Registry

With just about 2 years to go wedding plans have been kind of erratic. It is hard figuring out what we should set in stone now, and what we should wait on. Some things are good to plan early while others are better to wait on. Overall we have our wedding mapped out, it is just a matter of setting aside the finances and putting those ideas in stone.

One of the plans in question now is the registry. Registries are a funny thing, at this day and age the majority of couples live together prior to getting married, so many items you would register for you already have. My mom has asked that we start putting some things on a registry to help the family get things we need in the meantime for holidays and birthdays. Again, it is hard to figure out what you'll need now or in a couple years down the road. No I don't think I'll use a good china set in our house in Conshohocken, but will we want one down the road when we have a bigger space to entertain in? 

Quoc also made a good point that people register for things based on the idea that if they had it they would use it. Like a milkshake maker or some other contraption. I also can't see spending a ridiculous amount of money on some object when I can get the exact same thing at Marshalls for a fraction of the price.

At this point we decided to make a list of everything we really wanted and could use (and would use) before we made any decisions. Until then we will just make wish lists for our holidays and birthdays. 

Hairy decisions

 For the past 4 or 5 years my hair hasn't been past my shoulders. I used to have pretty long hair but throughout the past years I haven't had the patience to grow it out. My hair actually grows pretty fast which has allowed me to try quite a number of different styles. When I got engaged I thought it would be nice to have my hair long for the wedding. 

About a week ago someone asked if I was going to tell Quoc he couldn't wear his spikey for the wedding. I said no, that's how he is, that is how I know him. I got to thinking, wouldn't it be strange for me to grow my hair out just to have it long for our wedding. Quoc has only known me with short hair, so why would I change it for one day? I sent out a poll via email and facebook to see what everyone thought about it. I know I have 2 years, so I have time to grow it out if I want. But thanks to the marvels of modern beauty I could have my hair super short and just get extensions the day of the wedding if I really was inclined. Let me know what you think. Tomorrow I am going to the salon, regardless I need to touch up my highlights...maybe I'll get it cut.....

It begins...

Friday we are going to visit our first potential venue for our wedding. We had a place in mind for awhile but come to find out that it is already booked 2 years in advance for our potential weekend! This is one of the reasons we are looking 2 years in advance. Plus with me being in school we can plan everything else at our own pace as long as we have a place and date to have our wedding. We are pretty sure we know where we are going to have our rehersal dinner/Vietnamese ceremony. So we just have to find a place to have our American ceremony and we'll be in a good situation for planning. Even though I have had 2 sisters who went through this process, I have no idea what to expect. So hopefully all will go well, wish us luck!

Ceremony reading

So, I am procrastinating studying my anesthesia lectures and I came across a ceremony program from a friends wedding. I saved it because I really liked the reading that they used. Both Quoc and I have christian upbringings but chose not to have our ceremony in the church. Without going into an in depth posting on why we aren't having it in a church or our religious backgrounds; I am just going to say that I would like some religious traditions without being to formal or "preachy."

Anyway, this is the reading that my friend used that I really liked. Whether or not we use it is up in the air, we do have 2 years to decide.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet?"

Carly came back to Erie with me for Labor Day weekend and it marked the first time she would have extended exposure to my parents and also the longest time we will have spent together in a car (the time from Philly to Erie is about 6.5 hours). Erie itself was a great time. I took Carly around the local shopping joints, ate at Quaker Steak and Lube, partied at the Erie "Bar Scene", and watched the sunset together on the "beaches" of Lake Erie.

Despite the nice weekend together, there was still a little bit of anxiety for Carly because on the first night while Carly and my Mom had a long conversation about anything and everything, Mother Ngo mentioned how my family was still weary and uncomfortable that I was engaged and marrying an SWF (single white female). To explain my Mom, she likes to say whatever is on her mind in very straight forward manner and sometimes leave out some of the details so that whoever is listening, sometimes its easy to take it the wrong way.

Now I'll be very clear, my parents in NO WAY have any reservations about Carly or disapprove of the engagement (see: earlier post where my Mom helped pick the ring).

