The Big Surprise

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

All right, enough with the secrecy-I can't bear it any longer! While this isn't the story of my engagement, I promise it might actually be much, much more exciting!

When I started my new job in August, one of the first things I learned was that my boss was preparing to propose to his girlfriend, and that I would likely be in charge of planning the big event. After some permutations of the original plan, E decided he would lure S to a small, local restaurant for a celebration of his book deadline. Hiding in plain sight as diners at the restaurant would be a choir, and hiding in not so plain sight in the kitchen would be instrumentalists, poised to pop out for an even bigger surprise! On E's signal, the choir would being to sing "All You Need is Love" in an homage to the recessional in Love, Actually, and the lonely guy eating at the bar would actually be the dapper tenor soloist.

Well, the big night was yesterday, and I was so excited I could hardly keep my heart from racing yesterday! After our regular workday (during which E and I did a lot of whispering and last minute detail-discussing), I headed to the restaurant, where we finally brought together the brass trio and the choir for their very first rehearsal! 15 minutes before E and S were scheduled to arrive, I snuck out of the restaurant and went to their apartment, where I let S's parents, grandmother and friends in to plan another surprise-a little engagement party (I know what you're thinking-the girl is going to have a heart attack with all these surprises)!

After making sure there was plenty of serving ware and adaquate bubbly for the celebration, I left for my rehearsal that evening. While I was waiting for a cab, I saw S and E leave the restaurant, whopping and laughing, announcing their engagement on one of the most auspicious days of the year. It was a joy to plan such a wonderful celebration with them, and a relief that it all went so beautifully. And I promise, as soon as that video is up on YouTube, I'll be sending you all the link!



Photo by Peter Lindbergh for Tiffany & Co.

41 comments:

  1. What an amazing engagement!!! A whole choir? Wow, that must have taken a lot of work on your end to plan. I'm very proud :)

    Congrats to the happy couple!

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  2. thats so great! cant wait to see the video!

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  3. yay yay yay! love that we can share the 20th with them :) what an incredible proposal set-up...sigh.

    can't wait to see the video! xoxo {av}

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  4. Oh what an amazing story, I love hearing beautiful things like this, just warms the heart :) Thank you so much for dropping by my Around the World photos at Lady Ren's last week (so sorry it took me forever to respond - lost internet access for a week and catching up now!), I'm thrilled it led me to your sweet blog!

    Hope you're enjoying a wonderful holiday week :)

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  5. So sweet Lana, I can't wait to see the video! <3

    Big Big kiss my darling

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  6. what a great story! Thats one of the most sweet proposals i have heard about. i cant wait to see the video

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  7. Omg, that is so cool!!! So romantic!!!!

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  8. oh i love it!!! i was THIS close to doing that at my wedding!!!

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  9. No way! How incredible, it all sounds so lovely! I'm so looking forward to the video...it must be so sweet! All the best to them!

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  10. I cannot wait to see the video, what an incredible way to propose!

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  11. This is so beautiful! I can't wait to see the video! You are amazing :)

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  12. Yay! So much fun! Can't wait for the movie :)

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  13. That is too awesome! Can't wait to see a video. How fun that you got to orchestrate everything!

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  14. How amazing! This is the sweetest thing!

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  15. oh my gosh! i am dying to see this video! dying!!! I didn't know engagements like that really happened in real life! holy cow:)
    good job!
    :)gina

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  16. Oh wow! Can't wait to see the video! I always LOVED that scene in Love Actually so I'm sure this has got to be one of the best proposals ever! Congrats on pulling it off!

    xx Vivian @ http://diamondsandtulle.blogspot.com

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  17. oh man! such a lovely engagement story! love it! :) such a great surprise, lady!

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  18. OH MY GOSh how sweet is this? I love it. That girl is going to have a heart attack lol. I cant wait to see the video I am sure you did a wonderful job in getting this done.

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  19. Thanks for sharing this amazing and super romantic story!! So cool that you helped in it! xo

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  20. How spectacular! I love this story. You must feel so grateful to have been a huge part of their story!

    ~ Clare x

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  21. Oh such a cute proposal- you are such a great person to help and plan it!

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  22. that is very very romantic and so nice that you go to be part of such a beautiful thing... it is truly a beautiful story!

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  23. So, so sweet! We can't wait to see the video!

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  24. how sweet that you got to be a part of their engagement. I say you deserve a raise! can't wait to see the video.

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  25. BAH!! love this story!!!! so so exciting....though not as exciting as you getting engaged would be :)

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  26. Oh my..what a lovely story! I cant imagine how much prepping and planning went into this! I guess true romantics do exist : )

    -Samantha
    http://sincerelysamantha.com

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  27. What a beautiful engagement story! I can't wait to see the video!

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  28. an undercover choir?! what an AMAZING engagement story and kudos to you for making it magical!

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  29. Agree with Kimia! ;)

    But incredible and sweet story nonetheless. So awesome that you were an interal part of it.

    Also, I am dying to hear you sing. Random but true.

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  30. Wow, I love stories like this, thanks for sharing it with us! :)

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  31. Please, can't wait. It was so exciting just reading about that. You made my day :) Thanks for sharing.

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  32. oh my goodness! that sound like the sweetest proposal ever! ahh, my first thought was "love, actually" then when I saw that it actually inspired by that i almost jumped out of my chair. SO lovely! i can't wait to see the video! :)

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  33. How very lovely! You must feel great to be a part of putting it all together!

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  34. That is the SWEETEST!! Sounds like you did an amazing job planning! Suprise after surprise, I'm sure she was beaming!!

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  35. Oh waw that was great! And I cant´wait for the video! It was surely superb!! and you were so lucky to take part in such a romantic story!

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