Weddingbee Blog

June 28th, 2007. The day that Mr. Peony proposed to me started as one of the worst in my life. The office was in chaos because a close coworker’s mother had been killed in a freak car accident (it was all over the news). When this coworker told us that she had decided to move out of the country because staying here was too painful, my mind just glazed over.

During my long commute home from work, the skies opened up to thunderous rain and I got soaked running from the train to the car. However, I still had some errands to run and I drove around for more than a hour, running from place to place with no umbrella, with the car windows closed in the boiling heat of the summer because the AC was busted.

When I finally got home all I wanted to do was change into some dry clothes and make it an early night. However, it was a Thursday - the day that Mr. Peony and I set aside every week to clean our guinea pigs’ cage.

Some background information: our piggies are our babies. We used to have five(!) but two had passed on due to old age. We built a huge 3’x5’ cage for them and we spoil them rotten with fresh vegetables and hay that we have shipped from Washington state. They reciprocate by running up to the front of the cage to be pet, knowing my voice and wheeking loudly when I ask them if they want veggies, and just being so damn cute in general.

As much as I love our piggies, cleaning their cage is no easy task. We actually have a smaller cage that we transport them to while we clean the main cage.

This time, Mr. Peony volunteered to transport the brats to the small cage. Meanwhile, I got busy cleaning the large cage. When we were finally finished, Mr. Peony asked me to go get the girls.

He had set the small cage in the center of the living room and the lights were off. I thought to myself that this was strange but I went over and knelt down to get the piggies out. I then noticed a small box in front of Elsa, my favorite pig. I thought that this was a new toy that Mr. Peony had bought for them and reach in to take it out.

It was a ring box.

Right then, the lights turned on and Mr. Peony entered the room. He knelt down beside me. I started shaking and asked, “What’s this?” He then said some of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard, and I naturally started to cry. His eyes started to well up in tears too as he continued his speech.

Then he paused. I thought something was wrong.

“Uh…can you please stand up so I can propose to you?!?”

Laughing, I stood up and he remained kneeling, this time on one knee. He then said those four words, and I accepted.

Later on, I found out that he had been emailing all our close friends for the past few weeks with proposal updates. “I just bought the ring!” “I asked her dad for permission and he said yes!” “SHE SAID YES!!!”

So there’s our proposal story. It wasn’t geeky but very personal, intimate, and sweet. And a bit reminiscent of the Sex and the City episode where Aidan proposes to Carrie (we both loved this show and Mr. Peony admitted that his proposal was inspired by this).

What is your proposal story? Was it a total surprise?