As a first generation, oldest male from my Dad's side, there were expectations (almost mandatory) that I would marry a Vietnamese girl. Almost like a blind arranged marriage. If not Vietnamese, at least Asian. In truth, I've never dated an Asian girl for whatever reason. I don't have anything against Asian girls, its just that there was never one that was my type or I felt would be worthwhile being in a relationship with. My parents all along saw that I dated outside of my race and when I joked about marrying someone not Asian, they would give me the canned, "Well, as long as she loves you and you're happy then we're happy" response. To an extent I think that's true, but I know there's raised eyebrows and side talk that I'm going to marry outside of my race.

The other concern is that I'll lose all traditions that identify my culture. I'll admit, it will be kinda be funny having a room half full of Asians on one side and half full of White folks on the other, especially when the dancing music starts and it becomes more pronounced when all the Asians are still sitting at their tables and the White folks are tearing up the dance floor. Language will be another challenge as most of my relatives know English but aren't very fluent or have a thick accent. I can see a lot of awkward moments and tension. Carly has been very diligent in learning about the Vietnamese culture and trying to incorporate those elements into the wedding festivities so we get the best of both worlds. I'm confident everything will work out.

The big picture is its not an Asian marrying a White person scenario. Its going to be celebrating (and partying) the love Carly and I share for each other. They say love is blind. I'd like to say its color blind as well.

Wedding Entertainment

I think Carly mentioned at one time (and I would agree) that the main thing people remember at a wedding is the food, the alcohol and the music. I've started to think about what kind of music I'd want at our wedding. Carly and I have already started debating on what the first dance song should be but we have a long time to decide on that. Apparently Freak Me by Silk isn't an option...just kidding :-P

After attending a number of weddings, I've seen the mix between live band and DJ. I'd say I'm somewhat of a music snob in terms of songs and play lists. If anyone's been to a Quoctail or Birthday Extravaganza, they know I take seriously what types of songs are played and in what order. I think that a live band is a way to go to really get the party started but there are certain songs that you need to hear the original for which is where it makes sense to have a DJ. The last thing I want is to have our first dance song covered by a live band and it sound like a Friday night karaoke version. I'm starting to think that doing both is the way to go. I technically don't even need a DJ...I'll just queue up the old laptop to fill in.

I have no idea what live band to pick (anyone have recommendations?) but I've joked all along that by the time Carly and I are married, it should be reasonable in price to have Boyz II Men sing at our wedding and just do Motown covers all night. Now that would be sweet!

Couples who work out together....

So as of yesterday I am officially the proud owner of a new road bike. I've been trying new things to get back into shape for awhile. This spring I began taking spinning classes and really got into it. For my birthday Quoc got me cycle shoes and I started getting more into my spin classes. Quoc got himself all geared up with a new road bike to train for his triathalons. The plan, now that we are both all geared up, is that we can start working out more together. I am not much of a runner at all and at least with a bike I have a fighting chance to keep up with Quoc. Haha.

Today I nervously took it out with my clips and made it down the steep hills of Conshy back to the bike trails. Everything went well and even ran into some friends along the trail. I really hope biking will be my new fitness niche. Got to get wedding ready! Haha. Anyone who wants to join along a couple of friends and I are doing the City to Shore Ride for MS. 

Bachelor Party

The posts have slowed down a bit. . .maybe because there's a little under two and a half years until the wedding on November 20, 2010. While Carly is thinking about some of the details for the wedding, I've already begun thinking about bachelor parties. Yes, plural. There will definitely be more than just one bachelor party.

The idea is to definitely do on in Erie and then probably an international destination. One of the main things I want to do is make the bachelor party unique. An unforgettable, guy bonding experience sans strippers but lots and lots of drinking.

The ideas so far:

1) Do a relay triathlon where we all split up into teams and tackle a different leg (swim, bike, run).

2) Jumping out of a plane aka Sky diving.



3) Half mile run for your life aka Running of the Bulls in Pampalona, Spain. Realistically, only 15 people have been killed since 1910 so its not as dangerous as people think it is. Interestingly, approximately 14 people are killed each year sky diving.



4) Biggest Food Fight. Ever. aka La Tomatina!



5) Mexico (blah, but an idea nonetheless)

Wedding Season

There comes a point in your lives when you stop going to 21st birthday bar nights and graduation parties from college and start going to Weddings, showers, and "gasp" baby showers. I think Quoc and I have about at least 6 weddings within a years span. I'm in 2 of those weddings, and have 4 wedding showers to go to. We have four neighbors we are friends with; one of our neighbors got married last november, another gets married this weekend. One just had a baby, another is due later this summer. And the last neighbor we are friends with got engaged the same week as we did. There must be something in the water haha. We're in one of those growing up transition periods in life. When do you stop going to all night binge fests and start going to couples dinners and kids birthday parties? I think the best thing to remember through all this is balance. We still go out and have fun but we also get up early and do house stuff and couples things. Well Quoc gets up early....

