Rachelle E.

lol! Yeah...you'd think the sweaty hands would have tipped me off...but no. It was a fairly warm humid day so I guess I just thought he was really hot? haha! It's funny the stuff you don't catch onto that in retrospect is SO obvious!! But I did really like being so surprised...it was fun!

Thanks!! He IS a keeper!

First of all, I had SO much fun reading everyone's engagement stories!! They were all so sweet, fun and perfect! Of course after all that, I wanted to join in and tell mine...and he did so good I think it derserves another "telling"! Ok, so we'd been planning to take a little weekend trip for a while and finally decided to go to San Antonio. We had our rooms booked and everything and were all set to go. As it happend, the weekend we were supposed to go down there was the weekend that Hurricane Rita was expected to make landfall - likely somewhere on the Texas coast. Of course, one of the projected paths was straight through S.A.! Having just seen all the horrific damage of Katrina just weeks before I was SO nervous about going down there. EVERYone was evacuating FROM that area up to Dallas. I mentioned all this to David and he said something along the lines of not letting the weather forcasters "rain on my parade". and insisted that everything would be fine and we should go anyway. After calling the hotel and watching the news obsessively, I agreed to still go instead of re-scheduling. The following day at work, flowers were delivered for me! I was SO surprised...it wasn't a b-day or any other special date. The card just said, "Will you take a trip with me" and was signed, "love, David" Simple and sweet. I loved it. When I got home that night, he had already started packing - this from the man who would rather have me pack everything and just find out what's in the bag when we arrive! I was shocked but happy since I actually don't like packing that much. AND...there was a shopping bag from the Ralph Lauren store stapled shut in our room. He would NOT tell me what was in it. So, of course, when he got in the shower later I carefully picked it up to see how heavy it was so I could try to guess what was in it. It was really quite heavy so I was very confused and finally decided it must be some wonderful bottle of wine or something that he wanted to surprise me with. The drive down was crazy...no traffic because literally EVERYone was going the opposite direction - north, away from the hurricane! Gas stations were running out of gas so we stopped constantly to make sure we'd definitely have enough to get home. We arrived at the hotel - a beautiful, old spanish inspired hotel right on the river. It was lovely, the staff was great and I was a very happy girl. We checked in and David wouldn't even let the bellhop touch the Ralph Lauren bag!! I was DYING to see what was in it...but pretending not to care...that much. We were starving and went to a late lunch immediately. We found a place that my aunt had told us about on the Riverwalk. The most amazing guacamole!! omg! And the margaritas...WOW. So I go from being "happy" to "blissed out"! It was a gorgeous, sunny day in late September, I was NOT at work and out with my man. Perfect. We walked around some more - and stopped off at a little bar for another drink before heading back to our hotel. While walking back, we were holding hands and I finally had to pull mine back...his were so sweaty! I laughed and told him his hands were just too sweaty to hold and then he tries to tell me it's MY hands that are sweating...no way! So funny. . . We get back to the room and are just laying on the bed enjoying the cold a/c. Then he starts being sweet and telling me all kinds of lovely stuff about being in love with me and wanting to marry me. Because we have talked about this stuff before, I just thought he was being sweet and romantic. Then he finally asks if I want to see the surprise that's in the bag. Of course I want to see what's in the bag, it's been killing me!! So I say yes and then he says that he'll show me but I have to do something first. (ok, anything! The curiousity is too much!!) Then he reaches in his pocket (my eyes nearly pop out of my head ) and pulls out a little velvet box. (I tell myself they're earrings - nice, "I love you" earrings) Then he asks me if I will marry him. I start bawling! Not pretty, misty happy tears. . .not ladylike tears, BIG, FAT sobbing tears!! I can't even get a word out and I just start hugging and kissing him. After a minute he gets off the bed and kneels next to it, with me sitting on the edge...finally a little more composed. He opens the box (Yeah, I hadn't even SEEN it yet!), asks again and I start sobbing - again. he asks if all that means "yes" (poor guy!) and I finally say proper, ecstatic "Yes!" We put the ring on and it's amazing. After all this, he asks if I still want to see what's in the bag. I have, of course, completely forgotton that the bag exsists! I say a teary "yeah" and he opens it, reaches in and pulls out a blue box w/ a white ribbon around it. Yes, it's THAT blue box, the Tiffany's box that makes most women squeal in delight - even before they know what's in it! I start sobbing yet again (!) and open it. It's two beautiful champagne flutes! My first thought is that we can use them as the toasting glasses at our wedding. (already SUCH a bride!) THEN he reaches BACK into the bag and pulls out another box...It's a bottle of Dom Perignon (sp?)! At this point I'm an absolute mess and certain he must be looking at me (and the mascara that's everywhere but my eyelashes) and wondering why he just proposed! But he wasn't...he was just as happy as I was so we kissed, hugged and laughed for a few minutes. Then he very practically got the ice for our champagne while I began to call everyone I knew! I called my parents and they already knew...The parents ALWAYS know!! Good grief! I supposed that can't be helped when the boy has the traditional chat w/ the dad first...esp my dad...the man can't keep a secret! But it was great, and it was absolutely perfect that he proposed at the beginning of our weekend. That gave us a couple days to be irritatingly happy without having to gross out any of our family or friends! And just so you know, the hurricane very kindly, considered our engagement plans and steered clear of S.A.! Not a cloud in the sky the entire weekend! It was perfect...I LOVE remembering that weekend!!

