Weddingbee Blog

Mr. Turtle and I have known since early in our dating relationship that we would get married someday. Although we had already made this lifetime commitment to each other in our hearts, back in the summer of 2008 I did not see a proposal or a wedding anywhere in our near future. This was mostly due to the fact that we are young and due to my nature as an obsessive planner. I felt that the timing had to be just right. It wasn’t part of my “life plan” to get married before I graduated from college, so the very earliest we could get married would be the summer of 2010.

Meanwhile, Mr. Turtle had a different plan. In June, while I was off in Hawaii on vacation with my family, Mr. Turtle had a conversation with his parents about our plans to get married sometime after graduation. They urged him to propose in plenty of time for me to enjoy planning the wedding. So while I was off in Hawaii, totally oblivious, he decided to go ring shopping. By the time I got home from Hawaii, he had purchased a ring and come up with a plot to propose in December.

He knew that my favorite time of the year is Christmas, so he decided to do it then.

Throughout our dating years, we have created a tradition of walking down Christmas Tree Lane, an old street in our town with beautiful houses covered in Christmas lights, together every Christmas season. We get all bundled up and admire all of the lights and decorations while drinking hot chocolate. Originally it was just us, but over the past few years, our parents have joined us, making it a sweet little combined family tradition. Mr. Turtle decided that on the day of our 2008 walk, he would put up a big sign along the walkway, asking me to marry him in Christmas lights. That night, when I saw the sign, he would get down on his knee and propose with the ring! Cute idea, huh?

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

I think so, too! But this was not how Mr. Turtle ended up proposing. That day came much sooner…

My beautiful engagement ring began to burn a hole in Mr. Turtle’s pocket. Every time I had a bad day, he wanted to just propose right then to cheer me up. He knows me enough to know how much I love surprises, but how I always tend to guess them ahead of time and then feel really bad about it. So he worried that the more time that went by, the more I would start to expect a proposal. And he really wanted me to be genuinely surprised!

In August 2008, I had just started a stressful first week at a new job. Mr. Turtle decided that he wanted to propose that Friday,  because it was the 16th, our dating anniversary day. So he met my dad at Starbucks to ask his blessing (check!) and then had to come up with a new way to pop the question. What he came up with was very simple and thoughtful. It was centered around faith and family: two of our core values.

He picked me up for dinner on what I thought was an ordinary Friday night date. I was confused as he drove me to his parents’ house because “he wanted to give me something.” I sat down on the couch and he continued to confuse me. A wooden chest sat in the middle of the room.

He began: “1 Corinthians 13:13 talks about the three most important things in life: faith, hope, and love. This represents the first: faith.”

He proceeded to remove a HUGE leather Bible from the chest that had both of our names engraved on the cover in gold. I remained totally clueless. I remember thinking: That’s a nice gift, but um, maybe a little presumptuous… What’s the occasion?

“The second thing is hope.”

The cedar hope chest, he explained, was handmade by his grandpa when he was in high school woodshop. I also got to open a present from inside the hope chest: a milk glass wedding jar. (I collect hobnail milk glass.) I started to get the idea that this represented hope for our future, but still had no idea what was going on.

“The final thing is love.“

This is when he got down on one knee and pulled a beautiful Edwardian style ring from the crystal ring box his dad had proposed to his mom with over 25 years ago.

At this point, I regret not giving him the immediate and resounding “YES!!!!” that I always thought I would. I proceeded to ask the following questions:

“Wait… are you being serious right now?”
“Oh my gosh. Did you ask my parents??”
“Does anyone know you’re doing this?”
“Is this my actual ring? Is it real??”
“When are you thinking we’re getting married?”
Etc., etc., etc.

Finally I told him yes (obviously!!) and took these pictures:

After sitting in shock for a while, letting the moment sink in, we went to dinner at one of our special restaurants. (Where I remained in such a state of shock that I lost my appetite and didn’t eat a bite of my meal!) When we went back to his house, our families were there. They surprised me with a little surprise engagement party, complete with cards, a couple of gifts, and a sweet cake from our favorite bakery! We told the story over and over again.

“Surprise!!”

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13