Weddings and showers are not only a part of an adult transition period. They can be a lot of fun, open bars, dancing, good food, and good people. Plus you get a lot of ideas for your own wedding. The fun does come with a price though. With shower gifts, bachelor/bachelorette parties, travel costs, and wedding gifts....and then multiply that by six you can really break bank. So we try to cut costs where we can. One thing that is nice about having your two older sisters getting married before you is that you get a lot of pass-me-downs. It is probably the one time pass-me-downs are good. Everything from votives, baskets, to veils, and corset bras haha. But one thing said, I haven't regretted any of the money or time spent for any of the weddings or baby showers I have been to. I feel like Katherine Heigel in 27 Dresses. You enjoy doing nice things for those being honored and feel good sharing their happy moment. And when it comes time for you to have your moment. Those people who you've helped will be there for you during your happy moment.

A Typical Vietnamese Wedding in Vietnam

According to Vi:

They had fireworks and a laser show. I feel to maximize wedding day you should do what Uncle 7 did with the church wedding in the morning and a reception at night. Carly then gets three dresses and if you do the whole vietnamese custom of getting the bride she gets 4 dresses! But at the reception at night, the bride and groom are there 2 hours before everyone gets there to take individual pictures, once thats over there is an announcement and the lights go off and theres lasers and music and then the lights come on and the couple walk down the aisle to the stage followed by people with umbrellas and fireworks go off on the side as you walk down. After that the bride changed her dresss and the couple went to every table to toast. What are your plans? Cause if they dont include lasers, fireworks, dancers and a live four piece band, youve been upstaged oh and the 7 course meal.

How It Happened - Letting the Secret Out

The night before we left for the Bahamas, I sent a cryptic email out to a select crowd modeled after the movie "Fight Club." Here's a copy:

Welcome to the Quocshow. . .

The old blog had to be filed away but I started a new one...mainly just pictures for now but it will serve its primary purpose over the next few days.

A few housekeeping items:

Rules of The Quoc Show

1st RULE: You do not talk about THE QUOC SHOW.

2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about THE QUOC SHOW.

3rd RULE: There shall be no public discussions about happenings in THE QUOC SHOW over facebook, myspace, etc

4th RULE: Secrets in THE QUOC SHOW stay in THE QUOC SHOW

5th RULE: Rule #4 means you do not expose secrets to anyone, even significant others. I cannot stress how CRITICAL this is.

6th RULE: Seriously, keep this to yourselves.

7th RULE: Follow along at the Quoc Show Blog

See attachment.

(attached was a file called, Sssh its a Secret.jpg which was a picture of me holding the engagement ring.)

The plan was then to send updates to my blog while I was in the Bahamas to keep people updated up until the big moment.

How it could have happened...

So Quoc mentioned all of the many ways he was thinking of proposing. I must admit the pressure is on the guy in the first part of the engagement to not only propose, but come up with a good way to propose, find an amazing ring, and drop a significant amount of $ for said amazing ring. Words can't describe what a great job Quoc did with the proposal and ring. Truly an unforgettable experience. 

Details about the actual proposal will have to wait for a later post. I did, however, come across ways not to propose in the June edition of Women's health. Hope any of my girls don't find themselves with these proposals.

Wedding Budget

As we plan for the wedding of the century...aka...can't miss party of 2010, part of it is figuring out the budget to start putting money towards. I found a sample budget and the breakdown looks like the following:

* Ceremony 3%
* Reception 48%
* Attire 10%
* Rings 3%
* Flowers 8%
* Music 8%
* Photography 12%
* Transportation 2%
* Stationary 3%
* Gifts 3%

How It Happened - Proposal Ideas

Aside from the ring, the other special memory of a proposal is how its done. I'll give the rundown on how it really happened in an upcoming post but below is run down of the different ideas I had kicking of how to do it. I wish I could've went through with some of the ideas but you only (hopefully) get one shot at proposing :-P

Who loves you?

Carly: "Who loves you?"

Quoc: "I do. No one loves me more than me, but you're a close second."

