How We Got Engaged

Without further ado, we present both sides of our engagement!

The Engagement… (Thad’s PoV)

Step One: The Ring

            Once I had decided to propose, I felt there was need for a ring that would symbolize my love for Kacy. I had secretly been gathering data from her about her tastes and her likes so I could effectively pick out her ring. When we first started dating she told me what her ring size was so I could plan accordingly and we wouldn’t have to go in to get it sized after the proposal.

            After I knew it was going to happen I had to secure some diamonds, let’s be honest I am poor and I wanted to give her the best gosh dang ring in the world. I had heard that it was a popular trend to take the family ring and break it down and reset the jewels in a new setting. With this in mind I contacted my grandmother with the hopes she would agree with my plan. After about two weeks she contacted me and told me that she didn’t feel comfortable destroying the ring. I was crushed, and started to panic as I knew that I was not going to be able to pay for a nice diamond and ring. Luckily my grandma wasn’t done telling her story. She handed me a bag with three diamonds in, and said I could use those instead. I was speechless, and beyond excited. The three diamonds weighed .5, .1 and .1 karats. 

When the day finally came to pick out the ring, I asked my mother to be present so I could have a second opinion to bounce ideas off of. We went to Shane Co. because “I had a friend in the diamond business.”  The sales rep. was really nice and forced me to keep my options to two rings at a time, it was good thing she did because I saw upwards of 8 rings that I kind of liked. After my mother and I debated for about thirty minutes I decided on a ring, not my Mom’s choice either, and also not the ring that Kacy had picked out as the ring she had wanted about a month earlier. We signed the paperwork with the plans of getting it engraved with “I love you” in French on the inside.  Unfortunately they were unable to engrave the ring, with reasons untold.

Step Two: The Date

With the ring safely hidden away I knew I needed to schedule a date that would work for both of our busy schedules. I wanted to propose on the 25^th so it would line up with when we started dating, but that didn’t happen. Instead we set the day for the 27^th of October to go out together. I had been wanting to get her to come try Benihanas, a Japanese show grill restaurant. Once we were done there we wanted to grab some delicious cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. The plans were made and the date was set, all we had to do was wait three week to go, and it was going to be perfect.

Step Three: The Plan

            The plan had been rushing through my mind since I grabbed the ring. I needed a venue, a speech, and a romantic gesture. After consulting with multiple professionals on all three needs, I still came up empty handed. What was I going to do? Why is it that I can plan events for the school and multiple game nights but I can’t plan a proposal? I had joked that we would go sky-diving and I would propose on the way down, we scraped that plan since we couldn’t film it in high quality. After much deliberation and since time was running out, I decided at 2:45pm on October 27^th (the day of) what I was going to do. We would go on the date, get dessert, go for a walk in the canyon at school and I would propose to her at the fire pit with roses spread all around, and it would be filmed. It would have to do since I failed to come up with anything better.

Step Four: The Execution

            With my year and half of event experience I know that they never go as planned, ever. So I knew that I would run into some hiccups in my plan. Speed bump number one, the ring box was far too noticeable in my pocket and I couldn’t think of a better place to put it. Speed bump number two, we arrived far before our reservation so we had to wonder around all while I tried to hide the box in my pocket. Speed bump three, I didn’t have a legit reason to go to the canyon, so I came up with the excuse of “I am fat so I need to go for a walk.” Speed bump four, I had forgot to plan a speech. Speed bump five I had no clue if the venue had been flowered up and if the camera crew was onsite ready to go. 

            Once we got there though we noticed that everything was in place. She stopped outside the fire pit when she saw all of the flowers. She graced me with acting surprised, even though she had seen the ring in my pocket and knew the whole night that it was coming. I lead her over to the bench and plopped her down. I dropped to one knee and said something like “I know we have been only dating for a year and half but we have been best friends for 8 years and that is a long time. Kacy M’lynn Helwig will you marry me?” As I opened up the box she gasped for air. I reached my other hand to grab the ring and put it on her finger only to be stunned in amazement as she quickly grabbed it herself and put it on.( I guess she was excited). 

          By this time the camera crew was filming and she hugged me with the one leg up and we kissed multiple times. I think she said yes somewhere in there, or maybe she just said thanks for the ring. I don’t really know. After that we went back to my apartment and started to contact people. Marcus brought back some sparkling cider and ice cream to celebrate.

