Engagement Story

After 5+ years of dating, Kris and Rob had decided that maybe it was time to start shopping for an engagement ring. It was all supposed to be to get an idea of what was available, and see what Kris like best on her finger. She had grand illusions of a plain and simple design, with a thicker band. Something that wouldn't sparkle too much. After a few rings, she decided that that design would not work at all! The second store we visted offered one design that Kris seemed to like. A simple design, yet showed off the diamond just enough. It also introduced us to the pavé setting, which would become very important later on. The third and final store of the day had more rings with pavé settings, many of which gave an antique feel to the ring. The jeweler noted that the rest of Kris's jewelry matched that design. Kris went home very excited about the two rings, but she had one more place in mind to visit.

On Christmas Eve, Kris and Rob decided to go shopping one more time. This time she tried on the most rings ever, and finally, from the corner of the booth came the most beautiful ring ever! 28 pavé diamonds total, with room for a centerpiece. It was magnificant! It hardly came off her finger, and Rob noticed something in her eye as she stared at the empty prongs; this was the Ring. A week later, on New Years Eve, Kris and Rob went back to the store to see how diamonds would look inside the empty prongs. After every diamond was deemed beautiful, a final one was chosen, and the ring was settled, except for the delivery date. Rob said that that would remain a surprise to be settled later.

Meanwhile, Kris was left to stare at an empty ring finger on her left hand for the next two days before Rob could go back to settle up for the Ring. A pick-up date was settled and final congratulations were given. Afterwards, over dinner, Rob dissapointedly told Kris that the Ring would not be ready soon. The jeweler was gone on a family emergency and would be back for quite some time. Rob did his best to hide the grin that was growing deep in his throat, and Kris surprisingly bought the story. Unfortunately for Kris, she had failed to hide a print-out of a wedding dress from a web site and Rob scolded her for looking for wedding dresses when she wasn't even engaged. (For shame!) After dinner, Rob promised Kris he would make some for her on Friday, much to Kris's dismay. (Who really wants to eat microwaved food anyways?)

But Rob had been schemimg all along. Unknown to Kris, Rob called and researched Kris's favorite Chinese food (Moo Shoo) and visited the Hong Kong Cafe in Madison. He also decided to get some real bridal magazines so Kris could peruse those at will. But Rob would hide the ring in one of the magazines so that when Kris opened it, the Ring would pop out. You see, Rob had set the pick-up date to be that very same Friday that he was going to prepare dinner.

So Kris came over and was very surprised to see a full Chinese dinner waiting in a candlelit room, with a bit of soft jazz in the background. Kris knew that Rob doesn't like Chinese at all, and was very touched by his offer. After the dinner was complete, Rob gave Kris the bridal magazines wrapped as a present. But Rob was soooo excited, he really didn't let Kris discover the Ring on her own. He grabbed the one with the Ring in it, and hurriedly opened to the page with the ring. Kris's first exclamation was, "You lied to me!" Laughing nerviously, Rob got on a knee, said some kind words to Kris, asked her to marry him, and heard a "yes" through their whispers.