Reading materials

After getting engaged, people have given me a number of bridal magazines and a few wedding books. I won't lie, I've looked through them all already. A friend of mine from work gave me a book called the Anti-Bride wedding planner. The idea of it is that it gives traditional wedding advice as well modern hipster twists for planning a wedding. The advice is practical and useful with a lot of cost saving suggestions. While perusing for wedding books at Barnes and Nobles (to give to a friend who is also planning her wedding) I came across another Anti-Bride book. This one was on wedding ettiquite. I bought it and the information is invaluable. It covers everything from engagement advice to wording on invitations. Again, the theme of the Anti-Bride is explaining the traditions and how to bend the rules without breaking your ideals or your bank. I highly suggest this series for anyone interested in planning a wedding, shower, bachelorette, or engagment party.  

     

How It Happened - The Perfect Ring

When it comes to choosing an engagement ring, the majority of guys have the same number one requirement:

"What's the best rock I can get for the money I want to spend?"

Its a bit shallow, but the engagement ring a girl wears will always be compared to other engagement rings. The guy has to be aware that the ring will be the center of attention when the engagement is announced. It will be the single source of pride and excitement for the girl.

Needless to say, its quite a bit of pressure.

Most of the time a girl will mention to her boyfriend what she likes in a ring. Things like setting, cut, design, etc. The fun thing about surprising Carly is that I didn't know any of this. All I knew was that she probably didn't want yellow gold since she doesn't wear any jewelry that is yellow gold.

I did some research online and based upon past discussions with some of my female friends, I had a rough idea. Rough meaning that it would be a princess cut diamond on a white gold ring. Still no clue about setting or design. The more I researched, the more I learned about diamond quality. I was unfamiliar with how a diamond's value was derived. Things like clarity, color, cut, etc. Apparently there were a bunch of factors that determined how much a diamond was worth.

When I got back to Erie, we talked about the ring and decided the best place to get a diamond was in Toronto, Canada because we'd get a better deal, we were familiar with the jewelers (they were Vietnamese), and it would be tax free.

Note: For those who don't want to drive to Canada for tax free benefits, Delaware is a better option if live in the Philly area.

After talking about settings, my Mom talked about her original setting for her engagement ring. She no longer wore it because she had her diamond remounted and offered to use that as the setting for Carly's ring. It made sense on two fronts:

1) The setting was white gold.
2) I haven't had many traditions where something was passed down from older generations because I've never met most of my family (they are still in Vietnam). It was special to me to be able to have a ring that belonged to my Mom become a part of the ring I'd give to Carly.

I was half way there. Now it was a matter of getting the diamond.

We looked at several diamonds and it came down between choosing a big diamond (bling bling) or a smaller one with higher quality. I went for quality since the diamond was exceptionally pretty and I figured that Carly's look wasn't "rap star" with a superfluously sized diamond relative to her finger size.

"Got so much ice you can skate on. . ." (BG)

The final piece was finding out sizing. This is the first I'll admit it, but I did end up stealing a ring from Carly's jewelry box. It looked to be about the right size. I have seen Carly specifically wear a ring on her right index finger but I could not find that one so I went with any other ring I could find that Carly wouldn't notice was missing. As the jeweler was sizing everything out, he asked a pretty good question:

"Does she wear this ring on her middle finger? It looks bigger than normal."

Damn, that was a good question. After some debate, I think we agreed to size the ring at 6.5 (I think) which seemed about average. The jeweler then went to work on the "masterpiece."

While this was going on, Carly actually called me to check in. The store was a bit loud with everyone talking and she asked what was going on. I had to make up a story about relatives being over for the weekend, etc which seemed reasonable to Carly.

After two hours, the finished product was ready. The ring was absolutely gorgeous. I looked at in admiration and thought to myself:

"Wow, the future is literally in my hands."

and then I thought

"Man, I hope she likes it. . ."

and finally

"I hope it fits her finger!"

The Bet

With classes finally over (until I start full-time this fall) I have had a little more free time to do other things. Tonight I called Q from work to see what he may need help with around the house on my days off. He said that there wasn't much that he needed from me this week (aside from my love) hahaha. So I teased him suggesting I'd take the free time and plan the wedding. He said that he knew I already had it planned out in my head and I aknowledged that I did. His whole argument to this is that in the next 2+ years I will change my mind weekly. I did admit that a few ideas may change a little but in general I know what I want. So I told him that I would write down somewhere my ideas and we can see how much they change in the 2+ years. Thus bringing us to this post. I am not sure how to sum up the ideas that I have because they are somewhat pieces and images in my head and in magazines.