Unfortunately, the SD card to the video camera got lost shortly after.   

The Engagement... (Kacy's PoV)

So in about July Thad and I started to talk the talk about getting married. Well, let’s be honest we started hinting at it with each other for a long time. But when we really started talking about it was in July. I think some people would be unhappy with us talking about it and it not being a huge surprise, but getting married is a pretty serious thing and I’d rather we talked about it. But anyways it was around then that Thad and I talked about a ring and what I would want. He wanted me to pick out a few so he could get a feel for what I would like. Mostly so that he wouldn’t buy me some ugly ring that I would have to be stuck with for forever. So I showed him a few, and found one that seemed to fit my personality. He agreed and then said “okay”. And then that was the end of that.

Then in early October Thad approached me with the idea of when would be a good day for a date night for the two of us. I hesitantly said “uhhh…. not for a long time”. I was busy working on the theatre production which was about to go into Tech Integration Week. We found a day that would possibly work, three weeks away on a Tuesday between the run of the shows before I had marching band finals that weekend and Thad was gone to Miami the next. So Tuesday it was! Then, Thad made an offhanded comment after saying, “how crazy is this that we literally are both so busy that we can’t even find time to get-“… Then my brain said “Ohhhh yeah here we go!”

So for three weeks I looked for all the signs that it was coming. He made reservations for some weird seafood restaurant that he claimed to me served other things. I was less enthused. But then he said we could go to the Cheesecake Factory afterwards, so I had to say yes. Cheesecake Factory has been one of our “things”. We go in and get the cheesecake to go because the restaurant is too loud, and then we typically eat it in the car. So at that point I couldn’t resist. I bought a new dress for our “date night” and then hung it up in my room so it wouldn’t wrinkle. I could tell whenever the date was brought up that something wasn’t quite right, so when the day finally came I was about 85% sure it was happening.

When the day arrived after class I went over to his apartment in order to change. We got all fancy and then when Thad complained that there was no umbrella in my car, I thought it was weird. We are Oregonians, we don’t need umbrellas. So finally we decided instead of sitting around his apartment we would leave early to avoid traffic and stress about not making our reservation. So when we got in the car and Thad insisted on driving I was about 95% sure. When we were sitting in the car and I looked over. I saw the conspicuously ring box shape in his pants pocket. DING DING DING! We have a winner! 100%! I smiled and then decided I would play along. I figured he knew that I knew and since he wasn’t saying anything about it, I wouldn’t either.

We got there early so we decided to go walk around the Petco there, one of my favorite waste time stores. We looked at fish and turtles. Then we walked over to Best Buy and wasted time there before going to meet our reservation. 

When we got to Benihanas, I was pretty impressed. It was really a cool vibe inside the restaurant and very fancy. We sat down at a table with a grill in front of us and they cooked our food while doing tricks. They spun eggs around on spatulas and tossed pepper containers. It was really cool to watch them cook; it was more like a show than just dinner. I liked the food but I was too excited to really eat very much of it.  At our table there was a woman wearing a star trek outfit which we found pretty funny. It was a cool experience though. After that we went over to the cheesecake factory and got some dessert. I ate half of mine in the car but Thad was too full (nervous?) to eat his.

We headed back to Newberg after a stop for a water bottle where Thad kept checking his phone. We got into town and Thad missed the turn to go back to his apartment. I said, “Hey wait you missed it” and he made up a lame excuse for why we were going to the school. We parked and then started walking around, going through the trees on a little path and over a little bridge. I knew it was coming but was trying to play along, but mostly I was excited.

We came out from under the trees and into the light and went to a little covered area. We walked in and then I saw the roses and just stopped. It hadn’t really hit me like I thought it would until then. I pretty much just froze, so Thad pushed me over onto a bench with roses on either side and rose petals spread all around it. Once I was sat down, He got down on one knee and pulled out the conspicuous box I had been eyeing all night, and said “I know we haven’t been dating for very long just a year and a half, but we have been friends for 8 years”. I stupidly replied, “Yeah and that’s a long time”. He sort of chuckled and said “yeah it is a long time. So Kacy M’Lynn Helwig, will you marry me?” And I said’ “YES!” And jumped up and kissed him and hugged him and then apparently took the ring out of the box and put it on, though it all happened so fast I don’t really remember. But I was/am happy :-)

AND, the ring was not the one I had originally shown him… IT WAS 10,000,000 TIMES BETTER. <3