• Surprise Trip to NYC
• Photo Tour in Central Park
• Matt pops the question
• Thy says YES!

For me, it all started with asking Matt when we were going to take a real vacation. We’d been together for 2 years, and since we work together, neither he nor I have taken any real vacation time off. His parents were moving back to Austin and had been looking at different properties. So in October, he told me his parents were coming into town and that we would spend the weekend looking at different homes with them – nothing out of the ordinary. Unbeknownst to me, they were really there to house-sit and look after Jaws while we went to New York.

 

The Thursday before we left to go to New York City, Matt decided to work from home and asked me to come home a little early so we could “have dinner” with his parents. When I got home, Matt took my hand and said that he had a little surprise. Earlier, he said that he would plan a surprise date for me on Saturday, so I assumed it would be for our date. Next thing I know, he blind-folded me and took me to the guest room where he had our suitcases out and proceeded to hand me a piece of paper. He took the blind-fold off and said “Remember our date we’re going on this weekend? Well, we’re actually going to be on a plane in 14 hours. I’d like you to pack for these weather conditions.” My immediate response was “What?! You’re lying…” You have to understand that I’m a type-A person and the planner/organizer of the relationship. So the idea of a surprise trip was inconceivable in my mind.

 

He had yet to tell me where, and the piece of paper contained only the weather forecast for 8 days in our destination city. Again, I didn’t believe him because I saw the duration of the trip and immediately thought about work and there was no way we could take an impromptu vacation. However, I was surprised again because Matt had also taken care of that part and had work covered. I wasn’t even allowed to bring my laptop!

 

Then his parents walked in and Matt proceeded to tell them “She knows! But…” and his father replied “Oh! Have you ever been to Minnesota before?” “spoiling” the surprise for me. Matt jumps in and said “But she doesn’t where…” Queue the awkward silence. But this was all part of the plan. His mom had washed our laundry (Thanks again Terri!) so we wouldn’t have to worry about anything except for packing because our flight was at 6:00 a.m. the next morning.

 

The next morning arrives and I shot up like an arrow at 4:30 a.m. excited about going to what I thought was Minnesota. We pack up the car and as his parents took us to the airport, Matt plays Frank Sinatra singing “New York, New York” and I instantly knew we were going to New York City – a place I’ve always wanted to visit.

 

Fast forward to The Big Apple

 

When we arrived, I couldn’t believe we were there. I half expected to wake up any moment and find us back in our bedroom, but nope; we were in New York City. And my dear Matt didn’t stop there. A trip to New York City was more than I could ever expect but when we arrived at the front doors of the Pierre hotel; I knew he had gone all out (Google the Pierre hotel).

At this point, I honestly didn’t think a proposal was in the works, I was just really thrilled that we were on a vacation and that we were in New York City! He then took me to what appeared to be a restaurant, but was really a hotel. You can imagine my confusion as we knocked on a hotel door only to find…GLENN! Glenn apparently was in town for the weekend for “business.” Again, no suspicion there because Glenn travels almost weekly for work and I thought it was an awesome coincidence. After we had dinner, I asked Glenn what he was doing the next day and invited him to go with us on this photo tour the next day. Unbeknownst to me, he was already going and by my inviting him I unwittingly helped with the surprise.

 

Fast forward to Day 2

 

We woke up and left to get breakfast and met at Central Park with the Photographer and the other people who were there for the tour. The photo tour was a lot of fun and really interesting. Gildo, our photographer/tour guide was showing us around Central Park and showing us how to take interesting shots. An hour and a half later, we get to the steps at Bethesda Terrace where we stopped for a restroom break. Later, I found out the break was where Gildo, Glenn, and Matt discussed the final game plan. Underneath the terrace, Gildo then tells us that we were going to take practice shots of one another and told Matt and I to go first. As we sat and posed, I said let’s do a jumping photo! After a few shots, I then feel a tug at my hand and when I turned to look at Matt, he got down on one knee.