Here are the general ideas:
Fall wedding
Colors: Chocolate brown and pink
Music: Band for majority of time, Q's laptop mix for when the band breaks
Venue: Downtown Marriott Center City
Ceremony: Same as above
Pictures: (location will be around the city)
Instead of petals thrown by the flower girl my niece will throw leaves
Place cards will be printed on leaves attached to votive candles
Lanterns will be placed along the aisle and then used as part of the centerpieces
The rest of the centerpiece will include fall colored roses and leaves
The cake topper will be a mini love park statue
Table numbers will be pictures of landmarks in philly with the number printed on it
Invitations will be made on cd-roms with pics of us, important wedding information, maps to the venue etc.

Those are the general ideas floating in my head at this point. I hope to talk more with Quoc's Mom when she returns from Vietnam to discuss any traditions she might want observed at the wedding. An option I was thinking was to have a traditional Vietnamese ceremony the night before at the rehersal dinner.

So how many people are beginning to think I'm a little crazy?

Costs

Through my premature browsing I am seeing a trend on budgeting weddings and where to cut costs and where to spend a little extra. I don't remember where I read it, but the statement was that weddings guest remember these things: the dress, the food, and the entertainment. I think the setting may have been one as well. Anyway some of my recent browsing through magazines have been to get ideas of how to cut cost in other areas like favors and centerpieces. 

Quoc and I are setting aside time soon to sit down and calculate our finances for the next 2+ years. Remember, I am going to stop having an income starting mid-august. Luckily I have saved a good bit of money and I will be taking out a number of loans for school. Again, luckily my school is relatively inexpensive in relation to other local programs. However, I still need to have money for a cost of living not to mention money for a wedding and numerous house projects. With our budgeting we need to figure out how much money we plan to allot for the wedding before we can plan anything for it. I googled the average cost for a wedding in 2007 and there was an article on MSN from a knot.com survey. It goes through the average cost of a dress to the average number of guests. I thought it was pretty informative and interesting. Enjoy.

Tentative Wedding Date

(on already having a wedding date)

Carly: Did you see what I wrote, it said TENTATIVELY.
Me: I know. Do you know what engagement means?
Carly: What?
Me: Tentatively getting married.

Timeframe

So I know that a lot of people have been wondering why we are waiting 2+ years to get married. Well Quoc and I talked about this among many other things prior to getting engaged. We wanted to take our time and really enjoy just being engaged and planning things for our wedding slowly. I didn't want to feel rushed into decisions for the wedding or fall into the Bridezilla stereotype. Someone I knew got engaged on a Friday and on Sunday his fiancee was already dragging him to see reception sites. That is just insane! I must admit though after people started handing me bridal magazines I started getting really excited about planning and Quoc would have to nicely remind me to calm down...being as we do have 2+ years to make any decisions. 

Aside from just enjoying the time we are engaged the next two years are going to be very busy for me. This fall I quit work at HUP and begin school full-time for my CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist). The program is intense and most of my time will be dedicated to studying. So realistically planning a wedding within a year or less while in school is not ideal. The fall of 2010 I will be prepping for my Boards and the last week of Oct./first week of Nov. I will take my exam. Hopefully all loose ends will be tied up for the wedding by then and we will get married tentatively the weekend before Thanksgiving. Hopefully that clears up some of the reasons for the wait. 

How It Happened - Asking The Dad

. . .or not

. . .well, sort of

White Anglo Saxon tradition is for the future groom to ask the future bride her father for a blessing or permission to get married. I pretty much thought it was a given but over the years, I've heard both sides of asking and not asking. I really was on the fence about this until I had a conversation with Adam who got married last year.

Adam said to go ask Carly's dad. I then mentioned what if I didn't' get a chance to ask before of the short time between getting the ring and going to the Bahamas. He said that's fine, just call her Dad as soon as the proposal is done and explain that I didn't get a chance to ask him because of time constraints but I wanted to get his blessing in marrying Carly.

I then played devil's advocate and said what about not asking since its an old tradition. He said if a guy married Madison (his 8 month daughter) and didn't ask for his permission he would "beat the kids ass." I got a good chuckle out of that.

