefore expected to hear back that night or the next day.

Over the next 3 days I diligently did my work and checked my emails, waiting for that reply that would never come. I was always (actually only since Sunday) planning to propose to Vanessa on our first Valentine's day - but only if the consent of her parents was given.

On Wednesday evening we went to a combined church prayer meeting. At 9.45pm my mobile phone rang. I walked out to find Vince on the other end. He explained that he was actually away for the week speaking on a camp and was home for the night so had by chance checked his emails to find one from me. Over the next 20 minutes we discussed the possible future and the support and affirmation was given by both Vince and Heather.

I was now all excited and after dropping Vanessa at her house made my way back to mine (30 minutes away) thinking all the way of how I was going to pull this off. A few ideas came to me, so once home, I got onto the Internet and wrote two SMS text messages to Vanessa's mobile so that they would arrive around 12.30 and 12.45 the next day. (This was the time when we first met in the college carpark on Monday July 2nd 2001!)

I did get to sleep ok and slept well all that night. I awoke much earlier than normal as my body/mind knew that I many things to get done before Vanessa arrived at 10.30am.

The first thing on the to-do list was flowers. I drove to the biggest shopping centre that is in Melbourne (it is thankfully the closest too) and looked and asked around for the florist. Could really find it so I changed track and went looking for a proposal ring. After a few shops and the departure of some cash, I had my self a proposal ring for Vanessa and one for me. I spotted a florist nearby the jeweller and this one had the exact flower I was searching for.

I arrived back from the shops right on 10.30 but thankfully for me Vanessa had sent an SMS to say that she would be a touch late. I got everything together for the day - hid the ring under the front seat of the car and then found a few spare minutes to give it a wash. Once all was done she arrived only one minute later. So off we headed for the hills.

I was watching the clock as I didn't want the pre-planned/sent SMS messages to arrive while we were still in the car. After a very brief stop at the local tourist information booth, we headed for a location, Johns Hill Reserve (Trig. Point lookout) that the lady had recommended. It was just as beautiful as had been described. Magnificent views to both the north and south.

We pulled up at the car park and were just about to get out when the first message arrived. It was 5 minutes late and the next one wasn't coming for another 15 minutes. My job then was to keep Vanessa there for another 15 until message two was delivered. Using hugs I kept her there until right on cue the message came. While she was reading it, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a box that had the ring. When she saw the box she was sort of speechless and very, very excited and all she could do was hug me.

After what seemed to be about 2 minutes she finally verbalised a "YES!" I was elated. She then (following my prompting) asked if I would like to marry her. I said yes and we both put a ring on each others fingers. After taking a few photos of the memorable moment we drove off to enjoy the rest of the day and fantastic quiche that had been especially made by her earlier in the day. It along with all the other food was great! I sure do look forward in anticipation to a good and long life together.