I instantly started crying, knowing what was about to happen. Matt then told me that we’ve been together for a little over 2 years and that he knew I was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and asked me “Do you want to spend the rest of your life with me? I love you so much, will you marry me?” I was at this point way too emotional to even speak and proceeded to my best capabilities to say “Yes” while shaking my head at the same time. During the moment, it really felt like it was just me and him, but then of course we were in the middle of Central Park, in New York City, and so of course we then heard an explosion of applause and cheers from an on-looking crowd.

 

I really am the luckiest girl to have met Matt. He went through so much trouble to make sure the proposal and our trip was a huge surprise and I really just can’t believe everything he did for that special moment. Our journey thus far has been the happiest times of my life and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with my best friend and partner in crime.

 

 

You may not be interested in all the details but I figured I’d write it out for posterity’s sake – plus it’s a pretty “cool story, bro”. 🙂

This proposal was a long time in the making. You see, Thy Ta is not an easy girl to surprise. I’d been warned that girls in general have a sixth sense for sniffing out proposals – add this to Thy’s penchant for guessing surprises and you begin to understand why very few people knew anything about this proposal until the very last moment.

Months of planning

The planning started about six months ahead of the actual proposal. I knew I had better start with asking permission from Thy’s mom before I moved forward with things but with Mama Ta living in Houston and me in Austin, my opportunities to get in-person one-on-one time with her were fairly few. I jumped at the chance to take Thy’s mom to the store one day. We went to the store and while traveling down the highway I worked up the courage to ask her permission to marry her youngest daughter. Luckily there were no arguments from her and I had her blessing.

Choosing the ring

I would have had little idea where to start but months before Thy had armed me with one important fact: she had discussed the type of ring she wanted with both of her sisters at some point. Not knowing who could/would keep my secret, I went to who I happened to find alone while on a visit in Houston, Phuong. She told me that Thy liked ‘cushion’ cut and simple rings and had a tiny ring size. Armed with my new knowledge I got to work figuring out what the heck cushion meant and where in the world to get one of these things called an engagement ring. I had pretty much no idea where to start. Luckily, Glenn agreed to help me in my quest to find the perfect ring and the two of us newbies hit up all the diamond stores we could find. After viewing about a thousand rings, the perfect ring jumped out. The diamond itself was more difficult. I learned way more about diamonds than I ever thought possible. I examined diamonds with magnifying glasses and started talking the 4C’s lingo and finally found the perfect diamond to place in the perfect ring. The “chiropractor” appointments and “lunch meetings” finally paid off and the ring safely rested at Glenn’s place so there’d be no way for Thy to accidentally find it.

Formulating the plan

I knew New York was at the top of Thy’s lists of places to visit. In my previous visit to NY I found Central Park to be fantastic and it was by far my favorite place in the entire city. Knowing how special a place Central Park was, I knew it would be a great place to take Thy and to ask her to marry me. I think surprises are great fun as long as I’m the one doing the surprising so I started figuring out ways to surprise her and to somehow still get photos of the moment. A photo tour came to mind as a great way to surprise her and to also get photos from strangers. After Thy would go to sleep I’d do my research and planning. I got in touch with the owner, Sam, of a tour group that sounded awesome and told him about my plan. The very affable owner of Citifari Photo Tours gave me great advice, helped plan, and even helped fill the tour group. The place for the proposal was set for the famed Bethesda Arches with often heard music and lots of people strolling through the park. I’d never been to this location in-person but it seemed the perfect backdrop.

Getting the ring to NY without risking Thy coming across it at security or while packing also posed a small challenge. Always ready for a trip, Glenn offered to divert his business trip to San Francisco to stop in NY for a night and deliver the ring. Potential problem diverted.

I also made a call to my business partner, Bob. I didn’t know him as someone to keep a secret but I entrusted him with this information as he’s the President of the company Thy and I work at and figured he needed a heads-up that I was planning a week long trip. Beyond him excitedly telling me to go for it and saying this was a secret worth keeping, he also put in a call to a good friend of his to get me a hook-up at the fantastic and famous Pierre Hotel right next to Central Park. I just worked on filling out the details of the trip from there.

