Popping the Question, He Says/She Says
Ask any bride-to-be about her wedding plans and she could probably tell you every detail. But what’s it like to be the day’s other shining star? 26-year-old Roger Kure is marrying the love of his life in August 2010. He agreed to share his experiences of wedding planning from a guy’s perspective, sharing every big decision from now until his says “I do.”
His story:
Every guy knows that his fiancée will be asked “How did he propose?” each time she shows off her rock. And thinking even more in the future, I knew the story would undoubtedly continue to surface at various stages in our lives, probably until the end of our days. It was a lot of pressure! After a bit of thinking, I knew I would never find “the perfect proposal,” mainly because every girl has her own rendition that has been building since her teenage years. My goal was to make it story-worthy. Here’s a tip to all guys in the about-to-propose situation: you can’t win, but you might not lose!
I wrestled with the “how” for several weeks (at the least). I even sought out advice from friends and colleagues. Eventually I learned that somewhere and somehow, someone has already done your “brilliant” idea, but that’s okay. The “somehow” is what it’s all about. And so I made my move.
Naturally, I had to come up with a cover scheme as to why I was doing things differently on the day of the proposal. I chose her birthday weekend as the cover (perfect excuse for something special). I set up a homemade three-course meal, complete with folded napkins, a nice tablecloth and probably fifteen candles tucked around a bouquet of roses. And then there was her “gift,” of course. My first step in packaging the “gift” was convincing a guy from Macy’s that “Yes, I did not purchase anything from your store, but I’d like an empty box with the fluffy white stuffing anyways.” After explaining my ploy, he readily conceded.
This ploy was quite simple, yet creative: I fastened her ring to the bottom of the box and wrote “Will you marry me?” around it. The ring wasn’t in the usual little box, and the fluffy white stuffing kept her curious for a few extra seconds…
As proud of my deception as I am, Jenna has several alibis that claim she knew it was coming on that day. I choose to ignore that part of it, and I self-proclaim the event as flawless.
Her story:
It was May 1, 2009 (a Friday). I had just gotten done with class and was heading to Roger’s house for the weekend. I was on the phone with my friend Samantha when I walked into the house. As I entered the kitchen, I saw the house set up for my birthday (which is actually May 3rd, and I had no idea we were celebrating two days early… (Clue #1). Plus, my friends and I had bets going that he was going to propose on my birthday because it was totally Roger’s predictable style (Clue #2). So here’s the thing, Roger has made me an elaborate dinner for my birthday every year for the past three years. Well this year, Roger went overboard. The house was “over decorated” for typical Roger-style. Yes, he had the usual table set nicely, dozen roses, my present wrapped sitting on the table with candles. However, this year, he went over the top with extra candles, music playing, cloth napkins, AND a tablecloth (Clue #3).
As I entered the kitchen I told Samantha, “I have to let you go, Roger is getting ready to propose,” and with that I hung up on her. (Oh…she didn’t mind) Roger was in the living room and said, “Surprise, Happy birthday!” And… Nothing happened. So I took a shower and got dressed up for dinner. When I came out to dinner… Nothing happened! The next three hours, Roger acted completely NORMAL! I was starting to wonder if he was going to do it! And of course Samantha was texting me throughout dinner, “Has he done it yet!?”
When we were about to have dessert, I asked Roger if I could open my present. He was so relaxed and said, “Yeah, I guess.” So I opened the present and inside was my ring and his hand-written “Will you marry me?” I didn’t even get to see the ring because I immediately started to cry. All I could do was mumble “Yes!” and crumple to the floor in tears. Once I got myself together, Roger officially got on one knee and properly proposed. That was when I first saw my ring. Man did he do good! It was just like the picture I had drawn him, but better. After that, we talked for a while and then made some calls. My family came over to his house to congratulate us and we then went downtown to share it with our friends. It was an amazing night!
Roger Kure and Jenna Wixson
