Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Engagement


On March 19th Christopher George Cayer asked Tracey Luann Herrick to be his bride and she said yes.....


Many of you are aware that this whole wedding thing has been in the works for some time so the proposal was not exactly news of the century. However that does not mean that it wasn't one of the most wonderful, special and romantic days of my life.


To back up a bit I have to explain why we waited to make "the big announcement" when it was a foregone conclusion. Chris and I have made a habit of doing things in our own way and this sometimes conflicts with his traditional nature. I was always fine with plowing ahead and planning the wedding, getting the rings whenever and filling in the blanks as we went. The boy had other ideas.....


For me, to be engaged all that needed to happen was a certain question be asked. For the boy- he couldn't ask the question until he had a ring in hand to present as a symbol of said commitment. This created a bit of a stand off and my own quirk was I didn't feel I could call myself engaged if I had never been asked "the question" so we decided to keep the wedding quiet and really only tell the close family and friends who we were inviting about it. We are only having about 35 people total so this was a short list.


We had actually picked out rings a few months ago once we started to plan the wedding so when we were ready for the big step we went to check them out and in true girly fashion I totally changed my mind and picked out something completely different than I had before.


Saturday morning we did our normal errands then Chris disappeared to do "boy stuff" and I was told to be ready at 5:30. I was all gussied up when Chris burst through the door with a dozen roses in hand as he hopped in the shower to get himself ready to roll. As we started out Chris started asking me questions about our life together and my best memories which I soon found out was the theme for the night- memory lane.


Our first date was at a place in the Biltmore Fashion Square Mall (a pretty high end mall for the non AZ folks) called True Food. We didn't go there but in some ways even more fitting we went to a very nice restaurant in the same locale called Christopher's. Chris said he wanted to make sure the branding was consistent (little marketing humor). We had a wonderful meal and chatted about our memories all through dinner.


After that vour next destination was the sight of another of our first dates and the place where we took what you all know now is our engagement photos- the Double Tree Resort in Scottsdale. It was the night of the SuperMoon and it was bright and beautiful as we strolled the grounds and took in the peace and beauty there. We ended up at their dock where we took a turn in the gondola boats they have and was serenaded by an Italian opera singer. The only imperfection was the couple we were doubled up with chatted through the whole song. (sigh)


We left the resort and headed to our final destination- the courtyard of the Borgata. This location was where Chris took me on my first ever picnic date and we have often gone back there to enjoy the fountain, the purple twinkle lights on the tress and listen to the music they have playing there. He picked this location because he felt it was when he truly won my heart. He brought some goodies with him which included wine (including new glasses), a chocolate fondue set, strawberries, blackberries, marshmallows and bananas. We started our dessert course and Chris told me I was the love of his life and as he dropped to one knee asked me if I would do him the honor of marrying him. I was beaming and hugged and held him close. Then I kissed him and looked into his eyes and it wasn't until I was a spark of concern I realized I hadn't said yes yet! I quickly said yes and as relief washed across his face we kissed and toasted and floated on a little cloud al the way to our home.


So after the wait for the ring and for the boy do ask the question in his way I do have to admit I am glad we did it the way we did. We planned when we were suppsed to, we got engaged when we were supposed to and we will be getting married in the way that is right for us.


I can't wait for the happily ever after part with the man I love.....