Well, I had seen a ring that one of my clients at work had, it had a pear shaped center stone which I thought was unusual and really liked. I mentioned the ring to my husband (boyfriend then) and he was appalled at the thought of a pear shaped stone! So in my effort to convince him it was pretty, I found a pic of one I liked on a website and showed it to him. He still wasn't that impressed. A few weeks later we were out shopping - actually trying to find some new jeans for him - and he stopped in one of the jewelry stores. We browsed around, I didn't really like anything that much, and then he asked if I wanted to see what size my finger was. Being a total dork (serisouly, I was made fun of for this for months!) I said, "Oh no, I think I'm like a 6 or something..." he kept asking and saying, "let's just see for sure" and I kept putting him off... mostly I was just not in the mood for the saleperson to pressure us into something and all that. Anwyay, after all that, he began ring shopping! I had NO idea at the time - though I probably should have! He spent weeks going to stores and finally ended up using the same jeweler/designer who had made my older sisters ring. He picked out the diamonds individually and designed the ring. He did GREAT!!! It's a platinum band with a round center stone and two pear shaped stones on the sides. It's gorgeous and so perfectly "me"!! It was a great "marriage" of his traditonalism and my infatuation with the pear shape. He's the best!

Wow! You guys are great! I felt pretty nerdy being the "non-bride" on here - thanks for the warm welcome! I am totally going to try to get my friend to join...I think she'd like it a lot...I sent her links to the reviews that were posted for her wedding location (Dreams) and she loved them. I'm pretty sure she'll be hooked in no time! Also, thanks to miss Mexico15!! I'm sure we'll end up quizzing you as things go along and especially once you get back! Your wedding is really coming up fast! Are you feeling good about everything? Do you have many people coming to PV with you? We're still at the beginning stages of the planning - I'm actually getting together with the bride tomorrow night to talk about things and look at some swatches, pics etc of some ideas she has....including what I'll be wearing for the big day! SO I'm looking forward to that! Can't remember who posted about the White Aisle website - but she LOVES it!! Great find...it's got SO much great stuff!! Also, kudos to whomever posted about the custom koozie site...perfect for the gift bags and such! Ok, enough rambling from me! Thanks so much ladies!!

Hello, just joined the forum...I'm not the one planning a wedding...just had mine last year - Cinco de Mayo!! But my very best friend in the world is getting married in September at Dreams in Puerto Vallarta which is very exciting...and very different since neither of us have been to/planned a DW before. I came across this site somehow and thought it was great - tons of good info, links, reviews etc. I've been emailing my friend links to all kinds of stuff from here and it proving to be really helpful. So I decided to join just in case we needed some help and to also be able to access the pics and stuff!