After our chance meeting online, Mr. Jaguar and I dated for quite a long time. We were young, we were in love, we were happy. But I’ll admit it: after a few years, I started getting antsy. I was ready to get engaged a lot earlier than he was, and I wasn’t particularly subtle with my hints. We’d been together for ages, we had big plans as a couple for the future, what more was there to wait for?
I won’t lie, there were many tears shed, especially as three years turned into five years, and so on and so forth. Poor Mr. Jaguar. He had a basketcase on his hands for a while there, and all because I was {once again!} being impatient. Just before we moved abroad, he had said that he’d always envisioned proposing somewhere different, somewhere unique, rather than going down the ‘fancy dinner and restaurant proposal’ that so many of our friends had experienced. I noted that comment of his down for future reference.
Oh, was I a joy to live with during that first year of living together in London!
I’d clung to his sentiment and was anticipating a diamond ring every time we’d pass a significant date or fancy event. It didn’t come. And eventually, I stopped thinking about it. We were happy in our little bubble, life was good, and I was determined to just. stop. nagging. So I did. And wouldn’t you know, things were already in the pipeline.
Our engagement was all sorts of awesome. Mr. J, he did good.
My birthday falls in the middle of the summer and Mr. Jaguar told me that for this birthday I’d be getting a surprise. We organised the weekend following my birthday to be off from work, and once that was all confirmed, told me that the surprise was a mystery weekend away. I was super excited, since he kept the surprise going by refusing to tell me where we were going, just that it was somewhere we’d never been before.
Despite me trying to pry more info out of him, Mr. Jaguar kept it a secret until the last possible second – when we were on our way to the airport, he spilled the beans: we were going to Prague! He’d arranged for a beautiful hotel, we did loads of sightseeing and took dozens of pictures. Seriously, the place is AMAZING and if you haven’t been before? I highly recommend it. It’s a gorgeous city.
Just revisiting my pictures from Prague makes me want to go back!
Our second night there, we decided to go on a river cruise—food, drinks and a band while seeing the city from the water sounded awesome. That was pretty much a disaster, with its astro-turf flooring, wooden picnic tables, horrible food and overpriced beverages BUT the company was good, we made friends with some drunken Belgian tourists, and it was a fun evening all the same. When the boat docked, we went for a walk along the water to get back to our hotel. I was being a little bit obnoxious: I was tired, it was dark, my sandal strap had broken and I just wanted to go home and go to bed. (I swear, I’m not always whining!)
Before we did that though, I’d decided I wanted to capture some night shots of the city with my camera, especially looking out towards the castle. We were along the riverbank, I was snapping away with Mr. Jaguar behind me, and I kept right on complaining: My night shots were terrible, the camera was rubbish, everything was blurry and WHY AREN’T YOU SAYING ANYTHING?’ I spun around to be all indignant, and found Mr. Jaguar on one knee, ring box in hand. And then I died. 
He was asking me to marry him! After all this time! And I wasn’t even wearing nice shoes! Ohmygoodness. I’m sure you’ll guess that I said yes…and then told him to PUT THE RING AWAY, because we were next to the water and I was freaking out that it would somehow go flying over the railing and into the river before I could try it on. We then hoofed it back to the hotel so I could look at my beautiful ring in person.
All smiles after the big proposal – not sure what happened to Mr. Jaguar’s forehead. I think I chopped it off in my excitement.
I love that so much thought went into making our engagement something a little different, and I loved that he managed to keep it a surprise, especially since I’m really good at ruining them! Prague will always hold a special place in my heart, and it’s one of the most amazing birthday presents a girl could ask for. I’m a lucky, lucky girl.
Did you get engaged in a faraway land? Where?
Very romantic!
Latest Gallery Pics