How to tell Thy we’d be leaving in a matter of hours

I was then left with one decision: How to tell Thy, the ‘Type A’ personality, that we were going on a surprise trip to NY on one day’s notice without her feeling stressed or guessing that a proposal was coming.

I had an idea for how I’d do it in mind but I wasn’t sure it was the right plan yet. I chatted with Bob who ended up saying, “I’ve got it! I’ll call both of you the day before to say that one of our most important clients (who happens to office in the heart of NYC) ‘needs to meet with an owner’. It’s my wedding anniversary so I of course can’t go so you’d have to go. I’ll tell Thy that the client said there was nothing to prepare for and to just come. I’m very convincing. I’ll tell her I’m sending you all to NYC and just treat it like a paid vacation other than the meeting.”

I chewed on this idea for a bit as Bob continued to sell me on it. Anybody that knows Bob knows that he loves to sell and that he’s particularly great at selling his own ideas. I was starting to lean towards giving this a go as it would definitely explain the sudden trip and it would keep Thy from guessing that a proposal was in the works. I told Bob I was leaning towards this crazy plan but wasn’t committing to it just yet. I had to call my more level-headed friend, Glenn.

I call Glenn and started describing the plot and by this time I’m starting to sell myself on this idea. It’s sounding pretty eventful and has an element of absurdness that appeals to me. But I notice that Glenn is being unusually quiet. As soon as I finish describing the plan, Glenn deadpans, “Dude, she’s going to get majorly stressed out and she’ll start to prepare for the meeting and it’s just…no, go with your original plan. It’ll be way more romantic.”

Dang. Glenn was precisely right. I called Bob back and axed the plan. Bob’s reaction was: “Wussy, my plan is way more fun. If you grow a pair let me know. It’ll be more fun…for me at least, ha.” We laughed and then I put the finishing touches on the romantic route.

Popping the question

Day 2 in NY was the day. I purposely chose to pop the question early-on in the trip so we (I) could enjoy the rest of the trip without having stress. Of course that meant if she said ‘no’, we’d be awkwardly stuck together in a great city with a bunch of days left. I was confident tho. How could she say no to hitching her wagon up to this? 🙂

Our first day in the city was awesome but exhausting. Thy was out like a light at the end of the day but I still had some last minute planning to do. I emailed back and forth with Sam and the tour guide, Gildo, confirming details before also hitting the sack. The next day we were up but running late to meet Glenn and then our tour group. I was getting things ready – packing cameras and making sure we had everything like charged phones and snacks.

At some point during the tour, while kneeling for a shot, the shoelaces on both of my shoes broke which left them loosely clinging to my feet. That made walking a little slower and left me laughing inside thinking about what-if my shoe(s) falls off at my next kneeling.

While on the tour Glenn mentioned to me that he was told by Gildo that just before we made it to the proposal spot we’d all take a break at the nearby restrooms where we’d do some final strategizing. It was a kind of silly scene. The three of us, Glenn, Gildo, and me in a final strategy huddle in a big public restroom while sandwiched between a row of urinals and a row of stalls. The plan was set. Before walking out I pulled out my phone once more to read the lines I’d written to say when I proposed. I walked back out to the sunlight to join the others. Gildo gathered us in front of the arches and asked Thy and I to pose in front for photos. We took one normal shot then decided on a jumping photo in front of our audience of photographers. And then I knelt down on one knee, reached out for Thy’s hand and waited for Glenn to come by with the ring, AKA Precious, inside the ring box.

Instantly Thy pulled her hands to her face and I could see a look of surprise as tears instantly appeared in her eyes. I fumbled with the ring box struggling to turn it around to open it to her while searching for my preconceived words. My mind went blank as soon as I saw her tears and I just said the first things that came to me. After she said “yes”, my brain reappeared in the moment. I noticed people clapping and cheering and I heard the music playing in the background. We hugged and I spoke the words I’d originally planned to say, telling her that she was the one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

The biggest compliment I could have gotten from Thy about the ring was when she said, “I just can’t believe you picked out the ring yourself. It’s just so beautiful”. That’s when I knew I done did real good.