Brittany & Stephen – Federal Way, WA

I first noticed Brittany during our Sunday Church services. She was up on stage singing. At first glance I assumed she had to be married and was unapproachable. Several months later we met as youth leaders in the office of our youth pastor. Turned out she wasn’t married and was very friendly. She was helping him prepare for youth group and we briefly introduced ourselves and carried on with our duties. Over the next few months, we would have small run-ins with each other and would briefly converse back and forth. Finally, during one of our short conversations I had mentioned that I was getting back into running. She took that opportunity to mention that she would be running the next day and that I was welcome to join her. From there, things never slowed down and we were quickly in love with one another.

October 28th:

Months later, after a discussion with Brittany’s Dad, I was green lighted to ask for her hand in marriage. This took place on a Friday which meant that I was able to leave work early and head north to Bellevue. This avoided any suspicion on Brittany’s part as the whole time she assumed that I was still at work. I arrived at EE Robbins, the place I had decided to purchase the ring. The weekend prior I had looked at a few designs and wanted to look at one in particular as it had caught my eye. Upon arrival I looked into the display case and carefully searched for the specific ring. I found it. And that was it! This was the one and there was no need to look any further.  Next, I began the strategic process of picking the diamond. Once this was accomplished, I anxiously asked Tony, my EE Robbins associate, how soon he could have the ring ready. To my surprise, rings can take between 6 and 8 weeks to be made. This was no good. It was already the end of October and I wanted to propose as soon as possible! Tony then had an assistant call the designer and find out how soon they could have the ring made and if it was possible to rush the delivery. He returned and said they could have the ring by November 23rd. So it was settled and this was going to have to be the date…the day before Thanksgiving.

October 29th – November 20th:

From the day after the ring was ordered a chess game began. Brittany and I had already discussed our desires to marry one another and that we wished to be married by Spring. Meanwhile, a ticking clock had begun limiting my ability to surprise Brittany and plan a wedding. As the days passed by it became evident that there are all sorts of things that need planning that the male is unaware of. For example;  4 months minimum for bridesmaids dresses! 4 MONTHS! And that’s not including time to alter if needed. So as the days passed by, Brittany began to drop subtle hints about a ring (and by subtle I mean blatant!) and I had to respond in ways that gave her no indication of when and where the proposal was going to take place. An idea had popped into my head early on in our relationship about proposing to her, but this idea came to a realistic moment when Tony had said November 23rd.  My idea revolved around proposing in front of our church family. Every year on the day before Thanksgiving (or as some call it – thanksgiving eve) our Church has a service in the evening. This provided me the perfect opportunity to propose to her in front of our church family and at the same time completely surprise her. I set a meeting with our Senior pastor and discussed the potential plan for proposal. I received approval. Reality began to set in. November 23rd was approaching fast and everything was set for a proposal during the Thanksgiving Eve service. I only needed one more item for everything to line up, …the ring.

November 21st – November 22nd:

On the Monday before the proposal day I gave EE Robbins a phone call and asked them at what time on Wednesday could I pick up the ring? The earlier the better! Their response was not the one I was looking for “we usually get them in by 4-5pm”. This was not good news. Picture this, Bellevue, 5pm, the day before Thanksgiving. Need I say traffic? I was already nervous on Monday and this only added to the stress. What happened next is what builds a customer for life. EE Robbins worked their hardest to accommodate me in any way they could to get me the ring sooner. Sure enough, Tuesday morning I received a phone call from them informing me that the ring had come in a day early! This was it, everything was all ready to go and now all I had to do was wait for the time to come.

The proposal day ( November 23rd):

I set my alarm for 5:45am (Note that I had the day off). You may be asking why if I had the day off would I set the alarm for 5:45!? I needed to make sure Brittany was not suspicious about a thing and every morning we send each other a “good morning” text. I wasn’t about to change that and jeopardize suspicion (yep, I was a little paranoid). The day went on. We texted periodically throughout the day as usual and I continued to be really, REALLY nervous. [I want to take a minute and let everyone know that Brittany had NO IDEA she was going to be proposed to on this day.] After she got off work, I picked her up at her apartment and we went out for dinner. She ate and I didn’t. I was too nervous to eat and made up an excuse as to why I wasn’t hungry. And apparently I was glowing? She made a point to tell me this early on in the night, but I’m still not sure what that really means. Then we were off…off to the Thanksgiving Eve service. Things were going just as planned and I was able to in “ninja form” give our friend Daniel my iPhone to record the proposal. As the service began, I was so nervous and very fidgety. The ring was in my jacket and I was going over in my head the words I was to say. Finally my hour had come and I was called up—center stage—to share with our Church what I was thankful for. I began by stating that I am very thankful for what God has been doing in my life and concluded by saying “I would like to share one last blessing with you guys tonight. This past summer God brought an incredible women into my life. For those who don’t know her, she’s sitting right over there (pointed to her) and her name is Brittany. There is a song, some of you may know it, and in the song the man is talking about a women he loves and that she has “whatever it is”. Well Brittany has an ever growing love for Christ… And I want to spend the rest of my life serving God with her. So, (walks over to her, stands her up as she was in complete shock) Brittany, will you marry me?” I handed the mike to her and she meekly said “yes”. She was completely surprised. It was a good day, the best day of our lives.

Stephen and Brittany will be married on May 19th, 2012.