Eric and I had been together for about two years this past November, and while we had talked about getting married one day, I wasn't expecting a ring anytime soon. Since my parents were visiting my sister in Brussels for Thanksgiving, I spent the holiday with Eric and his family at their home outside of New York City. I'm really close with my family, so I missed our big Thanksgiving celebration, but had a great time with Eric's family nonetheless. A few days afterward, Eric asked me to go to a sculpture garden near his parent's house, and asked me to bring my camera so we could take a photo of ourselves to give to our parents for Christmas. We went and walked around, and I found a place to set up my camera on a timer and started talking some photos. About the fourth or fifth photo, I clicked the button and ran around to position myself next to him, and while I was smiling at the camera, he was getting down on one knee. He proposed to me just as the camera snapped the photo. After I gave the (cliched) tear-filled "yes" he spilled the beans that he had taken my parents to dinner a month before to ask their permission. And the second surprise was when we got back to Eric's parent's house, my parents were there too.
They had flown back from Brussels and the six of us had champagne and dinner and celebrated our engagement.

My fiancé and I had to move to a town that was about an hour from our hometown where we met and fell in love. We moved to this new town to help her out because she had gotten her first teaching job there and I we decided it would make things easier on her if we moved. I still worked in our hometown and had to drive the hour at 3am to work and back home again at 3pm. We didn't go back to see our friends much due to our busy work schedules and got to spend a lot of time alone together. During those times we would play our favorite game Scrabble. I had decided to propose to her in February of 2005 but threw her off by asking if we could postpone our engagement for another year. I had saved the money and knew everything I needed to know about which ring to buy her. On the day I decided to ask her I was at work and asked my manager if I could leave early so I could beat my soon to be fiancé home. I drove the hour nervous as could be and finally made it to our apartment. I went inside and got to work. I had set up a scavenger hunt with little notes throughout the apartment that eventually led to the living room where I had the Scrabble board set up with "Will You Marry Me" spelled out in the center. She was shocked and extremely happy and immediately said yes....we have been happily married back in our hometown and our new house for 6months now. I really hope this is a good one for you guys because all my guy friends call me cheesy for the way I proposed but it meant something special to my wife and I and we will never forget that day.

Here is my engagement story.....

As a little girl I always loved those glow in the dark stars that you stick up around your room. It made me feel safe at night to see them. I would love to have walked in my adult bedroom to see those tiny glow in the dark stars saying, "Will You Marry Me"?

The Treasure


I thought the Da Vinci Code,
Was the right place to start,
On a treasure hunt surprise,
Straight from the heart.


A path of red rose petals,
To outside leaves forgot,
Here she’ll find the note that says,
“Sweep the leaves from this spot.”


When she sees the garden shovel,
She’ll know just what do,
Digging only a few inches,
She’ll find the box in blue.


As she unwraps the treasure,
I’ll get on bended knee,
I’ll slip the ring in place,
And say, “Will you marry me?”

Thanks for the contest,

Steve Messiter

Angie and I got engaged this past Friday, November 17, 2006 (she said yes)!

Angie had a particular setting in mind, so I needed to get her input, while still keeping the proposal a surprise. It wasn't easy, but fortunately, Abazias was on our side.

My old college a cappella group was having a concert on November 18, so we planned to make the long drive up to our alma mater. We had discussed the stone and a custom setting, and I had ordered a ring, so she had an idea that I might propose over the weekend. In order to throw her off the trail, I asked Jana, our contact at Abazias, to send me an email falsley stating that the ring wouldn't be ready until the next week. I forwarded Angie the email, and she was definitely glum, but the ruse worked.

The ring arrived at my office by UPS Friday morning, hours before we had to leave. Unexpectedly, my boss threw a last minute work assignment at me, but I finished that, and ducked out of work early to pick up Angie. As we drove through the night (it's a five hour drive), we hit an inexplicable traffic jam that added 40 minutes to the trip. Because of this, I wasn't my usual cheery self, which really threw her off the trail.

The delay would not have been an issue, but I had arranged for a time-sensitive surprise. Luckily, we made it up there at about the appointed time on Friday night. I led her up to college chapel, where I told her we were meeting an old friend. We went in, and my old a cappella group came out of the darkness and sang the group's signature love song. I got down on one knee, and she said yes.