Ejayne's Planning Bio

 

The rings!

So, the first photo is a picture I took shortly after we got engaged so I could show the ring off to my friends who live out of town. (The next three are the pics from Helzberg's website.) It's a slightly less than 1/2ct, princess cut, colorless, Helzberg Diamond Masterpiece solitaire ring set in 18ct white gold. It is practically flawless... I looked at it under the powerful gem scope at the store and my eyes still couldn't find a single flaw! I swear it even sparkles in the dark!

My wedding band is also from Helzberg, and is an 18ct white gold, 1/6ct TW round diamond wedding band. It adds just the right amount of extra sparkle to my beautiful engagement ring, without making it super bulky, which I really don't want.

After much searching, we finally decided on a band for David. He wanted something unique that had a little bit of weight to it, but not too expensive. We went into James Avery even though he thought he definitely wanted white gold... and he liked this ring enough (he really likes it) that he decided silver was OK after all, and the price was hard to beat. Sold! Yay, James Avery! :)


The Proposal - David's Story

I have to say the most difficult part of planning my proposal to Liz was not just saying, "To heck with all this, I'm just gonna give her the ring and sweep her up in my arms."  You see, Liz and I picked out the ring back in April and I put it on layaway at Helzberg Diamonds.  We went about three weeks ago and paid off the remaining balance and Shirley, our saleswoman said that it would be ready in a couple of weeks.  The ring was ready in two days.  I had made up my mind to propose at the Texas State Fair which wasn't for three more weeks.  I was determined, so much that I reminded Liz that the ring would be ready in three, then two, then one, and on the day I planned to propose, I even said how nice it would be for her ring to finally be ready in just a few more days.  This was absolute murder for me because I am a spontaneous guy and the waiting was driving me crazy.

So the time came for Liz and I to drive to Dallas for the Texas State Fair.  We were both excited but I was about to lose it and spill the beans.  We got to our hotel after a surprisingly pleasant three hour drive.  I guess it all depends on who you're with.  We sang along with the radio and iPod, talked, and just enjoyed the Texas scenery.  When we got to the hotel, Liz took a short nap on the bed.  I used this precious time to slip the ring into the 5th pocket of my jeans, woke her up and we were off.

After checking out all the new cars and trucks, walking around the fairgrounds, and watching the fair parade, it was finally dark and was time to go on the ferris wheel.  Now, this was no ordinary ferris wheel.  We're talking around 212 feet high, the tallest amusement ride in the Western Hemisphere.  This is where the magical moment was finally going to happen.  It was then that my heart sank in my chest as I read the big bold sign "4 to 6 passengers a car".  I was upset because I really wanted this moment to be special and didn't want to share it with 2 to 4 total strangers.  Still, I had made up my mind.  This was when and where it was going to happen.

As we got loaded up in the ferris wheel car, I started to get nervous.  When we got to the top, I pulled the ring out of my pocket, slipped it on my pinky finger about halfway up and placed my hand about a foot away from Liz's face, who was admiring the beauty of the fairground at night.  Liz then looked down, took a deep breath and her eyes kind of glossed over.  When she came back to, I looked into her eyes and asked her, "Will you marry me?"  She took another deep breath as her eyes glossed over once more.  About thirty seconds or an eternity later, whichever you prefer, Liz looked at me and said "Of course!"  I wasn't exactly surprised at her answer because we've been secretly planning our wedding for over two months now, but it was really nice to slip the ring on her finger and finally be able to say that we were engaged.  The moment was one of the happiest of my life and will always hold a special place in my heart of hearts.


The Proposal - Liz's Story

Well, it all started back in April 2008 when David suggested we go look at rings just to give him an idea what I like. Little did we know that I would find THE RING. David could tell just how much I loved it, so he decided to go ahead and put it on layaway. He told me not to get too excited though, because it would be a while before he was able to propose. So I waited. And waited. And waited some more!

Finally, in late September I went with him to make the final payment and to make sure they had the right ring size for me. After we left, he told me that it wasn't going to be ready for several weeks. I was bummed. You see, we were planning on taking a trip to the State Fair in Dallas on October 2nd and 3rd, and I was secretly hoping he would propose on the ferris wheel. I had even called my friend Katie and asked her if she could somehow make that suggestion to David when I wasn't around! However, it looked like the ring wouldn't be ready in time for that trip, so I tried to put it out of my mind. I wondered what he would finally decide to do when he proposed, but mostly I was still getting excited about going to the State Fair. I had always wanted to go, and I was most excited about the famous 212-foot-tall Texas Star ferris wheel, proposal or not.

So the day came to take our trip to Dallas, and we had a nice drive, stopping at the Czech Bakery and Braum's on the way. I had never been to the Czech Bakery, and David had never been to Braum's, so we each got to introduce the other to a new place. I love it when we do that. :) Anyway, I was exhausted when we finally got to Dallas, so I took a quick nap before we headed off to the state fair! We looked around at the car show, walked around the fairgrounds and talked about all the amazing/weird food (we debated whether or not to try the chicken-fried bacon), and were astonished by the steep prices for the carnival rides (most of them were around $5 per person! :-O). We decided that since the rides we so pricey, that we were just going to ride the ferris wheel once, and David wanted to wait until it was dark, so we went to watch the parade. By the time the parade was over, it was dark enough for the ferris wheel.

As we were standing in line, I noticed a sign that said there had to be at least 4 people per car. I was bummed because I've always though ferris wheels are romantic... not so much when you're jammed in there with strangers though. I joked about slipping the ticket guy a $20 so we could have a private car, but I doubt it would have worked, and it was already costing us $12 to ride the ferris wheel anyway. We would just have to ignore those other people. :P

Once we were in the car, I was pretty much looking down at the fairgrounds the whole time... that is until I saw David's hand near my face out of the corner of my eye. I looked over, and there was my engagement ring on his pinky finger, about 6 inches from my face! I could hardly believe it! I pretty much didn't see anything else on the ferris wheel at that point... it was like it was just the two of us. I looked David in the eyes with a look on my face that I can only imagine was amazement. He looked back at me, and simply asked: "Will you marry me?" I was stunned for a second, as was thinking "Duh! Of course I'm going to say yes!" but I just looked at him and said "Of course!". We kissed and smiled at each other and the ride was over all too soon. Funny thing is, I don't even think the other couple noticed that anything had happened between us; the whole exchange was done very quietly.

Once we were off the ferris wheel, I was so excited because we could finally tell people that we are officially engaged, and I had the ring to prove it! We held hands walking down the midway, and I insisted that we go into the photo booth nearby and get our picture taken. Then we walked hand in hand and said goodbye to the State Fair.