I decided that I would ask. On the way back from Erie, I was going to drop by Lock Haven and have dinner with Carly's younger sister Ashley. I then thought to myself that it might be a good chance to help Ashley start moving her stuff out since I had room in my car. It was also the perfect excuse to drop by Carly's parents place to have "the talk."

Things went according to plan. I made it to Lock Haven and took Ashley out to dinner and got some of her stuff to take back to her house. I called Carly and told her I had stuff to drop off at her parent's place and she called them to let them know I was coming. Turns out that on a random Monday night when people are usually at home, Carly's parents were away for prior plans. There was an outside chance that her dad would be there when I arrived at 9:30pm but as fate had it, he wasn't there when I got there. I dropped off Ashley's stuff and came to the realization that I would have to go with Adam's suggestion of asking when I'm down in the Bahamas.

How It Happened - Road to the Ring

With my Mom in the know, it was now a matter of finding a weekend to get to Erie to get the ring. I left on a Saturday at about 2:30pm and got into Erie around 11:00pm. The next morning, my Mom and I decided that the best place to get a ring would be to go to Canada since its tax free. I drove the three and a half hours to get to Toronto where there was a strip of jewelry stores in Chinatown. After picking up the ring, my Mom and I got haircuts at a hair salon and then had dinner at a Vietnamese cafe. On the way back, it turned out that my Mom forgot her passport to get back into the US. I called my sister to figure out what usually happens in this scenario.

I thought to myself, "Man, if you can talk your way into getting your Mom past a customs border g guy, you can talk a person into almost anything."

When we got to the customs officer, I responded cheerfully to his questions and said I took my Mom to Toronto for the day as an early Mother's Day present since I was going back to Philly. After looking at my Mom's driver's license and asking who our President and Vice President were (she answered both correctly), the guy let us through. I then drove back to Erie and the next morning, drove back to Philly.

All in all, driving 1200 miles in 48 hours is all the time it took to get the perfect ring.

How It Happened - Telling Mom

My Mom has always been asking me about when I was going to get married the past few years and has even tried to get me to go weddings of family and friends to try to introduce me to a potential future daughter in law. She eventually met Carly and really took a shine to her immediately because Carly fit the mold of someone she wanted for me which was someone who makes me happy and someone who really cares about family. When I decided to get the ring, I wanted to keep it a secret and the only person I told was my Mom.

My Mom had a trip planned to Vietnam for two months through mid-April to mid-June which meant that we would miss Mother's Day this year. After a few tries planning a trip to Erie that did not work out, I finally was able to schedule the visit five days before we left for the Bahamas. I called my Mom up to tell her I was coming to Erie and when I explained why, she took it pretty well and went through the questions any protective parent would ask:

"Are you sure she makes you happy? Are you sure you want to do this?"

I gave her a very enthusiastic and clear "YES."

She replied, "Alright. Let's do this. Look online to get an idea of what you want and when you get to Erie we'll figure it out."

It was on.

As a side note, Carly was very unhappy upon finding out I was planning a trip to Erie without her and it took a lot of convincing that this trip was more to see my Mom before she left for Vietnam and would have been inconvenient for Carly to go since I was going to be in Erie for only a day and a half.

The best part was that I was able to involve my Mom in picking out the ring I would give to my future wife.

How It Happened - The Inspiration

I still remember being at a wedding with Carly toward the end of February for her cousin Caitlin and her husband Gary. It was the traditional bouquet toss and as Caitlin threw the flowers over her shoulder, I recall thinking to myself how "far to right" the flowers were going. Coincidentally, right into Carly's hands.

The idea of an engagement and marriage was never seriously on my mind. I've told Carly before that I thought of her as "The One" and that marriage was inevitably a matter of time but that time never really had a time frame.

Fast forward to middle of March 2008.

At the company sales meeting in February 2008, it was announced that I made the President's Club trip to the Bahamas. We started getting the agendas and activities planned for the trip. The agenda included:

• Staying at The Cove Atlantis
• Rooms with a view of the beach
• Dinners at fabulous restaurants like Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill
• Swimming with the dolphins
• Sunset sail boat cruise
  

It hit me quickly and suddenly. This trip was going to be something I'll never forget. This trip could be one she will never forget. If I wanted to do something special, I had the best possible environment and situation to do it. I knew she was "the one" and I had the money. . .what was I waiting for? I had to be opportunistic. I had to do the proposal in the Bahamas.